RELATIONSHIPS AMONG DEPRESSION, POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER, FORGIVENESS, MEANING IN LIFE, AND SPIRITUALITY IN SURVIVORS OF INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE

One hundred twenty nine survivors of interpersonal violence completed a paper-and-pencil survey to evaluate depression, PTSD, forgiveness, meaning in life, and spirituality. Five self-report measures were completed including: the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale, the PTSD Checklist – Stressor Specific version, the Transgression-Related Interpersonal Motivations Inventory, and the Spiritual Involvement and Beliefs Scale. The majority of the participants were female and Caucasian. Significant correlations were found between PTSD and presence of meaning, as well as depression and both presence of and search for meaning. However, hierarchical multiple regressions results indicated that depression and the two meaning in life subscales contributed a negligible increment of explained variance in PTSD severity. Additionally, neither the interaction between depression and search for meaning nor between depression and presence of meaning interactions was significant. Results suggest that there is no evidence that depression moderates the effects of meaning in life in the prediction of PTSD levels among this sample of victims of IPV.