A Relational Model of Workplace Victimization: Social Roles and Patterns of Victimization in Dyadic Relationships.

This article proposes a model of the ways in which dyadic interactions between employees who occupy 1 of 4 archetypal social roles in organizations can lead to either episodic or institutionalized patterns of victimization. The model shows how the occurrence of victimization involving these 4 role types is influenced by organizational variables such as power differences, culture, and access to social capital. The model integrates behavioral and social structural antecedents of victimization to develop a relational perspective on the dynamics of harmful behavior in the workplace. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Race and IQ: Molecular Genetics as Deus ex Machina.

During the last hundred years, the debate over the meaning of race has retained a highly consistent core, despite evolution of the technical details. Non-Europeans, and in particular, Africans, are assigned the role of deviants and outcasts, whose claim on our common humanity remains in doubt. Each time the technical facade of these racialist arguments is destroyed, the latest jargon and half-truths from the margins of science are used to rebuild them around the same core belief in Black inferiority. Because race is in part a genetic concept, the advent of molecular DNA technology has opened an important new chapter in this story. Unfortunately, the article by D. Rowe (2005, this issue, see record 2005-00117-007) begins from mistaken premises and merely restates the racialist view using the terminology of molecular genetics. No technology--even the awe-inspiring tools now available to DNA science--can overcome the handicap of fundamental conceptual errors. Race is not a concept that emerged from within modern genetics; rather, it was imposed by history, and its meaning is inseparable from that cultural origin. By ignoring its cultural meaning the reductionist narrative about race fails--both in the narrow terms of science and as a contribution to the broader social discourse. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Overt Anger in Response to Victimization: Attributional Style and Organizational Norms as Moderators.

Prior theory and research suggests a positive relation between perceived victimization and overt anger. The authors proposed and tested a theoretical extension of this link by investigating possible moderating effects of individual and contextual variables. A sample of 158 employees of a municipality was used to test hypotheses that the relationship between perceived victimization and overt anger is moderated by hostile attributional style and perceptions of organizational norms. The results showed that the relation between perceptions of direct victimization and overt anger was stronger when the employee had a more rather than less hostile attributional style and when the employee perceived the organizational norms as more rather than less oppositional. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The doormat effect: When forgiving erodes self-respect and self-concept clarity.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 99(1) of Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (see record 2010-12776-008). The graphs in Figure 2, on p. 741, and the graphs in Figure 3, on p. 742, were switched. The corrected figures in their entirety appear in the erratum.] We build on principles from interdependence theory and evolutionary psychology to propose that forgiving bolsters one's self-respect and self-concept clarity if the perpetrator has acted in a manner that signals that the victim will be safe and valued in a continued relationship with the perpetrator but that forgiving diminishes one's self-respect and self-concept clarity if the perpetrator has not. Study 1 employed a longitudinal design to demonstrate that the association of marital forgiveness with trajectories of self-respect over the first 5 years of marriage depends on the spouse's dispositional tendency to indicate that the partner will be safe and valued (i.e., agreeableness). Studies 2 and 3 employed experimental procedures to demonstrate that the effects of forgiveness on self-respect and self-concept clarity depend on the perpetrator's event-specific indication that the victim will be safe and valued (i.e., amends). Study 4 employed a longitudinal design to demonstrate that the association of forgiveness with subsequent self-respect and self-concept clarity similarly depends on the extent to which the perpetrator has made amends. These studies reveal that, under some circumstances, forgiveness negatively impacts the self. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal victimization patterns and psychopathology among Latino women: Results from the SALAS study.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 3(1) of Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy (see record 2010-26899-001). There were citation errors in the last sentence of the first column of text on page 9, and a reference was omitted from the reference list. The sentence should have read: “This result is consistent with other work that has found support for the anxious and dissociative reaction associated with trauma among Latinos and how it may relate to “ataque de nervios” (Hinton, Chong, Pollack, Barlow, & McNally, 2008; Lewis-Fernandez et al., 2002; Schechter et al., 2000; Tolin, Robinson, Gaztambide, Horowitz, & Blank, 2007).] [Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in of Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy (see record 2010-26899-001). In the original article there were citation errors in the last sentence of the first column of text on page 9, and a reference was omitted from the reference list. The sentence should have read: “This result is consistent with other work that has found support for the anxious and dissociative reaction associated with trauma among Latinos and how it may relate to “ataque de nervios” (Hinton, Chong, Pollack, Barlow, & McNally, 2008; Lewis-Fernandez et al., 2002; Schechter et al., 2000; Tolin, Robinson, Gaztambide, Horowitz, & Blank, 2007).] Research on the victimization of Latino women and the subsequent psychological impact has been limited by focusing on individual forms of victimization, primarily partner violence or sexual assault. Another deficiency includes mainly using convenience and/or geographically restricted samples, which impacts the generalizability of the results. To overcome these research limitations, the Sexual Assault Among Latinas (SALAS) study aimed to evaluate the broader scope of victimization among Latino women. The study surveyed a national sample of 2,000 Latino women using random digit dial methodology. Women were asked about various forms of victimization in childhood and adulthood including physical assaults, sexual assaults, stalking, threats, and witnessed violence, as well as psychological symptomatology including depression, anxiety, anger, and dissociation. This analysis found that victimized women were more likely to experience some form of polyvictimization and/or revictimization throughout their lives, with only 36% of victimized women experiencing one form of victimization in childhood or adulthood alone. Furthermore, multiple victimization experiences significantly increased the proportion of women who experienced psychological distress symptoms in the clinical range. For almost all evaluated symptoms, the multiple forms of victimization or varying victimization patterns significantly predicted clinical levels of psychological distress over any specific form or single incident of victimization. The results suggest that victimized Latino women experience multiple forms of victimization and that the evaluation of a broader spectrum of victimization better accounts for pathological symptomatology. Clinical implications for Latino women and future research directions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Examining the correlates of psychological aggression among a community sample of couples.

In this study, the authors examined the correlates of psychological aggression victimization and perpetration among a community sample of 145 heterosexual couples. For both women and men, psychological aggression victimization was associated with greater psychological distress, anxiety, and physical health symptoms beyond the effects of physical aggression. Psychological aggression victimization was also uniquely associated with higher levels of depression for women. Trait anger and poor relationship adjustment were the strongest correlates of psychological aggression perpetration across genders. Childhood father-to-child and father-to-mother aggressions were associated with psychological aggression perpetration for men only, suggesting possible distinct etiologies across genders. These data highlight the importance of the further development of models for psychological aggression in both women and men. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a relationship perspective on aggression among schoolchildren: Integrating social cognitive and interdependence theories.

The traditional psychological approach of studying aggression among schoolchildren in terms of individual differences in aggression and in victimization has been valuable in identifying prevalence rates, risk, and consequences of involvement in aggression. However, it is argued that a focus on aggressor–victim relationships is warranted based on both conceptual and empirical grounds. Such a shift in focus requires modification and integration of existing theories of aggression, and this paper integrates social-cognitive theory and interdependence theory to suggest a new, interdependent social-cognitive theory of aggression. Specifically, this paper identifies points of overlap and different foci between these theories, and it illustrates their integration through a proposed model of the emergence of aggressor–victim interactions and relationships. The paper concludes that expanding consideration to include aggressor–victim relationships among schoolchildren offers considerable theoretical, empirical, and intervention opportunities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Victimization and substance abuse among women: Contributing factors, interventions, and implications.

Although the literature indicates that there is an association of victimization with substance abuse, there has been limited research focused on understanding and synthesizing the factors that have been identified as contributing to victimization and substance abuse and on interventions designed to address these contributing factors. The purposes of this article are to (a) review the literature on factors related to victimization and substance abuse, (b) review interventions and outcomes, and (c) discuss clinical implications for interventions and research. Results suggest that there is a high rate of co-occurrence of victimization and substance abuse among women, that the factors contributing to victimization and substance abuse are complex, and that there is a lack of treatment models addressing victimization and substance abuse. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Posttraumatic stress symptoms and victimization among Japanese American women.

This study of Japanese American women and immigrant women from Japan investigated the relationship between posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms and the perceived abusiveness of partners' emotional and physical violence, with a community-based random sample. Women who experienced injuries and/or fear for their lives, in addition to partners' emotional and physical violence, had significantly higher PTS symptom counts than those with no lifetime experience of partners' violence. Victimization by nonintimates also increased PTS symptom counts. Satisfaction with social support significantly mitigated the negative effect of childhood abuse for reexperiencing and avoidance symptoms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)