On connection between codependency and the ideas about abusive relationships in young women
- Pages
- 85-98
Abstract
The article discusses the specifics of connection between codependency and young women’s understanding of abusive, romantic and marital relationships and clarifies the specific judgments about violent behavior in partnerships among women with high codependency. The study relies on 110 responses from women aged from 19 to 30. The free associations methods, the scale of codependency of B. K. Weinhold and J. B. Weinhold, the questionnaire of interpersonal relations of W. Schutz, the author’s semi-structured interview in the context of problematic situations are the methodology background of the work. Superficial representations about abusive relationships are revealed, the peripheral zone of which includes associations of “dependence and fusion”; infantile representations about romantic relationships; controversial representations about marital relations. The higher the codependency, the stronger the demands on the partner to make decisions and take responsibility of the codependent woman, the more demands for a less critical attitude towards themselves and more demands from the partner to maintain unreasonably deep emotional relationships. Respondents with high codependency do not seek to start new relationships, expecting initiative from the others, while they themselves avoid open contact. The significance of the connection was assessed with Spearman’s rank correlation.