Journal of Interpersonal Violence

Estrellado, Alicia F.; Loh, Jennifer (M. I.)

2014 Journal of Interpersonal Violence

doi: 10.1177/0886260513505709pmid: 24212977

There is a dearth of research on battered Filipino women’s stay or leave decision-making process. The present study interviewed 40 battered women in the Philippines to explore factors associated with their decisions to stay or leave their husbands or partners. Results revealed that (a) battered women’s decision to stay was associated with intrapersonal and interpersonal factors such as personality characteristics, lack of personal resources, absence of social support, presence of children, length of relationship, and sociocultural factors and (b) battered women’s decision to leave their abusive partners was associated with factors such as personality characteristics, personal resources, social support, nature of abuse, and spousal factors. Implications for research and practice were discussed.

Reina, Angelica S.; Lohman, Brenda J.; Maldonado, Marta María

2014 Journal of Interpersonal Violence

doi: 10.1177/0886260513505214pmid: 24142446

Significant developments have been made in research on domestic violence experienced by women as well as on the practical front of the services women seek and receive when living with partner abuse. Yet, most of the studies that explore the experiences of victims of partner abuse in the United States have focused on nonimmigrant White women. The current study aims to contribute to the literature by exploring Latina immigrant victims’ experiences with domestic violence service outreach in the Midwest. This exploratory study used one-on-one interviews and a focus group to identify the challenges faced by 10 Latina victims of partner abuse who had previously contacted an antiviolence organization in Iowa and had used its services. Findings demonstrate that immigration status and the inability to understand domestic violence within given cultural norms are major barriers keeping Latina victims from seeking help from formal advocacy agencies. Other impediments include feeling shame, isolation, along with the lack of bilingual service providers in mainstream institutions and, the lack of knowledge about resources among newcomers. We end with recommendations for research and practice.

Cyr, Katie; Clément, Marie-Ève; Chamberland, Claire

2014 Journal of Interpersonal Violence

doi: 10.1177/0886260513505220pmid: 24158747

This study sought to document lifetime experiences of individual categories of victimizations and polyvictimization using the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire among children from the province of Quebec (Canada) to examine whether polyvictimization predicts mental health symptoms and to assess whether categories of victimization still contribute to mental health symptoms after considering polyvictimization. Polyvictimization accounted for the most variability in scores for depression, anxiety, and anger/aggression compared with individual victimization categories. None of the individual categories of victimization made an independent contribution to the prediction of trauma scores, once polyvictimization was considered.

Shen, April Chiung-Tao

2014 Journal of Interpersonal Violence

doi: 10.1177/0886260513505213pmid: 24106143

This study has examined the effects that young adults’ experience of dating-violence victimization can have on their manifestation of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. This study has also examined the possible roles that cultural beliefs can play in dating-violence experience, coping choices, and PTSD symptoms. This study has used self-reporting measures to collect data from a nationally stratified random sample of 1,018 college students in Taiwan. Results demonstrate that college students who had experienced dating-violence victimization reported higher levels of PTSD symptoms than those who had not. The results reveal that psychological-violence victimization and cultural beliefs have direct and indirect effects on PTSD symptoms via the mediation of young adults’ use of emotion-focused coping strategies. Greater frequencies of psychological-violence victimization were associated with a greater use of emotion-focused coping, which was in turn associated with increases in PTSD symptoms. This study illustrates that traditional Chinese beliefs have played significant roles in exacerbating the risk for dating violence and PTSD, and in shaping victims’ coping choices with dating violence.

Khoury-Kassabri, Mona; Attar-Schwartz, Shalhevet

2014 Journal of Interpersonal Violence

doi: 10.1177/0886260513505208pmid: 24305865

Physical victimization by peers was examined among 1,324 Jewish and Arab adolescents, aged 11 to 19, residing in 32 residential care settings (RCS) for children at-risk in Israel. Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) was used to examine the relationships between physical victimization and adolescents’ characteristics (age, gender, self-efficacy, adjustment difficulties, maltreatment by staff, and perceived social climate) as well as institution-level characteristics (care setting type, size, structure, and ethnic affiliation). For this study, we define physical violence as being grabbed, shoved, kicked, punched, hit with a hand, or hit with an object. Over 50% (56%) of the adolescents surveyed reported having experienced at least one form of physical violence by peers. Boys and younger adolescents were more likely to be victimized than girls and older adolescents. The results show that adolescents with adjustment difficulties or low social self-efficacy, and adolescents who perceive an institution’s staff as strict and/or had experienced maltreatment by staff, are vulnerable groups for peer victimization. Lower levels of victimization were found in RCS with a familial element than in traditional group settings. Institutions with high concentrations of young people with adjustment difficulties and violent staff behaviors had higher levels of violence among residents. Applying an ecological perspective to an investigation of peer victimization in RCS enables the identification of risk factors at adolescent and institution levels. This type of examination has implications for child welfare practice and policy that can help in the development of prevention and intervention methods designed to tackle the involvement in violence of youth in care.

Cao, YuPing; Yang, ShiChang; Wang, GuoQiang; Zhang, YaLin

2014 Journal of Interpersonal Violence

doi: 10.1177/0886260513505218pmid: 24176988

A population case-control study of domestic violence in China was conducted to examine the relationship between individual- and household-level characteristics and violence perpetration and victimization. Demographic comparisons were conducted between perpetrators and victims (n = 624), perpetrators and matched controls (n = 628), and perpetrator households and control households (n = 620). A multivariate model of demographic risk was tested, integrating individual- and household-level correlates of violence perpetration. Compared with victims, perpetrators were more likely to be older, male, and have lower levels of education. In the final model, violence perpetration was more likely among individuals who earned more income, contributed a lower proportion of the household income, had a family member who was unemployed or lived in households with an authoritarian or independent power structure.

Connolly, Eric J.; Beaver, Kevin M.

2014 Journal of Interpersonal Violence

doi: 10.1177/0886260513505209pmid: 24142448

The Child and Young Adult Supplement of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (CNLSY) has been used extensively within criminology. A significant amount of criminological research, for example, has explored various issues related to the correlates, causes, and consequences associated with levels of self-control and delinquent involvement. The overwhelming majority of these CNLSY studies, however, have not accounted for the potential effects of genetic factors on these two widely studied criminological variables and thus the findings generated from previous empirical work may be inaccurate due to genetic confounding. The current study partially addresses this possibility by analyzing a sample of kinship pairs nested within the CNLSY. Analyses of these data revealed that genetic factors accounted for between 51% and 92% of the variance in levels of self-control and between 30% and 41% of the variance in delinquency. We discuss the implications of these results for interpreting findings from the large body of existing research using the CNLSY.

Kodžopeljić, Jasmina; Smederevac, Snežana; Mitrović, Dušanka; Dinić, Bojana; Čolović, Petar

2014 Journal of Interpersonal Violence

doi: 10.1177/0886260513505216pmid: 24255068

This study examined the differences in personality traits between the clusters reflecting the roles in violent interactions among high school students. The sample included 397 students (51.1% male) of Serbian nationality from the first to the fourth grades of different high schools. Based on scores of five dimensions related to peer violence (Physical Aggression, Psychological Aggression, Victimization, Adapted Behavior, and Risky Behavior), three clusters were extracted: Adapted Adolescents, Victims, and Bullies. These three clusters were compared with respect to lexical Big Seven personality traits, and the results indicate that the clusters differ significantly on Aggressiveness, Neuroticism, and Negative Valence. The Adapted Adolescents have the lowest scores on all three dimensions, while the Victims score highest on Neuroticism, and the Bullies on Aggressiveness. The potential importance of certain Extraversion facets for the roles in violent interaction was discussed.

Miller, Elizabeth; Das, Madhumita; Tancredi, Daniel J.; McCauley, Heather L.; Virata, Maria Catrina D.; Nettiksimmons, Jasmine; O’Connor, Brian; Ghosh, Sancheeta; Verma, Ravi

2014 Journal of Interpersonal Violence

doi: 10.1177/0886260513505205pmid: 24142444

Gender-based violence, which includes sexual and intimate partner violence against women, is prevalent worldwide, prompting calls for primary prevention programs which engage men and boys in changing social norms that condone violence against women. Bystander intervention efforts which encourage males to say something to stop peers from enacting disrespectful and abusive behaviors toward females are a promising strategy for promoting non-violent, gender-equitable attitudes and behaviors. An evaluation of “Parivartan”—a U.S. program called “Coaching Boys Into Men” adapted for urban India cricket teams—was conducted in Mumbai, India. Baseline and 12 month follow-up surveys were administered to 309 male cricket athletes aged 10 to 16 years in 46 urban middle schools in Mumbai, India (27 intervention, 19 control). Athletes whose coaches were trained in the program demonstrated greater improvements in gender-equitable attitudes compared to athletes whose coaches provided standard coaching only. Marginally significant improvements were seen in reduction of negative bystander behavior. Violence prevention programs which utilize coaches as positive messengers for respect and non-violence may be a useful addition to global prevention efforts to reduce violence against women.