Emotional abuse among Lesbian Italian women: Relationship consequences, help-seeking and disclosure behaviors

Abstract

Objective

The study aims to provide a preliminary examination of the psychometric properties of the Italian version of Multidimensional Measure of Emotional Abuse (MMEA) and aims to investigate consequences of emotional abuse for the relationship, help-seeking and disclosure behaviors, among a sample of lesbian women.

Methods and participants

One hundred and sixty-five lesbian volunteers filled in a self-report questionnaire including a measure of emotional abuse (MMEA) investigating the consequences of the abuse for the relationship and their disclosure and help-seeking behaviors.

Results

Structural equation modeling (SEM) confirmed the four-factor structure of the MMEA among the sample, and indicated MMEA as a valid tool to measure the phenomenon among Italian lesbian women. As for the consequences of the emotional abuse, most of the participants continued their relationship after the abuse and chose not to talk about the episodes to anyone. When opening up about the abuse, participants mainly reported it to close friends and psychologists and/or psychotherapists. These results have important clinical and policy implications as they provide some indications to be taken into account by mental health professionals and policymakers working with abused lesbian clients.

Keywords:

• Intimate partner violence (IPV)
• emotional abuse
• lesbian women
• relationship consequences
• help-seeking

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the Arcilesbica Nazionale and Arcilesbica Roma Associations for their assistance in collecting the data. We also thank Dr. Fabrizia Bracaglia, Dr. Federica Paragona, Dr. Barbara Bianchini and Angela Infante for their useful advice on adapting the instrument and their assistance with data collections, and Dr. Anna Maria Palmieri for her help, comments and literature suggestions.

Notes

1 The LGBT + acronym refers to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender/Transsexual, Plus. The “Plus” is inclusive of other sexual identification groups, such as Asexual, Intersex, Queer etc.

2 In Italy, coming out as an LGBT + person is still difficult due to societal stigma. It is possible that some LGBT + people strive to hide their real sexual orientation from family members, and are currently involved in “official” heterosexual relationships. At the same time, they could be involved in covert same-sex relationship. A famous 2001 Italian drama “The Ignorant Fairies” (Italian: Le fate ignoranti; released in the US as His Secret Life) directed by Turkish–Italian film director Ferzan Özpetek describes a similar situation. The story describes a woman who discovers that her recently deceased husband had been having an affair with another man for years during their marriage. This double-life situation could expose the LGBT + person to being blackmailed by his/her abusive same-sex partner who threatens to reveal their secret relationship to family members.