Understanding how domestic abuse is associated with greater depressive symptoms in a community sample of female primary care patients: does loss of belongingness matter?

This study examined the relationship between domestic abuse, belongingness, and depressive symptoms in a community sample of 71 female primary care patients. As expected, domestic abuse was associated with greater depressive symptoms. Results from conducting mediation analyses, including bootstrapping techniques, provided strong convergent support for a model in which the hypothesized effect of domestic abuse on depressive symptoms in women is mediated by a loss of belongingness. Noteworthy, even after controlling for content overlap between measures of belongingness and depressive symptoms, the mediation model remained significant. Some implications of the present findings are discussed.