The Role of Socio-Economic Status in Adoption of Coping Strategies Among Adolescents Against Domestic Violence

Abstract

In the current study, researchers explored different types of coping strategies such as problem-focused coping, emotion-focused coping, and non-constructive coping of adolescents witnessing and experiencing domestic violence. Furthermore, they tried to find out the association of socio-economic status with coping strategies against domestic violence in family sphere. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 210 adolescents of both sexes, aged 13 to 18 years in Hafizabad city using multistage sampling technique. Multivariate analysis was used to find out the association between adolescents’ resistance and resilience strategies against domestic violence. The information was collected through a structured interview schedule. This study revealed that age, gender, parents’ education, and family income were major factors that influenced the adoption of coping strategy among adolescents. Overall, the study suggested that adolescents were being victimized of various forms of domestic violence frequently in Pakistan, which needs to be addressed on immediate basis through policies and programs by integrating the social institutions of family and education. Findings of the study can enable parents to nurture and support the developmental needs of children in their care. It can help youth in defending themselves from extreme violent behavior adopters and preventing them from becoming the perpetrators of the domestic violence.