Journal of Interpersonal Violence (J INTERPERS VIOLENCE)

Publications in this journal

• Article: Coercive Control and Abused Women's Decisions About Their Pets When Seeking Shelter.

  Jennifer L Hardesty, Lyndal Khaw, Marcella D Ridgway, Cheryl Weber, Teresa Miles
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  ABSTRACT: The importance of pets in families, especially during major life stressors, is well documented. Research suggests links between pet ownership and intimate partner violence (IPV). This study explored abused women's decisions about pets when seeking help from a shelter. Interviews were conducted with 19 women who were pet owners. Using grounded theory methods, two patterns emerged surrounding abusers' treatment of pets, bonds to pets, women's decisions about pets upon seeking shelter, and future plans for pets. The presence of coercive control was central to these patterns. Women also discussed their experiences with and needs from shelter professionals and veterinarians with implications for practice.
  Journal of Interpersonal Violence 05/2013;
• Article: Student Reactions to Public Safety Reports of Hate Crimes.

  Jessica E Kahl, Anne Koenig, Ramon Smith
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  ABSTRACT: This study investigated participant's reactions to hate crime versus nonbiased crime incident reports that included more or less detail about the crime using a 2 (victim race: African American, unstated) × 2 (amount of information: vague, detailed) between-subjects factorial design. We hypothesized that participants would be more sympathetic, more distressed, and blame the victim less if the victim was African American (designating a hate crime) and if more detail was included in the incident report. The results generally showed greater psychological impact for a hate crime versus nonbiased crime and when more information was presented than with vague information, and these two manipulations did not interact in influencing participants' reactions. These results indicate that amount of detail provided about a crime should be considered when publishing incident reports.
  Journal of Interpersonal Violence 05/2013;
• Article: "It Helps Me Transform in My Life From the Past to the New": The Meaning of Resources for Former Child Soldiers.

  Sofie Vindevogel, Eric Broekaert, Ilse Derluyn
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  ABSTRACT: Although former child soldiers face considerable challenges after their return from the warring faction to the war-affected society, the presence of resources enables many to maintain well-being in the wake of child soldiering. Academic research has recently engaged with identifying these salient resources, but has left the question why they are helpful to former child soldiers largely unaddressed.This study therefore focuses on the meaning underlying certain phenomena that causes them to become resources. Semistructured in-depth interviews and a free-listing task on resources were conducted with 48 northern Ugandan former child soldiers. The phenomenological hermeneutical method is applied to analyze their lived experiences and the meaning they assign to resources.Four essential themes emerge from this study, representing the fourfold meaning of resources for former child soldiers in helping them (a) to break with their former existence as child soldiers, (b) to be able to overcome the challenges in their current life, (c) to belong to others and the environment to which they have returned, and (d) to become the person they aspire to be.Considering these research themes in the context of former child soldiers' return process, parallels with theories on transition are recognized and further explored so as to contextualize this emerging meaning. As such, this research delivers empirical evidence illustrating how resources help to pilot former child soldiers through transition in the wake of child soldiering.
  Journal of Interpersonal Violence 04/2013;
• Article: Vertical and Lateral Workplace Bullying in Nursing: Development of the Hospital Aggressive Behaviour Scale.

  Kathrin Waschgler, José Antonio Ruiz-Hernández, Bartolomé Llor-Esteban, José Antonio Jiménez-Barbero
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  ABSTRACT: Healthcare staff is one of the professional groups that suffers the highest exposure to sources of occupational stress such as hostility from coworkers and superiors.In order to contribute to the assessment of bullying behaviors in the healthcare sector and to obtain a brief and manageable instrument for the assessment of this psychosocial risk, we developed the Hospital Aggressive Behaviour Scale-version Co-workers-Superiors (HABS-CS).By means of thorough qualitative analysis, an initial pool of 166 items was obtained, which were reviewed according to precise criteria until concluding with a total of 57 items, which were administered to a sample of 1,484 healthcare professionals from 11 public hospitals. The analyses concluded with the selection of 17 items distributed in two subscales. The internal 5-factor structure is the result of exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis conducted in two samples. Both the resulting questionnaire and the factors identified present adequate psychometric properties: high-internal consistency (Cronbach's α of .86) and adequate criterion validity, analyzed by means of significant correlations between the HABS-CS and job satisfaction, burnout components, and psychological well-being. This instrument may be of great utility for the assessment and prevention of psychosocial risks.
  Journal of Interpersonal Violence 03/2013;
• Article: Dating Violence Among Gay Men in China.

  Yong Yu, Shuiyuan Xiao, Kirin Qilin Liu
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  ABSTRACT: This is the first study on the prevalence of dating violence and threats of being forced to "come out of the closet" among Chinese gay men. Data on social demographic information and the experience of dating violence, including types of abuse, threats of "outing," and the gender of abusers were collected from 418 gay men and 330 heterosexual men by self-administered questionnaires. Mann-Whitney U test, χ2 test, and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to test group differences. Up to 32.8% of the gay men had experienced one abuse or more. Among those experiencing abuse, 83.9% of the gay men never told anyone about their abuse. The experience of any form of abuse by gay men was 5.07 times higher than the rate of abuse among heterosexual men controlling for age in logistic regression models. In addition, 12.4% of the gay men have experienced the threat of being outed. Overall, dating violence is more prevalent in gay men than in heterosexuals. Efforts to prevent dating violence, especially among gay men, should be made in China.
  Journal of Interpersonal Violence 03/2013;
• Article: The Context and Consequences of Sexual Assault among Undergraduate Women at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

  Christine H Lindquist, Kelle Barrick, Christopher Krebs, Carmen M Crosby, Allison J Lockard, Kathy Sanders-Phillips
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  ABSTRACT: To examine the context of sexual assault and postassault actions and consequences among women attending historically Black colleges or universities (HBCUs), web-based surveys were administered in November 2008 to 3,951 undergraduate women attending four HBCUs. Data on the context in which assaults occurred were generated for women who had been sexually assaulted since entering college (n = 358). Multivariate models were run on the full sample to examine the association between sexual assault and symptoms of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Results indicated that most survivors were assaulted by assailants well known to them and when the survivor and perpetrator were drinking alcohol. Very few survivors disclosed their experiences to formal sources of support. Survivors had significantly more symptoms of depression and were more likely to screen positive for PTSD than nonvictims. Further research on disclosure and its moderating role on the mental health consequences of sexual assault is needed.
  Journal of Interpersonal Violence 03/2013;
• Article: Validity and Reliability of the Malay Version of WHO Women's Health and Life Experiences Questionnaire.

  Norkhafizah Saddki, Zaharah Sulaiman, Siti Hawa Ali, Tengku Nur Fadzilah Tengku Hassan, Sarimah Abdullah, Azriani Ab Rahman, Tengku Alina Tengku Ismail, Rohana Abdul Jalil, Zabedah Baharudin
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  ABSTRACT: The Women's Health and Life Experiences questionnaire measures the prevalence, health implications, and risk factors for domestic violence. This cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the validity and reliability of the Malay version of World Health Organization (WHO) Women's Health and Life Experiences Questionnaire. Construct validity and reliability assessment of the Malay version of the questionnaire was done on 20 specific items that measure four types of intimate partner violence (IPV) act; controlling behaviors (CB), emotional violence (EV), physical violence (PV), and sexual violence (SV), which were considered as the domains of interest. Face-to-face interviewing method was used for data collection. A total of 922 women completed the interviews. The results showed that exploratory factor analysis of four factors with eigenvalues above 1 accounted for 63.83% of the variance. Exploratory factor analysis revealed that all items loaded above 0.40 and the majority of items loaded on factors that were generally consistent with the proposed construct. The internal consistency reliability was good. The Cronbach's α values ranged from 0.767 to 0.858 across domains. The Malay version of WHO Women's Health and Life Experiences Questionnaire is a valid and reliable measure of women's health and experiences of IPV in Malaysia.
  Journal of Interpersonal Violence 03/2013;
• Article: Acknowledged Versus Unacknowledged Sexual Assault Among College Women.

  Colleen Cleere, Steven Jay Lynn
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  ABSTRACT: Research suggests that many sexually victimized women do not acknowledge their unwanted sexual experiences as assaults. The majority of the research on this topic has focused on rape acknowledgment; however, this pattern holds true for other forms of sexual assault as well. The present study examined differences among university women with acknowledged, unacknowledged, and no histories of sexual assault. Relevant groups were compared in terms of current psychological distress, the situational factors of the assault, and the labeling of the assault. Similar to studies examining only rape, acknowledged victims of sexual assault reported clearer refusal, the experience of a more forceful assault, and more intense resistance against the perpetrator. Unacknowledged victims were more likely to endorse a prior romantic relationship with their assailant and a more recent assault. The great majority of women who endorsed an unwanted sexual experience also reported they were intoxicated at the time.
  Journal of Interpersonal Violence 03/2013;
• Article: Differences Among Incarcerated Women With Assaultive Offenses: Isolated Versus Patterned Use of Violence.

  Sheryl Pimlott Kubiak, Woo Jong Kim, Gina Fedock, Deborah Bybee
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  ABSTRACT: A majority of the existing research on women's use of violence focuses on intimate partner violence, often excluding other types of violence for which women may be incarcerated. The current study expands this area of research by assessing between and within-group differences among a randomly selected group of incarcerated women (n = 543). Comparisons between violent and nonviolent offense types among women found few differences, but significant differences among women with an assaultive offense, based on the presence or absence of a self-reported uncaught violence, were found. Differences in women with isolated (i.e., single incident of violence perpetration through a review of formal and self-report data) and patterned uses of violence were present in relation to issues of mental health, substance abuse, criminogenic risk, and expressions of anger and personality factors. These findings have important implications for intervention as well as future research.
  Journal of Interpersonal Violence 03/2013;
• Article: Prevalence and Correlates of Intimate Partner Violence by Type and Severity: Population-Based Studies in Azerbaijan, Moldova, and Ukraine.

  Leyla Ismayilova, Nabila El-Bassel
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  ABSTRACT: The article estimates the prevalence and sociodemographic correlates of intimate partner violence (IPV) by type and severity in population-based samples from three countries of the former Soviet Union (fSU). The article utilized nationally representative data from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) conducted in Azerbaijan (2006), Moldova (2005), and Ukraine (2007). Respondents were selected using stratified multistage cluster sampling. The sample included ever-married (or cohabitating) females of reproductive age (15-49 years old); weighted sample n = 3,847 in Azerbaijan, n = 4,321 in Moldova, and n = 2,355 in Ukraine. The analysis used multinomial survey logistic regression adjusting for the sampling design and sampling weights. Ten percent of ever-partnered women in Azerbaijan and Ukraine and 20% in Moldova ever experienced physical IPV (without sexual) from their most recent husband or cohabitating partner; 3% of women in Azerbaijan and Ukraine and 5% in Moldova experienced sexual IPV (with or without physical), and 2% of women in Azerbaijan, 3% in Ukraine, and 6% in Moldova experienced violence resulting in severe physical injuries from their most recent partner. In all three countries physical, sexual, and injurious IPV was higher among formerly married women. Compared to women with above secondary education, women with secondary education or below demonstrated higher risk for physical IPV (in Moldova and Ukraine), sexual IPV in Moldova, and injurious IPV in all three countries. Poor socioeconomic status-as indicated by low household wealth status in Azerbaijan and partner's unemployment in Moldova and Ukraine-was significantly associated with higher risk for physical and injurious IPV. In Moldova and Ukraine partners' low level of education was associated with higher risk for sexual IPV. The article demonstrates that experiences and factors associated with IPV are diverse and context specific. The findings may be helpful in targeting interventions to sociodemographic groups disproportionately affected by IPV in these three transitional countries.
  Journal of Interpersonal Violence 03/2013;
• Article: Childhood Sexual Abuse, Alcohol Use, and PTSD Symptoms as Predictors of Adult Sexual Assault Among Lesbians and Gay Men.

  Sohyun C Han, Matthew W Gallagher, Molly R Franz, May S Chen, Fabiana M Cabral, Brian P Marx
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  ABSTRACT: Prior research has indicated that childhood sexual abuse (CSA), alcohol use, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms are important risk factors for adult sexual assault (ASA). A notable limitation of this prior work, however, is that it has almost exclusively focused on heterosexual women. The present study sought to remedy this by examining the extent to which CSA, alcohol use, and PTSD symptoms related to ASA among lesbians (n = 122) and gay men (n = 117). Using structural equation modeling, we found that alcohol use was the best predictor of ASA among lesbians whereas CSA was the best predictor of ASA among gay men. These results suggest that certain risk factors may be differentially related to ASA among groups with different sexual orientations. Such findings deepen our current understanding of ASA and offer important directions for reducing the risk of ASA for lesbian and gay individuals.
  Journal of Interpersonal Violence 03/2013;
• Article: Treatment Referral for Sex Offenders Based on Clinical Judgment Versus Actuarial Risk Assessment: Match and Analysis of Mismatch.

  Wineke J Smid, Jan Henk Kamphuis, Edwin C Wever, Daan Van Beek
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  ABSTRACT: The Risk Need Responsivity (RNR) principles (Andrews & Bonta, 2010) dictate that higher risk sex offenders should receive more intensive treatment. The present study investigates how clinically based treatment assignment relates to risk level in a sex offender sample from The Netherlands. Correlational analyses served to identify sources of mismatches: that is, variables differing significantly in their relation between treatment selection and risk level. Our study sample consisted of 194 convicted rapists and 214 convicted child molesters. All participants' criminal files were retrospectively coded in terms of the items of the STATIC-99R, PCL: SV, and SVR-20. A low to moderate correlation was observed between clinical treatment selection and actuarial risk levels. A substantial part of the sex offenders, especially child molesters, received overly intensive treatment and another substantial part, especially rapists, received treatment of lesser intensity than indicated by their risk levels. General violent and antisocial risk factors seemed to be underemphasized in the clinical evaluation of sex offenders, especially rapists. A negative attitude toward intervention was negatively associated with clinical treatment selection. It is concluded that clinical treatment selection leads to an insufficient match between risk level and treatment level and systematic use of validated structured risk assessment instruments is necessary to ensure optimal adherence to the risk principle.
  Journal of Interpersonal Violence 02/2013;
• Article: Violence in Adulthood and Mental Health: Gender and Immigrant Status.

  Debora Alvarez-Del Arco, Julia Del Amo, Rocio Garcia-Pina, Ana Maria Garcia-Fulgueiras, M Angeles Rodriguez-Arenas, Vicente Ibañez-Rojo, Domingo Díaz-Del Peral, Inma Jarrin, Alberto Fernandez-Liria, Maria Victoria Zunzunegui, Visitación Garcia-Ortuzar, Lucia Mazarrasa, Alicia Llacer
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  ABSTRACT: The aim of this study was to describe perceived abuse in adult Spanish and Ecuadorian women and men and to assess its association with mental health.A population-based survey was conducted in Spain in 2006. Data were taken from a probabilistic sample allowing for an equal number of men and women, Spaniards and Ecuadorians. Mental disorder was measured with the General Health Questionnaire-28. The nine questions on exposure to physical, sexual, and psychological abuse during the previous year were self-administered. Multivariate logistic regression was used to assess the association between exposure to abuse and poor mental health, adjusting for potential confounders.The sample was composed of 1,059 individuals aged 18 to 54, 104 of whom reported physical, psychological, or sexual abuse. Some 6% refused to answer the questions on abuse. Overall, reported abuse ranged from 13% in Ecuadorian women to 5% in Spanish men. Psychological abuse was the most frequent. Half the abused women, both Spanish and Ecuadorian, reported intimate partner violence (IPV), as did 22% of abused men. Poor mental health was found in 61% of abused Spanish women (adjusted Odds Ratio [ORa] = 5.1; 95% CI: 1.8-14.4), and 62% abused Ecuadorian women (ORa = 4; 95% CI: 2-7.9), in 36% of abused Spanish men (ORa = 3; 95% CI: 0.9-10.7) and in 30% abused Ecuadorian men (ORa = 2.8; 95% CI: 1-7.7).Interpersonal violence is frequent in relations with the partner, the family, and outside the family, and it seriously affects the mental health. Ecuadorian women stand out as the most vulnerable group.
  Journal of Interpersonal Violence 02/2013;
• Article: Parenting of Men With Co-Occurring Intimate Partner Violence and Substance Abuse.

  Carla Smith Stover, Caroline J Easton, Thomas J McMahon
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  ABSTRACT: No studies to date have compared parenting behaviors of men with co-occurring intimate partner violence (IPV) and substance abuse (SA) with community controls. This study was designed to document mediators of differences in parenting behavior of fathers and the emotional-behavioral problems of their children for men with co-occurring SA and IPV. The self-reported parenting (negative, positive and coparenting behaviors) and the child emotional-behavioral problems of 43 fathers with children aged 2 to 6 years with a recent history of SA + IPV were compared to a sample of 43 community control fathers with the same socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds. Fathers completed measures on their parenting behavior with a target child, coparenting behavior with the child's mother, emotion regulation, romantic attachment, psychiatric symptoms, and the behavior of the target child. Men with co-occurring SA + IPV had significantly less positive coparenting and more negative parenting behaviors than community control fathers. Negative parenting and coparenting were mediated by the fathers' avoidant attachment problems. SA + IPV fathers also reported more emotional and behavioral problems in their children. These poor child outcome differences between groups were mediated by the negative parenting behaviors of the fathers. These results suggest areas of potential focus in interventions with fathers who have co-occurring SA + IPV issues. Focus on attachment difficulties with his coparent, which may include affect regulation, coping with emotions, and communication skills training related to coparenting, may yield significant changes in parenting behaviors and ultimately child functioning.
  Journal of Interpersonal Violence 02/2013;
• Article: Psychopathy and Victim Selection: The Use of Gait as a Cue to Vulnerability.

  Angela Book, Kimberly Costello, Joseph A Camilleri
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  ABSTRACT: Previous research has shown that victims display characteristic body language, specifically in their walking style (Grayson & Stein, 1981). Individuals scoring higher on the interpersonal/affective aspects of psychopathy (Factor 1) are more accurate at judging victim vulnerability simply from viewing targets walking (Wheeler, Book, & Costello, 2009). The present study examines the relation between psychopathy and accuracy in assessing victim vulnerability in a sample of inmates from a maximum security penitentiary in Ontario, Canada. Forty-seven inmates viewed short video clips of targets walking and judged how vulnerable each target was to victimization. Higher Factor 1 psychopathy scores (as measured by the PCL-R; Hare 2003) were positively related to accuracy in judging victim vulnerability. Contrary to research with noninstitutional participants (Wheeler et al., 2009), inmates higher on Factor 1 of psychopathy were more likely to rationalize their vulnerability judgments by mentioning the victim's gait. Implications of these findings are discussed.
  Journal of Interpersonal Violence 02/2013;
• Article: Assessment of Sexual Violence Against Female Students in Wolaita Sodo University, Southern Ethiopia.

  Abebayehu Tora
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  ABSTRACT: Studies indicate that girls and women encounter sexual violence in their day-to-day social life in all cultures and societies. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of sexual violence against female students in Wolaita Sodo University; 374 female students provided responses to self-administered questionnaire. The study revealed 23.4% (95% CI = 18.7-27.3) attempted rape, 8.7% (95% CI = 3.6-12.9) completed rape, 24.2% (95% CI = 17.7-26.1) committed physical harassment, 18.7% (95% CI = 12.8-20.3) committed verbal harassment, and 11.3% (95% CI = 6.6-12.6) forced sexual initiation. Reported level of these perpetrations was experienced mainly at high school and during enrollment year in the university. Boyfriends, close friends, family members and relatives, school and university teachers, other employees, and strangers were found to be the key perpetrators of sexual violence against women. Interventions are required to create a safe learning environment for female students through prevention and rehabilitation programs.
  Journal of Interpersonal Violence 02/2013;
• Article: Inmates-to-staff Assaults, PTSD and Burnout: Profiles of Risk and Vulnerability.

  Abdel Halim Boudoukha, Emin Altintas, Stéphane Rusinek, Carole Fantini-Hauwel, Marc Hautekeete
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  ABSTRACT: Prison employees are often confronted with critical incidents and chronic stressors that may lead to trauma or burnout symptoms. However, most of the research on clinical aspects of interpersonal violence in prisons (inmates-to-staff violence, specifically) focuses either on trauma or on burnout. The purpose of the present study is (a) to examine both burnout and posttraumatic stress among prison staff and (b) to examine the influences of inmates-to-staff violent relations on posttraumatic stress in terms of risk profile to develop PTSD. A random sample of French correctional employees has completed various self-reported questionnaires assessing burnout, posttraumatic stress, and stress as well as victimization and demographic characteristics. Correctional employees demonstrated high levels of PTSD symptoms, burnout, and stress. Violent interactions with inmates lead to experienced trauma of all types (PTSD, secondary, or vicarious trauma). Results have highlighted a prison worker's profile prone to PTSD: he or she expresses high levels of emotional exhaustion, intense levels of stress, high levels of depersonalization, and high levels of intrusion, avoidance, and hyperreactivity. This study contributes to an understanding of the literature by explaining the complex association between burnout and posttraumatic stress after interpersonal violence. These findings suggest a need to support prison workers and to address inmates-to-staff relational dynamics.
  Journal of Interpersonal Violence 02/2013;
• Article: Factors Influencing the Relationship Between Sexual Trauma and Risky Sexual Behavior in College Students.

  Nicole L Johnson, Dawn M Johnson
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  ABSTRACT: While the relationship between sexual trauma and risky sexual behavior (RSB) has received much attention, only a handful of studies have investigated the factors that protect victims of sexual trauma from developing this maladaptive pattern of behavior. The current study investigated the protective role of social support, quality and quantity, in developing RSB, through the mechanism of problematic substance use. Two hundred and seventy-five female college students completed a series of self-reports assessing sexual trauma, problematic substance use, social support quality and quantity, and RSB. The results indicated a positive relationship between sexual trauma severity and RSB. Further, this relationship was mediated by participants' problematic substance use. Social support quality acted as a buffer against the relationship described above where quantity exacerbated this relationship. Implications will be discussed.
  Journal of Interpersonal Violence 02/2013;
• Article: The Rates and Characteristics of the Exposure of Palestinian Youth to Community Violence.

  Muhammad M Haj-Yahia, Becky Leshem, Neil B Guterman
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  ABSTRACT: The article presents the results of a study that explored the rates and characteristics of exposure to community violence (CV) and its relevance to several sociodemographic factors among a sample of 1,930 Palestinian youth (1,018 girls and 912 boys), aged 12 to 19 years residing in diverse residential areas in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Data were collected using a self-report questionnaire. The frequency of boys' exposure to CV during the previous 12 months was significantly higher than among girls. The frequency of witnessing CV during that period was higher than the frequency of personally experiencing CV, and exposure to mild CV incidents during that period was higher than the frequency of exposure to severe CV incidents during the same period, with no significant relationship to sociodemographic factors. Participants reported higher rates of witnessing most CV incidents outside of the neighborhood. Nonetheless, they reported higher rates of experiencing most incidents of CV inside the participants' neighborhood. The implications of the results for theory development and future research are discussed.
  Journal of Interpersonal Violence 02/2013;
• Article: Intimate Partner Violence, Depressive Symptoms, and Immigration Status: Does Existing Advocacy Intervention Work on Abused Immigrant Women in the Chinese Community?

  Janet Y H Wong, Agnes Tiwari, Daniel Y T Fong, K H Yuen, Janice Humphreys, Linda Bullock
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  ABSTRACT: Advocacy intervention has been shown to be efficacious at reducing depressive symptoms in women who suffer from intimate partner violence (IPV). However, the intervention effect among abused immigrant women has not been well studied. This study compares the demographic and psychosocial characteristics between abused immigrant and nonimmigrant women, and evaluates the impact of immigration status on the efficacy of an advocacy intervention in reducing depressive symptoms and improving perceived social support. Two hundred abused Chinese women recruited from a local community center in Hong Kong were randomized to receive either the advocacy intervention or usual care. The advocacy intervention was found to be effective at reducing depressive symptoms and improving social support for abused Chinese nonimmigrant women, but the same effects were not seen for abused immigrant women. The findings provide essential insights into the need for developing targeted and efficacious advocacy interventions for abused immigrant women. Effective services to address abused immigrant women's needs were also suggested.
  Journal of Interpersonal Violence 02/2013;