title: Is it abuse? Deaf female undergraduates' labeling of partner violence.
abstract: The current study investigated the labeling of abuse experiences in a sample of 97 Deaf female undergraduate students, exploring the following questions: What is the prevalence of violent behaviors experienced by Deaf female undergraduates in their past-year relationships, what proportion of these relationships are identified as "abuse," and what scripts and strategies do Deaf female undergraduates utilize to label their experiences of partner violence? Results indicated that over half of the sample chose not to label past-year experiences of psychological aggression, physical assault, and sexual coercion as abuse, even when these experiences included severe violence. Implications for the Deaf education system will be discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Gallaudet University, Washington, DC 20002, USA. melissa.anderson@gallaudet.edu
authors.forename: Melissa L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: Caroline M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Kobek Pezzarossi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology; D003068:Coercion; D017579:Domestic Violence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D060345:Education of Persons with Hearing Disabilities; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019986:Persons with Hearing Disabilities / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012747:Sexual Partners / Q000523:psychology*; D013179:Spouse Abuse / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013334:Students; D055815:Young Adult