Journal of interpersonal violence
-
J Interpers Violence · Apr 2004
Comparative StudyAttributions about perpetrators and victims of interpersonal abuse: results from an analogue study.
This analogue study (written vignettes and videotapes) examines the influence of victim-perpetrator relationship (spouse or acquaintance), sex of perceiver, and type of abuse (psychological vs. physical) on attributions about victims and perpetrators of domestic abuse. College student participants (73 men, 108 women) were randomly assigned to condition. As expected, type of relationship influenced observer perceptions. ⋯ Sex-of-perceiver effects were also obtained. Women held the perpetrator more responsible and assigned less blame to the victim than did men. Legal and clinical implications are then discussed.
-
J Interpers Violence · Jan 2004
The epidemiology of female rape victims who seek immediate medical care: temporal trends in the incidence of sexual assault and acquaintance rape.
Women who seek medical care following sexual assault are usually evaluated and treated in an emergency department (ED). Therefore, EDs can be an important source of sexual assault surveillance data. The authors compared the incidence of sexual assault presenting for emergency care in a single county during July to November of 1974 and 1991. ⋯ The z statistic was used to compare sexual assault incidence. There was a 60% increase in the incidence of sexual assault victims presenting for emergency care in 1991 compared to 1974, primarily due to an increase in the incidence of women presenting to the ED after rapes by known assailants. In contrast, the annual incidence of reported stranger assaults was similar in the two study years.
-
J Interpers Violence · Aug 2003
Childhood and adult abuse among women in primary health care: effects on mental health.
The study looked at 557 women participating in an evaluation of a domestic violence screening intervention in a primary care setting. Depression and anxiety were investigated in relation to seven types of child and adult intimate partner abuse. ⋯ Multivariate analyses suggested that recent intimate partner violence and high-severity child abuse increased risk for depression, and both recent and past intimate partner violence as well as child abuse increased risk for anxiety. In addition, higher levels of cumulative abuse increased risk for depression and anxiety over the life span even after controlling for other risk factors.