Effects of Social, Professional, and Spiritual Support on Anger and Irritability Among Physical Abuse Survivors

Abstract

Childhood abuse is a rampant concern throughout the nation. After reviewing the literature, a potential gap and opportunity to examine and better understand the trauma symptom of anger and irritability among childhood physical abuse survivors revealed itself. The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between social support coping mechanisms, professional support coping mechanisms, and spiritual support coping mechanisms and anger and irritability among survivors of childhood physical abuse controlling for sex and race. The research study utilized a descriptive correlational design using multiple regression to analyze data from the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect (NDACAN) dataset 170 titled Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN) Assessments 0-18 (Runyan et al., 2014). These data have been collected from survivors, their caregivers, and educators in the Southwest, East, and Northwest regions of the United States between 1991 and 2012. Findings suggest that some coping mechanisms do have a predictive effect on anger and irritability scores of physically abused adolescents. Identifying and understanding these coping mechanisms can inform future supports developed to aid adolescent survivors of physical abuse struggling with anger and irritability.