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Who Are You Telling and What’s at Stake? Contextual Influences on Intimate Partner Violence Narratives

Yassin, Saba LU and Kurova, Alina LU (2026) PSYP01 20261
Department of Psychology
Abstract
Intimate partner violence narratives may be shaped not only by what happened, but also by who the experience is communicated to and what consequences are perceived to be at stake. This study examined whether contextual framing influences how individuals describe self-experienced psychological and physical intimate partner violence in informal, professional, and custody-related contexts.
A sample of 352 heterosexual parents residing in the United States was randomly assigned to one of four narrative conditions: describing the experience to a friend, to a social worker, in a custody-threat context, or in a custody context involving accusations of being violent and unfit as a parent. Contextual framing did not significantly affect... (More)
Intimate partner violence narratives may be shaped not only by what happened, but also by who the experience is communicated to and what consequences are perceived to be at stake. This study examined whether contextual framing influences how individuals describe self-experienced psychological and physical intimate partner violence in informal, professional, and custody-related contexts.
A sample of 352 heterosexual parents residing in the United States was randomly assigned to one of four narrative conditions: describing the experience to a friend, to a social worker, in a custody-threat context, or in a custody context involving accusations of being violent and unfit as a parent. Contextual framing did not significantly affect participants’ self-rated severity of either psychological or physical violence. However, significant differences emerged in narrative characteristics. Psychological violence narratives varied by condition in emotional intensity, detail level, and formality, with higher-stakes conditions generally producing more emotionally intense, detailed, and formal descriptions. For physical violence narratives, condition effects were more limited, emerging mainly for detail level and formality. Semantic analyses further suggested that low-stakes conditions were relatively similar, whereas custody-related conditions produced more distinct narrative patterns. Gender differences were not found for severity ratings, although women’s narratives were rated as more emotionally intense.
Future research should examine more diverse samples and real-world disclosure contexts to better understand how IPV narratives are shaped by audience, stakes, and legal consequences. (Less)
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author
Yassin, Saba LU and Kurova, Alina LU
supervisor
organization
course
PSYP01 20261
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Intimate Partner Violence, Domestic Violence, Communication Patterns, Custody Dispute Context
language
English
id
9239647
date added to LUP
2026-06-18 15:33:55
date last changed
2026-06-18 15:33:55
@misc{9239647,
  abstract     = {{Intimate partner violence narratives may be shaped not only by what happened, but also by who the experience is communicated to and what consequences are perceived to be at stake. This study examined whether contextual framing influences how individuals describe self-experienced psychological and physical intimate partner violence in informal, professional, and custody-related contexts.
A sample of 352 heterosexual parents residing in the United States was randomly assigned to one of four narrative conditions: describing the experience to a friend, to a social worker, in a custody-threat context, or in a custody context involving accusations of being violent and unfit as a parent. Contextual framing did not significantly affect participants’ self-rated severity of either psychological or physical violence. However, significant differences emerged in narrative characteristics. Psychological violence narratives varied by condition in emotional intensity, detail level, and formality, with higher-stakes conditions generally producing more emotionally intense, detailed, and formal descriptions. For physical violence narratives, condition effects were more limited, emerging mainly for detail level and formality. Semantic analyses further suggested that low-stakes conditions were relatively similar, whereas custody-related conditions produced more distinct narrative patterns. Gender differences were not found for severity ratings, although women’s narratives were rated as more emotionally intense.
Future research should examine more diverse samples and real-world disclosure contexts to better understand how IPV narratives are shaped by audience, stakes, and legal consequences.}},
  author       = {{Yassin, Saba and Kurova, Alina}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Who Are You Telling and What’s at Stake? Contextual Influences on Intimate Partner Violence Narratives}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}