Journal of Interpersonal Violence最新文献

Female-perpetrated sexual violence research in Australia and elsewhere has been limited, part of a less common and arguably contentious field of criminology. Because of gendered social and cultural stereotypes, female sexual offending is often perceived as harmless or too rare to warrant attention. Utilizing Schippers' pariah femininities, this paper presents a critical criminological exploration of social media users' constructions of female sex offenders and their male victim-survivors. Examining 28 Facebook posts from 13 popular Australian newspapers, our findings identified social media users' tendency to question offence severity and sexualize offenders based on appearance, revealing how offender legitimacy and conceptions of harm are shaped by gendered expectations of "pretty women" and "lucky blokes." Conclusions suggest online discourse remains influenced by gendered stereotypes, though awareness of pariah femininities is growing, with further research needed worldwide to explore the impact of such social media attitudes and commentary on the incidence of and reactions to female sexual offending against men, including victim-survivors' help-seeking behavior.

Violence Against Women is a global problem that affects millions of women around the world. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the Mental Health and Quality of Life of Ecuadorian women exposed or not exposed to Gender Violence mediated by sociodemographic factors. A total of 433 Ecuadorian women, 18 to 64 years of age, most of whom (69%) reported being exposed to gender violence. Most of the women lived in the province of Pichincha and were selected through a type of nonprobabilistic sampling based on a survey about gender violence. Women exposed to gender violence showed a greater impact on personality profiles, clinical tests, and quality of life in the physical, psychological, social, and environmental domains compared to women not exposed to violence. In addition, these effects were mediated by age, economic level, education, marital status, and exposure to physical violence and psychological or sexual abuse within the socio-family or work contexts. The results of this study could contribute to improving public health systems, showing improvements in care programs for victims of violence.

In recent years, social campaigns and high-profile cases have brought increased attention to violence against women. Athletes can be role models, shaping both prosocial and antisocial attitudes. Their engagement in violence prevention could be an effective tool to tackle violence against women through bystander intervention. This part of a mixed-method feasibility study reports on the quantitative evaluation of an evidence-led bystander program, Football Onside, implemented at a football club in South West England in June 2018 to February 2020. The study employed a quasi-experimental design with intervention and control groups. Football coaches and club members (n = 50) completed measures of rape and domestic abuse myths, bystander intent and efficacy, self-reported bystander behaviors, readiness for change, perceptions of peer helping and myth acceptance, law knowledge, and program evaluation. Fidelity was also assessed. The analysis compared between- and within-group differences in mean changes over time using mixed-effects models. Participant ratings of learning outcomes were high, and fidelity was maintained throughout the intervention. Between-group comparison revealed mixed results, with greater improvements in the intervention group for bystander intent and efficacy at post-test and follow-up, domestic abuse myths at post-test, and rape myth acceptance at follow-up. Model contrasts for within intervention group revealed improvements in rape and domestic abuse myth acceptance, bystander intent and efficacy, perceived law knowledge at both time points, and perceived peer myths and helping at post-test. At follow-up, intervention participants reported significantly higher engagement in bystander behaviors. No significant effects were found for perceived importance of legal knowledge. Our research highlights the potential efficacy of a bystander program tailored for football club members. Cluster-randomized control trials are now required to examine bystander attitudes and behavior change processes among professional athletes.

Despite having adverse physical and mental health outcomes, harsh disciplinary methods are commonly practiced all over the world. This study aims to measure the harsh disciplinary actions taken by parents and their association with child functioning in children, aged 7 to 14 years in Punjab, Pakistan. This study is based on secondary data obtained from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF's) Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, conducted in the Punjab province from 2017 to 2018. Parents/caregivers of 19,721 children were included in the analysis. Questionnaire-based interviews were conducted, and the data collection form included sociodemographic information, questions on different "Methods of Child Discipline" and the "Child functioning module." The data was analyzed using STATA 15.0. Multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted to calculate the adjusted odds ratio and 95% CI exploring the association between harsh disciplinary methods and child functioning. More than 50% of children were exposed to severe physical, psychological, and emotional disciplinary methods. Exposure to severe physical aggression was associated with increased difficulty in learning (2.60 [1.27, 5.31]), remembering (2.83 [1.47, 5.44]), controlling behavior (1.63 [1.21, 2.18]), anxiety (1.98 [1.25, 3.13]), depression (2.57 [1.57, 4.22]) and making friends (1.94 [1.01, 3.79]). Whereas moderate physical aggression and psychological aggression were associated with (1.48 [1.19, 1.84]) and 1.5 times (1.20, 1.84) increase in difficulty in controlling behavior, respectively. Nonviolent actions were associated with protective odds for self-care (0.33 [0.17, 0.65]), communication (0.51 [0.27, 0.96]), learning (0.56 [0.33, 0.95]), remembering (0.62 [0.39, 0.90]), concentration (0.50 [0.31, 0.80]), anxiety (0.60 [0.46, 0.79]) and depression (0.67 [0.49, 0.92]). Severe disciplinary methods are detrimental to the child's personal care, mental, social, emotional, and psychological well-being, whereas nonviolent actions are associated with positive child functioning. In a third-world country such as Pakistan, this topic is widely undiscovered and understudied, thus emphasizing the need for awareness and education of parents and healthcare providers.

Sport governing bodies, such as the International Olympic Committee, have recommended youth sport organizations develop policies, procedures, and/or ethical guidelines to prevent and respond to sexual harassment and abuse (SHA) experienced by young athletes. To our knowledge, no studies have investigated SHA policies or procedures in U.S. youth sport programs. The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine U.S. youth sport programs' policies regarding SHA. The results are based on a cross-sectional survey completed by youth sport coaches (n = 200) from various organizations (e.g., public recreation organizations, private nonprofit organizations, and interscholastic sports). Findings suggest that most organizations have several SHA policies, such as education and training requirements, written policies and codes of conduct regarding coach-athlete sexual relationships, and formal complaint and disclosure procedures for investigating SHA. A bivariate analysis suggests that the presence of several SHA policies was associated with an increased number of self-reported SHA incidents. Moreover, youth sport programs located in urban areas had a greater extent of SHA policies compared to those located in suburban or rural areas. These results are discussed with respect to the potential relationships between the presence of policies and increased cases of SHA. Also, we discussed advocating for equitable resources among youth sport programs regardless of geographic and/or demographic factors. Future research should identify social and cultural barriers that inhibit the successful implementation of SHA policies. While developing and implementing SHA policies is a step in the right direction, it may not be used as the only means to address this complex, systematic, and structural issue.

Individuals who sexually offend often engage in manipulative and coercive behavior to begin, conceal, and continue the sexual abuse of children over time, referred to as grooming behavior. The large majority of research regarding grooming behavior derives exclusively from male sex offending samples, which is problematic because male and female sex offenders vary widely in their offending patterns, motivations, and behaviors. For the present study, we examined the nature of sexual grooming and processes exhibited by a sample of 50 women convicted of sexual offenses against a child. We were guided by Craven et al. model of sexual grooming, which focuses on self, environmental, and child grooming. To date, this is the only proposed model of sexual grooming that includes self-grooming as a step in the grooming process. Data included narrative interviews with women who were arrested, convicted, and assessed for risk and community notification purposes between 2014 and 2019. We also examined interviews with victims, witnesses, and other guardians. The findings from the current study indicated that women who sexually offend utilize a variety of self, environmental, and child grooming behaviors. Self-grooming was an intricate, complex, and layered process that continued throughout the duration of the offense. Details provided by the women in our sample suggested that environmental and child grooming occurred simultaneously rather than two distinct steps. A better understanding of grooming behaviors can assist in the detection of grooming behavior, development of appropriate responses to child victims, and inform future legislation and its implementation. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed.

Although numerous predictors of sexual violence (SV) have been identified, there is a need to further explore protective factors and examine the nature and strength of associations between predictors and SV outcomes using a hierarchical predictive model. Cross-sectional data from the My World Survey Post-Second Level (2019) in Ireland were used. The sample contained 8, 288 post-secondary students, 69% female, aged 18 to 25 years (M = 20.25, SD = 1.85). Univariate and multivariate binary logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify correlates of two SV outcomes (i.e., forced/pressured to have sex and being touched in a sexual manner without consent) across societal, community, relationship, and individual levels. Approximately 25% of females and 10% of males reported being forced/pressured to have sex, whereas 55% of females and 23% of males reported being touched in a sexual manner without consent. Key predictors of SV in multivariate analyses included being female and experiencing violence in a romantic relationship, whereas discrimination, living on campus or in rented accommodation (compared with living at home) were also significant predictors of both SV outcomes. Parental conflict, sexual initiation, depressive symptoms, older age, and an avoidant coping style significantly predicted being forced/pressured to have sex, whereas being bullied and engaging in problem drinking were unique predictors of being touched sexually without consent. Findings highlight the importance of considering salient risk and protective factors at the individual, relationship, community and societal level to predict SV and effectively guide the delivery of interventions and support services for post-secondary students affected by SV.

Sexual assault rates are increasing with ride-shares. Sexual violence data are often underestimated due to sexual violence cases going unreported and can lead to negative health outcomes. There is no research on the phenomenon of sexual assaults among ride-share users. This manuscript investigates sexual assaults from two ride-share companies and the policies/procedures in place to prevent sexual assaults. The data from two ride-share companies' previous Safety Reports were compared to see an increase in sexual assaults. The researchers looked at policies and regulations that ride-share companies have to prevent sexual assault. There is a call for research to investigate more in-depth the sexual assaults that have occurred including demographic data, geographic location, global positioning system failure, and the effectiveness of the criminal background checks.

Sexual Assault Response Teams (SARTs) are community-based, multidisciplinary interventions that strive to coordinate the response to sexual assault. SARTs consist of sexual assault responders (e.g., rape crisis advocates, police, forensic examiners/Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners, and prosecutors) and seek to increase responder collaboration to improve survivors' help-seeking experiences. There is a lack of empirical research examining factors underlying SARTs' goals and what leads communities to form SARTs. Therefore, this study sought to examine the goals and motivations present in SART development using a multiple-methods approach with a national random sample of n = 172 SARTs. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to examine factors underlying SART goals, and qualitative thematic analysis was used to explore what motivators drove SART formation. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses underscored the importance of improving the accessibility and quality of services, improving the treatment of survivors, and increasing responder collaboration. The qualitative findings offered additional insight into the importance of community education and various community contextual factors (e.g., funding and policy requirements) that influence SARTs. Findings inform future research and practice on SART goals and functioning, such as how SART goals may relate to team structure, effectiveness, and capacity-building opportunities.

The Me Too Movement has reshaped cultural awareness about sexual violence but little is known about how this shift may have coincided with changes in the reporting of sexual violence. The current study is the first to use the National Crime Victimization Survey to compare pre-#MeToo and post-#MeToo reports of sexual violence across three different blocks of time (Time 1: 2014-2015; Time 2: October 2017-September 2019; Time 3: October 2019-September 2021). Comparisons include prevalence rates of overall sexual violence, self-reports of sexual violence, official police reports of sexual violence, and situational characteristics of sexual violence (offender was a stranger, victim injury, victim services used). We also examine gender (women/men) and racial (White women/non-White women) differences in sexual violence reporting. Using formal comparisons, we find a significant increase in the rates of overall sexual violence as well as self-reports and stranger-offender reports of sexual violence between the pre- (Time 1) and the first post-#MeToo time point (Time 2). However, these increases are no longer evident in Time 3. In addition, the changes between the pre- (Time 1) and the first post-#MeToo time point (Time 2) are driven primarily by White women's reporting of sexual violence, and we find no significant changes in the rates of sexual violence experienced by men nor non-White women during these time periods.