Violence and Victims最新文献

Over the past few years, there has been a growing awareness of the extent and consequences of sexual assault. Sexual assault has long-term consequences for the survivor's mental health and brings into question the resources available to survivors for dealing with the consequences of the assault. The positive effects of spirituality and forgiveness on mental health are well documented; however, few studies have examined how sexual assault survivors use spiritual beliefs and forgiveness to cope with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and stress symptoms. Social support is another resource that has been found to contribute substantially to positive adaptation among trauma survivors. Nevertheless, conflicting results were found regarding the effect of social support on the recovery of sexual assault survivors. Since these resources have a significant impact on individuals who have experienced trauma, the purpose of this study was to examine how these resources relate to the levels of PTSD symptoms and general stress among female survivors of sexual assault. Two hundred and four (N = 204) participants completed a demographic questionnaire and questionnaires about forgiveness, social support, spirituality, PTSD symptoms, and stress. Higher levels of forgiveness, spirituality, and social support were associated with lower levels of PTSD symptoms and stress. A two-step hierarchal regression showed that education, financial status, age at the time of the assault, forgiveness, and social support each contributed significantly to the explained variance of PTSD symptoms. The variability in reported stress could be explained by education, financial status, age at the time of the assault, forgiveness, and spirituality. The study's findings point to the unique roles of forgiveness, spirituality, and social support as beneficial resources for coping with sexual assault. These findings also shed further light on the ways in which these resources can be used to cope with a variety of types of distress.

The aim of the study was to identify salient groupings of trauma survivors based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)-5 posttraumatic stress disorder symptomatology. Latent class analysis was used in 365 outpatient mental health trauma survivors. We identified six classes with two spectra-prominent avoidance and negative alterations in cognitions/mood (NACM)-and a resilient class (a plurality). Sexual assaults were more common among avoidance-prominent classes, and suicide attempts and tobacco problems were more common among NACM-prominent classes. Previous studies have found classes differentiated by numbing, but this is the first since numbing was subsumed by DSM-5's NACM. Our findings suggest that avoidance and numbing are distinct symptoms (consistent with DSM-5) but indicate that current nosology may miss individuals with high numbing and low avoidance despite their distinct suicide risks.

Experiences of intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization/survivorship and the health and well-being of Arab American women remain understudied despite a growing U.S. Arab population. This study examines 164 Arab American women in relationships and their experiences with IPV, self-rated physical and mental health, and relationship satisfaction. Analyses revealed three key findings: (a) IPV victimization is negatively associated with self-rated physical health (including composite, injury, and sexual coercion measures) and relationship satisfaction (including composite, injury, physical assault, and sexual coercion measures), but a negative relationship with mental health has only limited support (i.e., injury measure), (b) Christian and Muslim respondents reported overall similar levels of IPV victimization and physical and mental health, and (c) Muslim women reported lower relationship satisfaction, independent from IPV experiences. The findings reaffirm the call for culturally responsive and tailored programming aimed at eradicating or reducing IPV within Arab American communities. Moreover, increasing research on Arab American women can be an important resource for clinicians supporting this community.

This study examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and stay-at-home (SAH) orders on gun violence in New York City (NYC), with a focus on variations across neighborhood demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. Using a 4-year longitudinal and geospatial analysis, we investigate the relationship between socioeconomic factors (e.g., poverty, unemployment, and minority presence) and shooting incidents, as well as how SAH orders shaped these trends. A detailed heatmap visualizes the distribution of shooting incidents, revealing concentrations in the Upper Bronx and Central Brooklyn. Hypothesis testing was conducted with a negative binomial regression model using interrupted time series analysis. We found neighborhoods with higher proportions of Black, Hispanic, unemployed, and low-income residents experienced more shootings. Shooting incidents were unusually low at the beginning of the SAH order but increased steadily over time, peaking dramatically after the order was lifted. Unemployment drove a sharp rise in shooting incidents during the SAH period, while poverty contributed to a more sustained impact on violence in the post-SAH period. The findings highlight the disproportionate burden of COVID-19 pandemic on vulnerable groups and the evolving influence of SAH orders on gun violence.

The aim of this study was to describe the extent to which men in psychiatric care have experienced emotional, physical, and sexual abuse during the life course and the association between this experience and being a perpetrator oneself. The aim was also to identify who exposed them to abuse and whether there was an association between the category of abuser and being a perpetrator oneself. A cross-sectional study was performed using the self-administered NorVold Abuse Questionnaire for men. The study included 210 men and showed that there was a significant association between physical abuse both as a child and as an adult and being a perpetrator oneself. There was, furthermore, a significant correlation between having been subjected to physical and emotional family member abuse and being oneself a perpetrator of abuse. This study concludes that experiences of abuse among men in a Swedish psychiatric context can be associated with perpetration of abuse.

Various physical, mental, and behavioral disorders are reported among individuals who witness violence. This study was designed to examine university students' risky health behaviors after witnessing domestic violence. In this study, 2,509 university students, selected using the stratified sampling method in terms of sex and study year, were included. Path analysis was performed to examine the relationships between sociodemographic variables and risky health behaviors. We found that witnessing domestic violence directly increased substance abuse and alcohol consumption in the entire study population and partner violence among female participants. By adding the variable of witnessing domestic violence to the equation as a mediator, the effect of sociodemographic characteristics on risky health behaviors changed.

Mass-shooting events are of increasing public and scholarly concern in the United States. While research into the causes of these events and possibilities for prevention is growing, our knowledge of the impacts of mass shootings on survivors is limited. This brief report examines current research on mass-shooting victimization and proposes how adjacent literature can assist in developing a broader knowledge base.

Military sexual trauma (MST), an unfortunately common experience reported by U.S. service members and veterans, frequently leads to symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other related conditions. However, little is known about how contextual features of MST correlate with specific clinical phenotypes and symptom presentations. The current study examined correlations between contextual factors of MST and cumulative interpersonal trauma history with diverse clinical outcomes, including PTSD symptom clusters, depressive symptoms, worry, and posttraumatic cognitions in a sizeable treatment-seeking sample (N = 472). Nuanced patterns emerged. Generally, additional exposure to childhood sexual abuse and adult intimate partner violence (IPV; describing nonsexual violence perpetrated by an intimate partner) was associated with elevations in particular negative posttraumatic cognitions as were multiple perpetrator MST events. In contrast, recurrent MST and additional sexual trauma in adulthood were not predictive. Multiple perpetrator MST and adult IPV were also associated with distinct PTSD symptom cluster profiles. Lifetime emotional and physical abuse were related to multiple deleterious outcomes and evidenced the strongest effects. Fewer relationships were identified between cumulative trauma exposure and elevated worry and depression. A better understanding of cumulative and contextual trauma experiences and phenotypic variability in clinical presentation may inform effective tailoring of and innovations in treating trauma-related symptoms.

Technology can be leveraged as a tool by perpetrators of interpersonal violence, which requires survivors to consider digital platforms as part of their safety planning processes. To explore how survivors are addressing these safety concerns, we performed secondary, qualitative content analysis of semistructured interviews with college students who used campus-based advocacy services for interpersonal violence. Participants described an array of technology-related safety strategies they implemented to protect themselves across multiple types of digital technologies. As a cohort of the internet age, many college student survivors reported having an extensive "digital footprint" which created challenges in identifying and addressing all possible security concerns. Campus-based advocacy services should integrate technology considerations into their safety planning using a survivor-led, empowerment approach which helps maintain access to digital platforms.

The present study examined experience of interpersonal violence and perfectionism as predictors of suicide risk (viz., depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation) in a sample of 196 young adult Indian males and females. Results obtained from conducting a set of hierarchical regression analyses indicated several notable patterns. Experience of interpersonal violence was a predictor of both depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation. Moreover, the inclusion of dimensions of perfectionism (as a set) was also found to consistently predict additional unique variance in depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation, even after accounting for experience of interpersonal violence. Importantly, even after controlling for depressive symptoms, experience of interpersonal violence and perfectionism, namely, parental criticism, uniquely accounted for additional variance in suicidal ideation. Overall, our findings based on a non-Western, industrialized, educated, rich, and democratic sample of young adult Indians not only indicate that experience of interpersonal violence is an important predictor of suicide risk but also indicate that perfectionism remains an important predictor of suicide risk.