Emotional Awareness and Breaking the Cycle of Revictimization

The current study investigated the moderating effect of emotional awareness on the relation between childhood abuse and both intimate partner violence (IPV) and adult relationship quality. Israeli female graduate students (N = 425), aged 25 or older, either married or in long-term cohabitation, completed an Internet-based questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SEM multiple-group analysis. Emotional awareness was found to be a protective factor against revictimization. Child abuse was associated with IPV among women with a low level of emotional awareness, but not among women with a high level of emotional awareness. Emotional awareness did not moderate the relation between child abuse and relationship quality. The findings are discussed in relation to revictimization and resilience theories, and to clinical implications.