Journal of Interpersonal Violence

The authors' study included 42 female adult patients. All the patients had been sexually abused by family members. The participants were grouped into two groups: those with self-mutilating behavior (SMB) and those without such behavior. They were evaluated for history of physical and sexual trauma, suicide attempts, eating habits, and SMB. The ratio of SMB in the sample was 33.3%. Our findings support that SMB and sexual abuse are closely related to eating disorders, particularly anorexia. The relationship between SMB and suicide attempts was found statistically significant. Childhood abuse, especially sexual abuse, is a largely ignored psychosocial problem in Turkey. SMB and sexual abuse are highly correlated, and therefore SMB might be considered as an important signal for the presence of sexual abuse.

Data were collected from 472 women between the ages of 18 and 45 drawn from five sources: outpatient alcoholism treatment, DWI education programs, a shelter for battered women, outpatient mental health treatment, and randomly from the community. To control for alcohol problems and help-seeking behavior, respondents were classified into three groups: women with alcohol problems and in treatment, women without alcohol problems and in treatment, and women in the random sample. Controlling for respondents' (a) help-seeking behavior, alcohol problems, race, childhood socioeconomic status, and parental alcohol problems, (b) experiences of father-to-daughter verbal aggression and violence, and (c) level of severity of father-to-daughter abuse were found to predict adulthood psychiatric symptomatology. However, experiences of mother-to-daughter verbal aggression and violence, as well as level of severity of mother-to-daughter abuse were found unrelated to adulthood psychiatric symptomatology in the multivariate analyses. Explanations for the greater effect of father verbal abuse and violence are discussed.

The relationships among psychopathic personality traits, rape-supportive attitudes, and self-reported sexual aggression were examined in a sample of 191 college men. It was hypothesized that participants who reported severe sexually aggressive acts (i.e., coerced intercourse) would endorse items indicating more extreme psychopathic traits than those who reported only less severe acts. In addition, we expected that psychopathic traits would play a unique role in severe sexual aggression, above the contribution of rape-supportive attitudes. Results were strongly supportive of the first hypothesis; however, there was no evidence that traits and attitudes contribute to sexually aggressive behavior in different ways. The discussion considers similarities and differences in the contribution of traits and attitudes to the development of sexually aggressive behavior.

The purpose of this investigation was to design and empirically evaluate a program designed to reduce women's risk of multiple sexual victimization. Participants in this study were 406 college women. At the beginning of the academic quarter, participants responded to survey instruments assessing history of sexual assault, dating behaviors, sexual communication, and knowledge about sexual assault. After responding to survey instruments, women in the treatment group participated in the program. Women in the control group did not participate in the program. Participants returned at the end of the academic quarter and responded to survey instruments again. Results suggest that the program was ineffective in reducing the incidence of sexual assault among participants. In addition, the program did not significantly affect dating behaviors, sexual communication, or knowledge about sexual assault. Furthermore, the ineffectiveness of the program in these areas did not appear to be related to participants' histories of sexual victimization.

This study examines workplace victimization of state government employees. The scope of the violence, demographic and job-related characteristics of victims, levels of violence, and the relationships between victims and perpetrators are explored. Findings indicate that violence is widespread, although it is primarily verbal in nature. Significant relationships are found between the victim's job classification and violence, as well as the association between the victim and perpetrator and the level of violence. Results support studies citing managerial and public safety job categories as high risk for violence but do not find significant workplace violence among domestic partners.

Previous studies have suggested that women with a history of sexual abuse are more likely to become pregnant as adolescents than nonabused peers. We examined a cohort of 734 mothers ages 12 to 42 selected from 1985 to 1987 for participation in a longitudinal investigation for any relationship between sexual abuse prior to age 18 and childbearing characteristics, including their age at the birth of their first child as well as parity. Thirty-two percent reported sexual abuse. After controlling for poverty, race, maternal education, marital status, and age, there was no significant difference between the abused and nonabused mothers in their age at first birth; however, parity was higher for the sexually abused group. Fifty-five percent of mothers with a sexual abuse history had had more than one child as opposed to 39% of the nonabused mothers (p < 0.0001).

Previous research has indicated that psychopathy, as measured by the Hare Psychopathy Checklist is related to violent behavior, recidivism, and career criminality in nonpsychotic, correctional populations. However, the present study is among only a few to investigate the relationship between psychopathy and violence in mentally disordered offenders. Participants (N = 218) were administered the PCL following admission to an inpatient forensic hospital. Significant correlations between the PCL total scores and both nonphysical and physical aggression during the first 2 months of hospitalization were observed. The PCL total scores were also significantly correlated with postdischarge arrests for offenses against persons but not for offenses against property. Both age and PCL total score were significantly related to the total number of aggressive incidents during the first 2 months of hospitalization, but only the PCL total was significantly related to frequency of seclusion or restraint during this period. Results suggest that psychopathy may serve as a risk factor for mentally disordered offenders for certain kinds of aggression.