Betrayal and revictimization: Preliminary findings.

The link between childhood sexual abuse and subsequent sexual, emotional, and physical revictimization has been widely reported. The literature is limited, however, in its exploration of the extent to which the level of betrayal inherent in a given childhood traumatic experience affects the likelihood of experiencing similar revictimization in adolescence and adulthood. This study assessed revictimization within a betrayal trauma framework among a sample of 271 college students. As predicted, individuals who reported experiencing high-betrayal trauma at any time point (childhood, adolescence, or adulthood) were more likely to report experiences of trauma high in betrayal during adolescence and adulthood. Relative risk ratios suggest that those who experience childhood trauma high in betrayal are 4.31 times more likely to be victimized in adolescence and 5.44 times more likely to be victimized in adulthood. Logistic regression analyses identified rate of childhood high-betrayal traumas and high levels of traumatic symptoms as significant predictors of high-betrayal trauma victimization in adolescence. Finally, participants’ responses to an exploratory self-report measure examining the relationship among revictimization, awareness for interpersonal betrayals, and response to betrayals in interpersonal contexts were analyzed. Preliminary findings indicate that revictimization risk may be linked to inaccurate identification of specific intimate partner betrayals and the inability to engage in proper self-protection. Suggestions for future research and clinical implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Who will help prevent sexual violence: Creating an ecological model of bystander intervention.

Given the prevalence of sexual and relationship violence in communities, innovations in prevention are sought. One promising line of inquiry directs efforts not at victims or perpetrators but at community members who are potential witnesses to high-risk events along the continuum of violence or who may need to support victims after an assault. To date, the main organizing framework for understanding bystander behavior is the work of Latane and Darley (1970), who described a series of stages that lead to an individual's decision to intervene or not when someone needs help. Yet this model focuses mainly on factors within the individual or his or her immediate context. In the current review, I use ecological models by Bronfenbrenner (1977, 2005) and Kelly (2006) to expand our view of key factors that help promote and may serve as barriers to helpful bystander intervention. For example, ecological theories suggest important community-level variables, such as campus size or cultural values, that may influence the degree of helping and may, in some instances, be leverage points for creating change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Student acceptance and expectation of sexual assault.

46 male and 108 female students' (aged 18–33 yrs) attitudes regarding the acceptance and expectation of sexual assault were examined. Participants also completed M. Burt's (1980) Rape Myth Acceptance (RMA) Scale. It is noted that acceptance of sexual aggression can lead to the exoneration of the perpetrator, whereas expectations of sexual aggression can lead to victim blaming. A feminist perspective of rape, with a focus on sexual socialization, indicates that rape myth beliefs deny or justify male sexual aggression against women. Therefore, it was predicted and found that high RMA participants expected and accepted more sexual assault than low RMA participants. Sexual assault was also expected more often than it was accepted, suggesting that these judgments are made separately. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship between prior sexual abuse and reactions to sexual harrassment: Literature review and empirical study.

This article examines whether individuals who have had prior sexual abuse experiences, including sexual harassment (SH) and child sexual abuse, are hypersensitive to potential SH-related stimuli or overreact to social sexual experiences. Some psychologists and legal scholars suggest that previous sexual abuse or exposure to violence against women produces altered perceptions of current interactions and situations in those women. The review of the extant empirical literature examining such relationships and the findings presented here in an interrelated set of 5 studies provide little general or consistent support for a relationship between prior abuse experiences and current perceptions about SH. Caution is advised in judging either the veracity of an SH complaint or the objectivity of a potential juror's reaction to such a claim on the basis of her prior sexual abuse experiences. The literature review and empirical study lend weight to the irrelevance of such inquiries in judging credibility of SH complainants. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived control and distress following sexual assault: A longitudinal test of a new model.

Longitudinal data were collected from female sexual assault survivors (N=171) at 4 points postassault. Consistent with the predictions of the temporal model (P. Frazier, M. Berman, & J. Steward, 2002), past, present, and future control were differentially related to posttrauma distress. Both personal past (behavioral self-blame) and vicarious past (rapist blame) control were associated with higher distress levels. In addition, the belief that future assaults are less likely was more strongly associated with lower distress levels than was future control. Present control (i.e., control over the recovery process) was most adaptive. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses revealed that changes in perceived control were associated with changes in distress after linear change in distress over time was accounted for. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The co-occurrence of childhood sexual abuse, adult sexual assault, intimate partner violence, and sexual harassment: A mediational model of posttraumatic stress disorder and physical health outcomes.

This study examined the co-occurrence of childhood sexual abuse, adult sexual assault, intimate partner violence, and sexual harassment in a predominantly African American sample of 268 female veterans, randomly sampled from an urban Veterans Affairs hospital women's clinic. A combination of hierarchical and iterative cluster analysis was used to identify 4 patterns of women's lifetime experiences of violence co-occurrence. The 1st cluster experienced relatively low levels of all 4 forms of violence; the 2nd group, high levels of all 4 forms; the 3rd, sexual revictimization across the lifespan with adult sexual harassment; and the 4th, high intimate partner violence with sexual harassment. This cluster solution was validated in a theoretically driven model that examined the role of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a mediator of physical health symptomatology. Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that PTSD fully mediated the relationship between violence and physical health symptomatology. Consistent with a bio-psycho-immunologic theoretical model, PTSD levels more strongly predicted pain-related physical health symptoms compared to nonpain health problems. Implications for clinical interventions to prevent PTSD and to screen women for histories of violence in health care settings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sexual assault and other types of sexual harassment by workplace personnel: A comparison of antecedents and consequences.

Although sexual assault by workplace personnel is widely viewed as a type of sexual harassment, little is known about whether these overlapping constructs may possess some unique characteristics. This article compares the theoretical antecedents and consequences of sexual assault by workplace personnel and other types of sexual harassment among 22,372 women employed in the U.S. military. Path analysis revealed that low sociocultural and organizational power are associated with an increased likelihood of both types of victimization. Organizational climate and job gender context are directly associated with sexual harassment but are only indirectly associated with sexual assault by workplace personnel. Both types of victimization are associated with a variety of negative outcomes, but the pattern of negative consequences differs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A person-centered, longitudinal approach to sexual victimization.

Objective: Little research has drawn attention to distinct patterns of sexual victimization across time, although previous findings strongly indicate heterogeneity. Using longitudinal data, we tested a series of latent class growth models in an attempt to find meaningful patterns of sexual victimization frequency among female college students. Method: A sample of women (n = 1,580) answered questions at 5 time points concerning their childhood, adolescent, and collegiate sexual experiences. Latent class growth analysis was used with frequencies of sexual victimization at each of the 5 time points as indicators. Results: A 4-class model was selected on the basis of its fit to the data and its interpretability. The 4 classes are interpreted as low/none, moderate-increasing, decreasing, and high-increasing trajectories of sexual victimization. Negative childhood experiences—childhood sexual abuse, witnessing domestic violence, and parental physical punishment—partially explained latent trajectory membership. Conclusion: Possible implications of this research include the development of more specialized primary, secondary, and tertiary sexual assault prevention programs based on the victimization trajectories indicated by these analyses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Posttraumatic stress symptoms mediate the relation between childhood sexual abuse and nonsuicidal self-injury.

Prior research consistently has shown a strong relation between childhood abuse and nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), yet it is unclear why this relation exists. The authors examined 2 specific posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom clusters as potential mechanisms through which childhood abuse may be related to NSSI. Participants were 86 adolescents (78% female, 22% male; 73% Caucasian, 27% other races/ethnicities; mean age = 17.03 years, range = 12-19 years) who completed measures of childhood abuse, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.) PTSD symptoms, and NSSI. Analyses revealed a significant relation between childhood sexual abuse in particular and the presence and frequency of NSSI. Moreover, data supported a theoretical model in which PTSD reexperiencing and avoidance/numbing symptoms independently mediate this relation. Future research must test the temporal relation between childhood sexual abuse, PTSD symptoms, and NSSI and identify additional pathways to engagement in NSSI. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Editorial.

The papers collected in this special issue of CJBS reflect a growing interest in the field of family violence among Canadian investigators. The purpose of this collection is twofold: first, to focus attention on the problem of family violence as a research issue by introducing some examples of current research to those unfamiliar with the issue; and second, to encourage researchers to continue and expand their efforts in this field. This collection of papers mirrors the diversity of focus among family violence research programs, the range of research techniques used, and the differences in state-of-the-art in the various sub-fields of child abuse, sexual victimization of children, and wife assault. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sexual robbery: The missing concept in the search for an appropriate legal metaphor for sexual aggression.

Beginning in the late 1970s and continuing into the early years of the next decade, feminists provided compelling evidence that under the existing rape laws a woman's sexuality was treated as "property" belonging to a man. They emphasized that rape was an aggressive invasion of a person's physical integrity and in 1983 rape was redefined in the Criminal Code as a form of assault. The use of physical assault as a metaphor had the effect of shifting the emphasis of the essence of sexual aggression away from a woman's sexuality as property to the coercive nature of the act. A decade later, the evidence suggests this was an ill-conceived change. Redefining rape as a sexual assault, and measuring the severity of the crime by the level of physical violence, has established the legal and social expectations that the woman must be injured to be a "legitimate" victim. This paper advances the proposition that treating a woman's sexuality as property, as did the old rape law, was correct, and that a more appropriate metaphor is robbery. The metaphor of robbery treats a woman's sexuality as property, but achieves reform by shifting ownership from the domain of a male to the woman herself. Robbery implies the use or threat of force, but, unlike assault, does not require harm to the victim as evidence of the robbery. The theoretical proposition that conceptualizing the essence of sexual aggression as "assault" has failed and that "robbery" may be more appropriate was evaluated by examined every case of sexual assault (n=50), physical assault (n=158) and robbery (n=82) that appeared before the Halifax Law Courts between 1983 and 1988. This legal profile of sexual assault was compared to the alternative profile created by examining every case (n=593) of sexual assault reported to the local sexual assault service during the same time period. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"I keep that hush-hush": Male survivors of sexual abuse and the challenges of disclosure.

Disclosure is a prominent variable in child sexual abuse research, but little research has examined male disclosure experiences. Sixteen male survivors of childhood sexual abuse were interviewed regarding experiences of disclosure. Analytic techniques included a grounded theory approach to coding and the use of conceptually clustered matrices. Participants described distinct personal (e.g., lack of cognitive awareness, intentional avoidance, emotional readiness, and shame), relational (e.g., fears about negative repercussions, isolation), and sociocultural (e.g., lack of acceptance for men to experience or acknowledge victimization) reasons for their struggles with disclosure. These results highlight that barriers to disclosure exist in multiple domains of experience and are encountered across the lifespan. Implications for future research and clinical interventions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Women's history of sexual abuse, their sexuality, and sexual self-schemas.

In this study, the authors assessed 48 female survivors of child sexual abuse (CSA) and 71 female control participants using measures of adult sexual function, psychological function (i.e., depression and anxiety), and sexual self-schemas. The primary purpose of this study was to examine whether differences existed between women with and without a history of CSA in the way that they viewed themselves as a sexual person and, if so, whether such differences mediated the link between early unwanted sexual experiences and later adult sexuality. CSA survivors were found to view themselves as less romantic and passionate than women who were not abused. In particular, CSA survivors showed an inverse relationship between romantic/passionate sexual self-schemas and negative sexual affect during sexual arousal. The relationship between CSA and negative sexual affect was independent from symptoms of depression and anxiety, suggesting that the impact of CSA on sexual self-schemas may be independent from the impact that the abuse may have in other areas of the survivor's life. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Considerations for experts in assessing the credibility of recovered memories of child sexual abuse: The importance of maintaining a case-specific focus.

In this article, the authors argue that a variety of psychological factors stand in the way of providing expert advice to the courts in terms of assessing the credibility of a complainant's account of sexual abuse when there is a significant delay in reporting. These include difficulties in assessing (a) the complainant's account of how he or she claims to have remembered or forgotten the abuse, (b) whether (and how) the claim of abuse originated within a therapeutic setting, and (c) the difficulty of generalizing from empirical evidence. It is argued that all of these issues can be more easily avoided if experts maintain a case-specific focus. In this article, the authors review both the psychological and legal controversies surrounding the false-recovered memory debate, discuss how courts approach the admissibility and use of recovered memory testimony, and conclude that expert witnesses should carefully consider the above points before drawing general conclusions from the literature and applying them to individual cases. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Men's media use, sexual cognitions, and sexual risk behavior: Testing a mediational model.

Efforts to link media use to adolescents' sexual initiation have produced somewhat inconsistent results, perhaps as a result of the limited framing of the question. This study sought to expand current approaches by sampling college students instead of high school students, by investigating a range of sexual behaviors and media formats, and by testing a model that featured sexual cognitions as mediators. We tested our model with a sample of 796 heterosexual, male college students who reported on their regular consumption of 4 media (prime-time TV programs, music videos, movies, and men's magazines); their attitudes toward abstinence, the male sexual role, and nonrelational sex; their perceptions of peer sexual behavior; and several aspects of their sexual behavior (e.g., number of sexual partners). Findings revealed strong support for our mediated model, with exposure to men's magazines and movies contributing most strongly to their sexual cognitions, and with men's cognitions, in turn, contributing heavily to their sexual behavior. Some direct connections from media use to sexual behavior also emerged. Together, the findings provide insight into both potential mechanisms for and new approaches to addressing this issue. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

An evaluation of cognitive processing therapy for the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder related to childhood sexual abuse.

This study compared the effectiveness of cognitive processing therapy for sexual abuse survivors (CPT-SA) with that of the minimal attention (MA) given to a wait-listed control group. Seventy-one women were randomly assigned to 1 of the 2 groups. Participants were assessed at pretreatment and 3 times during posttreatment: immediately after treatment and at 3-month and 1-year follow-up, using the Clinician-Administered Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Scale (D. Blake et al., 1995), the Beck Depression Inventory (A. T. Beck, R. A. Steer, & G. K. Brown, 1996), the Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM-IV (R. L. Spitzer, J. B. W. Williams, & M. Gibbon, 1995; M. B. First et al., 1995), the Dissociative Experiences Scale-II (E. M. Bernstein & F. W. Putnam, 1986), and the Modified PTSD Symptom Scale (S. A. Falsetti, H. S. Resnick, P. A. Resick, & D. G. Kilpatrick, 1993). Analyses suggested that CPT-SA is more effective for reducing trauma-related symptoms than is MA, and the results were maintained for at least 1 year. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Factors predicting the type of tactics used to resist sexual assault: A prospective study of college women.

The purpose of the current study was to examine how women's intentions, as well as psychological and situational factors, predicted the actual use of resistance tactics in response to a sexual assault situation over a 2-month follow-up period. Twenty-eight percent of the 378 undergraduate women who participated at the baseline assessment and returned for the follow-up session 8 weeks later were victimized over the interim period. The results suggested that women's reported use of verbally assertive tactics was predicted by the intention to use verbally assertive tactics, concern about injury, greater confidence, and feelings of being isolated or controlled by the perpetrator. The use of physically assertive tactics was predicted by increased severity of the attack, greater confidence, and feelings of being isolated or controlled by the perpetrator. The use of nonforceful tactics was predicted by intentions to use nonforceful tactics, increased self-consciousness, knowing the perpetrator prior to the assault, fears of losing the relationship with the perpetrator, and no history of childhood sexual victimization. These findings have important implications in sexual assault risk-reduction programming. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessment of sexual abuse allegations in child custody cases.

Family courts frequently rely on the expertise of mental health professionals to assess allegations of sexual abuse within the context of child custody evaluations. Such evaluations are complex and require knowledge of techniques used in sexual abuse and sexual offender evaluations, as well as knowledge of child custody practices. Preliminary findings from a national survey of 84 psychologists indicated that respondents tend to adhere to the child custody guidelines of the American Psychological Association. However, few practitioners followed formal models, protocols, or guidelines when evaluating alleged victims or alleged perpetrators of sexual abuse in conjunction with child custody disputes. Implications for professional practice are discussed, along with a proposed comprehensive model for assessing sexual abuse allegations in child custody cases. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An integrative model for executive coaching.

Executive coaching has grown in popularity, but in spite of this growth, the use of sophisticated approaches appears limited. This article brings together a series of evidence-based approaches to build an integrated model for executive coaching, which can be described as integrative coaching. This model uses the concept of working at multiple levels with coaches; behavioral, cognitive, and unconscious. It combines these elements into "streams," which the coach works across seamlessly. The model recognizes the central importance of building a coaching partnership and the role of emotional intelligence in this process with a focus on improving performance at work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)