**4. Discussion**

The present study involved a sample of Portuguese DV victims, who reported experiencing several abusive DV typologies (psychological/verbal, physical, sexual, stalking, social and economic violence). This qualitative study makes an important contribution to deepening the knowledge of DV in Portugal, considering the fact that a vast majority of Portuguese studies use a quantitative design, involving young people of the general population and studies focusing on victims alone are extremely scarce (Caridade and Dinis 2020) or mainly focus on marital relationships, since other Portuguese studies such as the one of (Cerejo 2014; Pinto 2018). Therefore, this study is also useful to better support preventive and interventional policies in this field.

The typology of psychological/verbal abuse was the most reported by the interviewed DV victims, which is in accordance with what was verified by other previous relevant international (e.g., Fernandéz-González et al. 2014; Straus 2004) and Portuguese studies (e.g., Guerreiro et al. 2017; Machado et al. 2010; Santos and Caridade 2017).

The majority of the participants in this study assumed to have been forced to ask for help at some point, as also found in the study developed by Edwards et al. (2012). This is contrary to what has been documented in other international studies (Gallopin and Leigh 2009; Moore et al. 2015), reporting the reluctance of young people to reveal the abusive situation in which they are involved. The request for help was mainly made to informal sources, such as family and friends. Other international studies (Edwards et al. 2012; Gallopin and Leigh 2009; Sabina and Ho 2014) have also documented the preference of young people to disclose DV to informal sources, as well as the greater reluctance of young people to report DV abuse to the official authorities (Caridade et al. 2019; Pinheiro and Caridade 2019).

The present study allows us to verify that the decision to stay or leave an abusive relationship is influenced by several factors, demonstrating the multidimensional character previously advocated by Barnett (2000), and involving a process with various phases (Enander and Holmber 2008). In this sense, the victims' decisions to remain in an abusive relationship seem to be based primarily on psychological factors such as the emotional dependence on the o ffender, followed by beliefs in being able to change the o ffender's behaviour, and feelings of guilt, corroborating previous studies, such as the one from Anderson and Saunders (2003). The participants have also identified the partner's economic dependence and social pressure as external inhibiting factors that are associated with the decision of remaining in abusive relationships (Anderson and Saunders 2003; Barnett 2000). These are disturbing results, as the permanence of young people in problematic and violent relationships may contribute to the increased risk of a cycle of violence, occurring not only in the current relationship, but also in the future (Helm et al. 2015). These results seem therefore to indicate some existence of cultural meanings and barriers in the decision to stay, as also reported by Shen (2011).

Help-seeking is an important step in the process of leaving an abusive relationship. The interviewed DV victims in this study identified many barriers to the disclosure of abusive experience and which constrained the decision of leaving the relationship. The vast majority of factors pointed out by the victims are mainly related to interpersonal factors, such as threats to themselves or others, the fear of losing their partner, the feeling of shame, the consequences that disclosure will have on their partner or the failure to recognize the abuse situation, as supported by Liang et al. (2005). Other studies have also documented these barriers to DV help-seeking (e.g., Ameral et al. 2017; Edwards et al. 2012; Rueda et al. 2015). These results seem to support, in part, the thesis of the culture of self-su fficiency, and therefore the fact that the victims tend to try to solve the situations of victimization alone, either because of shame of assuming themselves as victims, or because they fear losing their privacy or even because they do not want to involve family and friends with matters of this nature, as reported by Shen (2011). The experience or perception of these obstacles may influence the victims' decision to seek help (Liang et al. 2005), leading many victims to remain in an abusive relationship for a long period of time, thus increasing the risk of revictimization and promoting the negative consequences associated with DV (Moore et al. 2015). However, in this study, other discourses were also found, such as self-reliance and focus on the abuse survivors' own needs and the re-evaluation of the abusive situation, which implies recognizing the abusive behaviour of the partner and its implications on the well-being of the victim. Together, this reflects some resistance and agency from abuse survivors to deal with the abusive situation and break up, as shown by other international studies (Baley 2010; Enander and Holmber 2008) in this field.

A more structured knowledge about the reasons that lead young people to stay or leave an abusive relationship, can assume a central role in the protection of victims, namely in the adoption of actions that facilitate the safe and permanent exit from the same abusive relationship, such as a specialized shelter for victims where they can stay, in order to guarantee their safety (Pinheiro and Caridade 2019).

This study has some limitations that must be considered when assessing the results. As mentioned, the small size of the sample, common, as already mentioned, to other relevant studies in the field (e.g., Baley 2010; Enander and Holmber 2008; Rosen and Stith 1995; Shen 2011), is justified by the di fficulty in accessing DV victims, which also hindered the construction of a more heterogeneous sample. The sample is mainly composed of heterosexual women (*n* = 12), involved in heterosexual relationships

and all participants were already out of the abusive relationship at the time of the study. In view of the known di fficulties of victims involved in same-sex relationships, related to sexual orientation and gender identity, that a ffect processes of seeking assistance (Calton et al. 2015), it is important that future studies also incorporate this specific population. This study focuses only on victims, which is opposite to other studies which address the general population, but it is important that future research also seeks to include o ffenders and participants who assume to have been involved in, or perpetrated, this type of abuse, in order to better understand the perpetuation of abusive relationships over time and the reasons behind late requests for help, intensifying the abuse situation. Further studies should also consider developing longitudinal mixed-methodologies with larger and more diverse samples whenever possible, in order to obtain a holistic understanding of the DV phenomenon. In addition, and considering the reasons pointed out by the victims to stay in abusive relationships, namely social pressure and feelings of guilt, it is still of considerable importance that further studies try to explore the cultural meanings and barriers associated with help-seeking behaviours. This knowledge will make it possible to enhance the support provided to victims and eventually to promote culturally sensitive interventions, as clearly highlighted by Shen (2011). Finally, it is important to develop additional research aiming to better understand the factors underlying the preference to seek help from informal sources, as well as the impact of social reactions on the sharing of DV events and experiences by abuse survivors.
