Journal of Interpersonal Violence

This study investigates familial characteristics, as measured by the Family Environment Scale, and characteristics of the initial abuse experience as risk factors for multiple sexual victimization. Subjects were 324 college women including 16 with a history of sexual abuse by more than one perpetrator, 146 with a history of sexual abuse by a single perpetrator, and 162 with no history of abuse. Multiple-perpetrator victims characterized their families as displaying less cohesion, less expressiveness, more conflict, and more hierarchical rigidity in rule-governed behavior than did either single-perpetrator victims or nonvictims. In addition, both multiple-perpetrator victims and single-perpetrator victims reported that their families displayed less organization than did nonvictims. Multiple-perpetrator victims were both more likely to be abused by an intrafamilial perpetrator at first abuse, and to be younger at the onset of the first abuse, than were single-perpetrator victims. Initial abuse characteristics were related to characteristics of later victimizations. It is suggested that family dysfunction and initial abuse characteristics may serve as risk factors for multiple victimization.

The present study assessed the acute reactions of women who had experienced sexual assault within a framework of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). One hundred women treated for sexual assault at a university hospital emergency department were interviewed within 72 hours of the incident. Of the 30 women reinterviewed 6 to 8 weeks later, 22 (73.3%) met the full criteria for PTSD, and an additional 5 reported symptoms in either the intrusive or avoidant domain. Twenty (66.7%) of the women met the criteria for PTSD based on an early draft of DSM-III-R. A prior history of sexual assaults was positively correlated with the presence of PTSD and the use of an informal support network was negatively associated with PTSD symptoms.

Although most research suggests that males are more aggressive than females, studies of married and dating couples often find that females report exhibiting more violence. To disentangle the effects of sex of aggressor, sex of victim, and aggressor/victim relationship, subjects read two scenarios in which these factors were varied. Evaluations of the aggressor's behavior and of the justifiability of retaliation by the victim revealed that aggression from males and aggression toward females was viewed most negatively. Males considered aggression towards a sibling to be least acceptable, whereas females rated it as more acceptable than violence directed to friend, stranger, or spouse. These results suggest that evaluations of aggression depend not only on the aggressive act but also on social norms about who may aggress against whom.

Typologies of 234 battered women were identified through cluster analysis to determine if a broader sample would appear similar to Snyder and Fruchtman's (1981) cluster analysis of battered women at a shelter. In addition, other variables related to wife abuse were included and new clusters were identified. Data was collected via a structured interview. Similarities with Snyder and Fruchtman's typologies suggested that certain factors may affect all battered women and are more important for investigation than the source by which the women are identified. However, the new clusters revealed a more complex picture with implications for treatment and identification.

The long-term sequelae of child sexual abuse were investigated through comparison of matched numbers of nonclinical samples of adult males (n = 24) and females (n = 28) molested as children, and control group subjects on a variety of outcome measures. Results support the association between childhood sexual abuse and adult psychosocial dysfunction for both male and female victims, with victims of both sexes showing more dysfunction than controls on the MMPI, Dyadic Adjustment Scale, Derogatis Sexual Functioning Inventory, and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Male victims were found to be more likely to have an adolescent perpetrator than females, while females were found to be more likely to have been molested through an incestuous relationship than male victims. Support for the presence of identity conflicts and rumination in males, and body image disturbances in females is discussed.

This article describes a project comparing the effectiveness of two short-term group therapy formats to a waitlist control condition for 65 adult women who were incestuously abused as children. In addition to treatment outcome, the authors discuss clinical impressions and supporting data on the specific benefits of each of the two formats, the individual factors predictive of outcome, and the implications of their findings for the development of the most appropriate format of group therapy for individual women.

Unstructured interviews with 32 women, recorded during their sojourn in a shelter for battered wives in Israel, constituted the basis for this study, the purpose of which is to explore the premarital relations between battered wives and their fiances from the phenomenological aspect. It was found that the patriarchal attitude displayed by the fiance, rather than violence during courtship, was the best predictor of future abuse. Because patriarchy was also characteristic of their fathers, it was concluded that these women simply move from one male-dominated home to another. The same background which is responsible for the women's readiness to accept male authority is also the cause of their tendency to marry when they are young and inexperienced. As a result, the suitor becomes supervisor and master.