Resiliency and Social Support Networks in a Population of Mexican American Intimate Partner Violence Survivors

This article discusses research conducted with Mexican American female survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) and explores the survivors' capacity for resiliency and the nature of their social networks. The study used a nonprobability, convenience sample of survivors of IPV living in shelters in two southwestern border cities and asked these questions: How much is resiliency affected by mood? What parts of the IPV survivors' social networks are most supportive? Dependent sample t tests demonstrated that increased resiliency is associated with decreased mood disturbance. Ordinary least squares regression indicated that perception of social support is directly related to number of friends/neighbors and size of formal network. Implications for practice are discussed.