Emotional Victimization Research Articles

The impact of emotional and physical violence during pregnancy on maternal and child health at one year post-partum

Intimate partner violence (IPV) during pregnancy is increasingly recognized as having a negative impact on both the mother and her unborn child. The current study extends previous work to examine the impact of both physical and emotional IPV separately and cumulatively on the mother and her child. Specifically, we used the Fragile Families dataset (N = 3961) to determine the effect of emotional and physical IPV on women and children at one year postpartum. Analyses revealed that both physical and emotional victimization have independent and negative impacts on mothers and their children. Emotional victimization was associated with poorer overall health for the mother, elevated maternal depression, poorer overall health for the child, and difficult child temperament. Experiencing a combination of physical and emotional victimization resulted in more problematic outcomes. Implications for practice and research are discussed.

Student victimization by peers in elementary schools: Individual, teacher-class, and school-level predictors

Objectives This study examined individual and contextual factors that explain students’ victimization by peers among 4th- through 6th-grade Jewish and Arab students. Method A total of 120 homeroom teachers and 3,375 students from 47 schools participated. The study explored how students’ reports of violence are influenced by individual factors (gender, age, perception of school climate, victimization by teachers, and fear) teacher-class factors (school climate, homeroom teachers’ characteristics such as self-efficacy, and education) and cultural affiliation as a school level factor. Results The results showed that levels of victimization vary significantly between classes and between schools. However, the vast majority of variation in students’ victimization lay at the individual level. Factors such as fear, physical and emotional victimization by teachers, and gender affected levels of students’ victimization by peers. Conclusions Students victimized by peers are more likely to be victimized by their teachers and to miss school because of their fear of violence. Further research should be conducted to investigate additional teacher, class and school factors that can predict levels of students’ victimization. Practice implication Based on the study's results, efforts to deal with school violence should be targeted to students and school staff. It is essential to design and implement a “whole school” approach that includes participation of the entire school community. Furthermore, intensive individual treatment should be given to victimized students to improve their sense of safety and protection on school property. In addition, the findings emphasized the need to design and implement school intervention programs in a sensitive way that takes into consideration children's developmental stages and other factors that affect their levels of victimization. The results showed that younger children do not take advantage of the many positive effects that can be achieved from positive school policy and good relationships with staff. It might be that more efforts should be made to raise victimized students’ awareness by emphasizing that schools have rules that are there to protect them.

Specifying Type and Location of Peer Victimization in a National Sample of Children and Youth

Much of the existing research on the prevalence and consequences of peer victimization focuses on "bullying" at school, often omitting from consideration non-bullying types of peer victimization as well as events that occur outside of school. The purpose of this study was to examine past-year exposure to peer-perpetrated victimization, occurring both within and outside of school contexts, among school-aged children in the United States. The study is based on a representative sample of 2,999 youth ages 6-17 (50% female; 45% non-white) from the 2008 National Survey of Children's Exposure to Violence (NatSCEV). Findings revealed age, gender, race, and family structure variations in many forms of peer victimization and demonstrated significant independent and cumulative effects of six different types of peer victimization (physical assault, physical intimidation, emotional victimization, sexual victimization, property crime, and internet harassment) on trauma symptoms. Findings also showed that, although victimization at school is substantial, a considerable proportion of peer victimizations occur away from school contexts. The findings highlight the importance of comprehensive measurement of multiple forms of peer victimization that occur both at school and elsewhere, rather than focusing exclusively on traditional measures of school-focused bullying.

Emotional Victimization and Sexual Risk-Taking Behaviors Among Adolescent African American Women

Previous research has demonstrated that a history of gender-based victimization is associated with higher rates of sexual risk-taking behaviors among adolescents. Victimization can occur in various forms. To date, no published studies have examined the relationship between the different forms of victimization and sexual risk-taking behaviors among African American adolescent women. This study explored the association between different forms of victimization and sexual risk behaviors using baseline data from participants (N = 715) with a mean age of 17.9 (SD = 1.7), who were enrolled in a larger intervention study. The results revealed that a history of any form of victimization was associated with some form of sexual risk behaviors.

Why emotions matter: Expectancy violation and affective response mediate the emotional victim effect.

The mechanisms behind the 'emotional victim effect' (i.e., that the emotionality of a rape victim's demeanor affects perceived credibility) are relatively unexplored. In this article, a previously neglected mechanism--observers' affective response to the victim--is proposed as an alternative to the traditional expectancy-violation account. The emotional victim effect was replicated in an experiment with a sample of police trainees (N = 189), and cognitive load was found to increase the magnitude of the effect. Importantly, both compassionate affective response and expectancy violation actively mediated the emotional victim effect when the other mechanism was controlled for. These findings extend previous research on credibility judgments by introducing a 'hot' cognitive component in the judgment process. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Factors that Influence Children’s Responses to Peer Victimization

Children’s responses to peer victimization are associated with whether the victimization continues, and its impact on adjustment. Yet little longitudinal research has examined the factors influencing children’s responses to peer victimization. In a sample of 140 late elementary school children (n = 140, Mean age = 10 years, 2 months, 55% female, 60% Caucasian), the role of social, emotional, and cognitive factors on children’s responses to peer victimization over time were examined. Broadly, children’s emotional reactivity and peer victimization experiences predicted changes in the ways participants thought about peer victimization over time, and children’s sense of control, attitudes toward the use of aggression, and problem solving predicted changes in participants’ coping responses over the course of the school year.

Longitudinal examination of the associations between emotional dysregulation, coping responses to peer provocation, and victimisation in children

This study examined the role of emotional dysregulation and coping responses to peer provocation in predicting peer victimisation. Participants were 255 children aged 11–14 years who were assessed on two occasions at a 3-month interval. Cross-sectionally, gender was found to moderate the relationship between emotional dysregulation and victimisation. Girls who reported high levels of victimisation tended to experience problems in the emotional regulation of anger and greater use of internalising and aggressive coping strategies. Boys who reported high levels of victimisation were more likely to experience emotional dysregulation of sadness and reported greater use of internalising coping responses. Longitudinally, emotional dysregulation of anger, and coping responses to peer provocation that involve aggressive reactions or expressions of emotional distress, increased the risk of future victimisation in both genders. Preventive interventions should include training in emotional regulation and coping skills for children at risk of persistent victimisation.

Why Psychiatric Drugs “Work”: The Attribution of Positive Effects Due to Psychological Factors

While outcome research has attempted to elucidate the real benefit of any treatment through randomized, double-blind studies, the role of placebo and other psychological reactions has been given scant but growing attention. This article examines the nature and power of the placebo in the context of antidepressant therapy. Other factors influencing patient reports of positive response are considered, including emotional blunting, victimization, and rebound. It is concluded that the attribution of healing properties to antidepressant drugs is complex and multifaceted, and that the modest advantage of these drugs over placebo may well derive from psychological, not physiological, factors.

From Victim to Offender: The Effects of Male Initiated Violence on Women Arrested for Using Intimate Partner Violence

A number of theorists posit that most women who are arrested for using violence against their intimate partners are in-fact victims of IPV themselves and should be treated as such. However, in this population of women IPV arrestees empirical investigation has yet to explore how physical and emotional victimization experiences are associated with arrest related factors, propensity to be abusive or attitude toward using relationship violence. The current study explores these factors finding no difference in arrest factors between women who (a) deny abuse, (b) report rare/occasional abuse and (c) report frequent/very frequent abuse. However, mixed results were found with regard to participants’ responses on scales measuring propensity to be abusive and attitudes about using violence in marriage. Theoretical and practical related issues are addressed.

Risks of Non-Familial Violent Physical and Emotional Victimization in Four Asian Ethnic Groups

There is a paucity of research addressing victimization among Asian and Southeast Asian youth. A community-based sample of 329 Chinese, Cambodian, Lao/Mien, and Vietnamese youth were interviewed in a face-to-face format. Non-familial physical and emotional victimization were explored in relation to risk factors. Results revealed that reporting of violent physical victimization was generally greater among males than females, and greater among females than males for emotional victimization. Southeast Asian youth were more likely to experience victimization than Chinese youth. Violent offending, drug use, and delinquent peer affiliation significantly increased the odds of physical victimization, whereas more distal influences such as neighborhood exerted less influence. For emotional victimization, self-esteem and dating abuse was most salient. Study highlighted the need to consider victimization disaggregated by ethnicities as well as cultural factors that have thus far been eclipsed in most empirical studies of youth victimization.

Gender and Heart Disease in Mass Print Media: 1991, 1996, 2001

ABSTRACT Using a qualitative content analysis, this paper investigates the portrayal of heart disease among men and women in 75 articles of the 20 highest circulating mass print magazines in 1991, 1996 and 2001 available in Canada and published in the United States and Canada. The majority of articles were directed at men. Whether the article focused on men or women, the depiction of heart disease tended to be gendered. For men, heart disease was described as almost inevitable and as a badge of successful manhood. Its experience and treatment were portrayed as mechanical and aggressive, as well as the result of individual lifestyle choices that could be “fixed” by the individual himself. In comparison, women's heart disease was portrayed as something of which to be ashamed, especially since diagnosis conflicts with the role of “caregiver.” Women were described as ignorant, emotional victims. Moreover, women's bodies were portrayed as pathological, especially after menopause. Practical and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.

Relation between childhood peer victimization and adult perfectionism: are victims of indirect aggression more perfectionistic?

Using two independent samples and two different measures of perfectionism, this study investigated the hypothesized relation between retrospective accounts of perceived peer-inflicted emotional abuse during childhood and perfectionism in adulthood. Emotional victimization ('indirect' aggression) is characterized by behavior in which mental harm is inflicted on victims through exclusionary acts, gossiping, and rumor spreading. Study one: Self-reported questionnaires of indirect victimization [DIAS; Bjorkqvist, Lagerspetz, and Osterman, 1992] and perfectionism [multidimensional perfectionism scale; Hewitt and Flett, 1991] were administered to 162 (mean age=20.14 years) female undergraduate psychology students. Results support the predicted positive relationship between recalled indirect peer victimization and current socially prescribed/self-oriented perfectionism. Study two: self-reports of indirect peer victimization and perfectionism (eating disorder inventory-perfectionism) were collected from 196 (mean age=19.5 years) female undergraduate students. Again, recalled indirect peer victimization was a statistically significant predictor of current socially prescribed/self-oriented perfectionism whereas recalled direct (physical, verbal) peer victimization held no relation. Discussion addresses the implications of these results, which hold importance for both the bullying and perfectionism literatures.

Domestic violence risk during and after pregnancy: findings from a British longitudinal study

The objectives of this study were to examine the rates of domestic violence reported during and after pregnancy and to assess the importance of family adversity. Prospective longitudinal cohort study. Bristol Avon, Southwest England. Seven thousand five hundred and ninety-one pregnant women with due dates between 1.4.91 and 31.12.92. Questionnaires administered at 18 weeks of gestation and 8 weeks, 8 months, 21 months and 33 months postpartum. The experience of emotional or physical cruelty by an intimate partner at each time point. Fewer women reported domestic violence victimization during pregnancy than they did postpartum (18 weeks of gestation: 1% physical cruelty, 4.8% emotional cruelty, 5.1% any victimization; 33 months postpartum: 2.9% physical, 10.8% emotional, 11% any victimization). Women who reported being victimized during pregnancy also reported significantly higher levels of social adversity during pregnancy. The number of social adversities reported during pregnancy also predicted postpartum victimization. Women who reported only one adversity during pregnancy were 2.73 (95% CI, 2.16-3.45) times more likely to report physical victimization at 33 months postpartum. Women who reported 5 adversities during pregnancy were 14.69 (95% CI, 7.35-29.37) times more likely to report such victimization at 33 months postpartum. For emotional cruelty, women who reported only one adversity during pregnancy were 2.10 (95% CI 1.80-2.46) times more likely to report emotional victimization at 33 months postpartum and 6.10 (95% CI 3.51-10.59) times more likely to report such victimization when five or more adversities were present during pregnancy. Levels of social adversity reported in pregnancy are important predictors of concurrent and future victimization. Screening for social adversity factors could help identify women at high risk for future domestic violence.

Psychosocial factors in fibromyalgia compared with rheumatoid arthritis: II. Sexual, physical, and emotional abuse and neglect.

Two recent reports have found associations between fibromyalgia and sexual victimization, but had methodologic characteristics that limited their interpretation. We compared 36 patients with fibromyalgia and 33 patients with rheumatoid arthritis by using structured interviews for sexual, physical, and emotional victimization histories, as well as dimensional self-report measures of victimization severity. Compared with the patients with rheumatoid arthritis, those with fibromyalgia had significantly higher lifetime prevalence rates of all forms of victimization, both adult and childhood, as well as combinations of adult and childhood trauma. Although childhood maltreatment was found to be a general risk factor for fibromyalgia, particular forms of maltreatment (eg, sexual abuse per se) did not have specific effects. Experiences of physical assault in adulthood, however, showed a strong and specific relationship with unexplained pain. Trauma severity was correlated significantly with measures of physical disability, psychiatric distress, illness adjustment, personality, and quality of sleep in patients with fibromyalgia but not in those with rheumatoid arthritis. Fibromyalgia seems to be associated with increased risk of victimization, particularly adult physical abuse. Sexual, physical, and emotional trauma may be important factors in the development and maintenance of this disorder and its associated disability in many patients.

Effects of Victim Exemplification in Television News on Viewer Perception of Social Issues

Two broadcast news stories were manipulated to show victimization (food poisoning, handgun violence) in one of three versions: without victim exemplification, with exemplification by unemotional victims, and with exemplification by highly emotional victims. Male and female respondents, whose empathic sensitivity had been predetermined, recorded their own perceptions of each issue addressed: its severity as a national problem, the likelihood of it becoming a local problem, and the likelihood that they themselves might be placed at risk. They also indicated their reaction to each news story. Emotional victim exemplification fostered perceptions of greater problem severity than unemotional and no victim exemplification. Additionally, emotional victim exemplification, compared with no exemplification, fostered perceptions of increased victimization risk to self, whereas unemotional victim exemplification failed to do so. Empathic sensitivity did not interact with exemplar emotionality, but produced a main effect. Highly empathic persons perceived the severity of danger and risk to themselves as greater than did less empathic persons. Respondent gender similarly produced a main effect without interacting with exemplar emotionality. Female respondents assessed all dangers and risks as higher than did their male counterparts. Finally, exposure to emotional exemplification, but not unemotional exemplification, fostered reports of greater distress reactions than did exposure to the news stories without exemplification. Women reported greater distress than did men, and highly empathic persons reported greater distress than did less empathic persons.