ABSTRACT
The Abuse Disability Questionnaire (ADQ), a 30-item measure designed to assess the perceived impairment of abuse from the survivor's perspective, was administered to women who were receiving services from domestic violence shelters. The total score of the ADQ was used as a dependent measure to determine whether the type of abuse experienced and the developmental period during abuse affected the severity of perceived impairment from abuse. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis found that the type of abuse experienced (psychological, physical, or sexual) was an important predictor of abuse disability, accounting for 13% of the variability in ADQ scores. A One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) indicated that the cumulative effects of multiple types of abuse (psychological, physical, or sexual) also increased impair ment as measured by the ADQ for women in the domestic violence shel ter. Additional research to further investigate abuse history and to further establish the utility of the Abuse Disability Questionnaire as a research and/or clinical instrument for women was proposed.