Journal of Interpersonal Violence

This study examined ethnic group differences in abuse characteristics, appraisal processes, primary caregiver support, and adjustment following sexual abuse discovery. One hundred thirty children from African American, European American, and Hispanic families were seen within 8 weeks of abuse discovery and 1 year later. Hispanic children more often reported abuse by a parent figure of 1 year or longer in duration and living with the perpetrator. European American children reported more internal attributions for the abuse. For European American children, but not Hispanic or African American children, high abuse severity predicted higher levels of shame and a pessimistic attributional style. For Hispanic children, but not the other ethnic groups, high abuse severity was related to lower levels of satisfaction with primary caregiver support. The discussion questions the utility of ethnic group membership as a meaningful way of understanding the role of culture in children's adjustment following sexual abuse discovery.

Within nightlife settings, youth violence places large burdens on both nightlife users and wider society. Internationally, research has identified risk factors for nightlife violence. However, few empirical studies have assessed differences in risk factors between genders. Here, a pan-European cross-sectional survey of 1,341 nightlife users aged 16 to 35 assessed a variety of risk-taking traits, including violence, sexual, alcohol, and drug-related current and historic behaviors. Results show that the likelihood of having been involved in a physical fight in nightlife increases with younger age, drunkenness, and increasing preference for tolerant venues for both genders. The odds of involvement in a fight for females who were drunk five or more times in the past 4 weeks were almost five times higher than those who were never drunk (odds ratio for males 1.99). Use of cocaine more than doubled the risk of involvement in violence among males. However, no association was found for females. For heterosexual men, the odds for violence almost doubled compared with bisexual or homosexual men, whereas for women heterosexuality was a protective factor. The effects of structural risk factors (e.g., bar and club characteristics) for nightlife violence differed by gender. To develop effective violence prevention measures in nightlife, considerations need to be made regarding the demographic composition of patrons in addition to wider structural elements within the nighttime environment.

Most research to date relies on cross-sectional data to identify associations between psychopathology (i.e., internalizing and externalizing disorders) and intimate partner aggression (IPA). Studies that utilize longitudinal data tend to survey only one member of a dyad, examine only perpetration or victimization, and/or use statistical methods that converge within- and between-person effects. The current study examines the associations between psychopathology, psychological IPA perpetration, and psychological IPA victimization at three time points over the course of 1 year in a sample of newlyweds. An autoregressive latent trajectory model with structured residuals (ALT-SR) tested the hypotheses that within-person internalizing and externalizing psychopathology would predict IPA perpetration and victimization at each subsequent time point, and IPA victimization would predict subsequent internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Results of the ALT-SR model did not support hypotheses. Rather, results suggest internalizing symptoms were negatively associated with externalizing symptoms at subsequent time points, and vice versa. IPA perpetration was positively associated with IPA victimization at the following time points. These results elucidate the interplay between psychopathology and IPA, suggesting that although these constructs show bivariate relationships with one another, psychopathology is not a significant within-person predictor of subsequent psychological IPA.

A major goal of structured risk assessment systems in Child Protective Services (CPS) practice is to predict the likelihood of future child maltreatment. The implementation of such systems by child protective agencies has increased dramatically during the past 10 years. The Child at Risk Field (CARF) System, developed by ACTION for Child Protection, is considered by some to be one of the more comprehensive risk assessment models developed to date. This article presents the results from an independent evaluation of the CARF system. Two hundred and seven indicated cases of child maltreatment were compared pre- and post-CARF implementation. Using a multimethod evaluation process, the authors found that, although the CARF system had been imperfectly implemented, there were statistically significant differences between samples in some of the client services offered or received and in the associations between major casework decisions and the information collected by workers using the CARF system.

Despite nationwide improvements in school safety, victimization at school continues and affects the well-being of a significant number of students. This study uses the California Healthy Kids Survey, a statewide surveillance instrument administered to students in grades 7, 9, and 11 in California ( N = 70,600) to address the multiple victimization experiences of students at school. The authors identify subgroups of students based on victimization experience; assess how perceptions of being targeted due to bias relate to cluster membership; and relate victimization to perceptions of school safety, depression, grades, truancy, and internal assets. Victimization rates are given across grade, gender, and ethnicity. Cluster analysis reveals five victimization subgroups—nonvictims, polyvictims, and victims who are predominantly sexually harassed, predominantly physically victimized, and predominantly teased. Compared to nonvictims, students who are victimized report worse outcomes on measures of psychosocial adjustment, with polyvictims faring the worst. Victims are more likely to perceive that they are targeted due to their gender or perceived sexual orientation. Implications for research and practice are provided.

The various categories of reports of child sexual abuse were examined in Phase 1 of a two-part study. In this first phase, all the reports (N = 576) of child sexual abuse made to the Denver Department of Social Services were categorized. Most reports were reliable accounts (70%), but a small proportion appeared to be fictitious (8%). In Phase 2, fictitious (false) reports of child sexual abuse were examined in detail. Certain clinical features appeared to mark the fictitious reports: lack of emotion and an absence of coercion and threat in the child's account, absence of detail, and several of the children and some adults were suffering from preexisting posttraumatic stress disorders based upon previous experiences. In certain cases, custody or visitation disputes were in force when the allegation arose. Poor quality of interviews with children was sometimes a factor. In our current state of knowledge absolute conclusions are not possible in the absence of corroboration. Tentative conclusions are drawn concerning present clinical practice and suggestions are made for future research.

Verbal disclosure of abuse in a specialized interview was studied in a sample of 28 children, ages 3 to menarche, who presented with purely physical complaints later diagnosed as a sexually transmitted disease, in the absence of any known prior disclosure or suspicion of sexual abuse. Only 43% gave any verbal confirmation of sexual contact. Fifty-seven percent were “false negatives.” Disclosure was strongly associated with the attitude taken by the child's caretaker toward the possibility of abuse. Children whose caretakers accepted the possibility that their child might have been sexually abused disclosed at a rate almost 3.5 times as great as those whose caretakers denied any possibility of abuse (63% vs. 17%). The results suggest that caretaker attitude and support is a critical variable in the child's disclosure process and a valuable target for intervention and prevention efforts. In addition, it was found that, aside from their STD, many of these abused children presented as free from any specifically suspicious abuse symptoms, suggesting that reliance on single interviews and identification of “red flags” cannot be expected to identify many hidden victims.

The Self-Appraisal Questionnaire (SAQ) is a 72-item self-report measure designed to predict violent and nonviolent recidivism among adult criminal offenders. The results from using samples from Australia, Canada, England, Singapore, and two samples from the United States (North Carolina and Pennsylvania) indicated that (a) the SAQ has sound psychometric properties, with acceptable reliability and concurrent validity for assessing recidivism and institutional adjustment; (b) there were nosignificant differences among the scores of the White, African American, Hispanic, and Aboriginal Australian offenders on the SAQ; (c) there were no significant differences among offenders who completed the SAQ for research purposes versus offenders who completed it as part of a decision-making process. Results provided support for the validity of the SAQ to be used with the culturally diverse offenders involved in this research and provided further evidence that contradicts concerns that the SAQ as a self-report measure may be susceptible to lying, and self-presentation biases.

In this study, the effectiveness of the Self-Appraisal Questionnaire (SAQ), a self-report measure for predicting release outcome, is examined as compared to clinician-administered and widely used risk prediction measures, over a 5-year period. The SAQ was administered along with four similar, but clinician-administered, measures to 91 federally sentenced Canadian male offenders prior to their release to the community. Follow-up data were collected for a 60-month period. Outcome criteria measures were violent and general recidivism. Results indicated that the SAQ is at least as effective as the four other measures in predicting postrelease outcome. The advantages of using the SAQ as a self-report measure as opposed to clinician-administered measures are discussed.

Two studies were conducted to investigate the vulnerability of the Self-Appraisal Questionnaire (SAQ) to deception and self-presentation biases. The SAQ is a self-report measure used to predict recidivism and guide institutional and program assignments. In the first study, comparisons were made between 429 volunteer offenders who completed the SAQ for research purposes and 75 offenders who completed the SAQ as a part of the psychological assessments process required for consideration for early release. In the second study, 106 participants over two sessions completed the SAQ and the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding. Participants completed both measures under two separate sets of instructions: (a) Answers would be used for research purposes, and (b) answers would be used for making decisions about their release to the community. Results from both studies reaffirmed previous findings that the SAQ is not vulnerable to deception, lying, and self-presentation biases.