I-Reach Lab, Unit of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland.
Section on Neurobiology of Fear and Anxiety, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Bethesda, MD, USA.
Eur J Psychotraumatol. 2021 Jul 13;12(1):1930897. doi: 10.1080/20008198.2021.1930897. eCollection 2021.
The experience of intimate partner violence (IPV) is stressful. One objective way to monitor it is to assess victims' stress response by measuring the concentration of their salivary cortisol, the major stress hormone released by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis.
We investigated how the IPV experienced by women in Cameroon affects their stress levels and those of their children.
We recruited 50 mother-child dyads exposed to IPV and a control group of 25 mother-child dyads. All mothers completed questionnaires, including the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale to assess IPV, the Sense of Coherence Scale, and the Self-Esteem Scale, to assess their psychological resources. Mothers were asked to collect 3 saliva samples from themselves and 3 from their children on a single weekday: immediately after waking up, 30 minutes after waking up, and 45 minutes after waking up. The total cortisol secretion over the first hour after awakening was determined by calculating the area under the curve with respect to the ground (AUCg).
Mothers exposed to IPV exhibited higher total post-awakening cortisol concentrations compared with those in the control group. However, no significant difference was found between exposed and non-exposed children. In addition, higher IPV, specifically injuries, was significantly and positively associated with greater AUCg among mothers exhibiting lower self-esteem. When self-esteem was high, however, no significant effect of IPV on AUCg was observed.
Of particular clinical significance is that self-esteem can modulate the stress levels of women exposed to IPV, a valuable insight into the development of effective psychosocial interventions to support IPV victims in sub-Saharan Africa.
亲密伴侣暴力（IPV）的经历是有压力的。监测它的一种客观方法是通过测量唾液皮质醇的浓度来评估受害者的应激反应，皮质醇是下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺轴释放的主要应激激素。
我们研究了喀麦隆妇女经历的 IPV 如何影响她们及其子女的压力水平。
我们招募了 50 对经历过 IPV 的母婴二人组和 25 对对照组母婴二人组。所有母亲都完成了问卷，包括修订后的冲突策略量表来评估 IPV、心理韧性量表和自尊量表，以评估她们的心理资源。母亲们被要求在一个工作日内从自己和孩子身上采集 3 份唾液样本：醒来后立即、醒来后 30 分钟和醒来后 45 分钟。通过计算 AUCg 来确定觉醒后第一个小时内的总皮质醇分泌量。
与对照组相比，经历过 IPV 的母亲表现出更高的总觉醒后皮质醇浓度。然而，暴露组和非暴露组的儿童之间没有发现显著差异。此外，较高的 IPV，特别是受伤，与自尊较低的母亲的 AUCg 呈显著正相关。然而，当自尊心较高时，IPV 对 AUCg 没有显著影响。
自尊可以调节经历 IPV 的妇女的压力水平，这对于在撒哈拉以南非洲地区制定有效的社会心理干预措施以支持 IPV 受害者具有重要的临床意义。
