Domestic Violence and Mental Health in a Dutch Community Sample: The Adverse Role of Loneliness

The present study explored whether the adverse mental health consequences of domestic violence victimization vary by type of loneliness (i.e., emotional and social loneliness). Participants were drawn from the Dutch city of Rotterdam (N=7072). Domestic violence victimization, emotional loneliness and social loneliness were associated with self-reported mental health. In addition, interaction effects were observed between domestic violence victimization and each type of loneliness. Implications for policy practice as well as strengths and limitations of the study were discussed. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.