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The purpose of this paper is to identify the risk factors for emotional intimate partner violence (IPV) against women and girls with children in Mexico from an ecological perspective. To that end, we generate a dataset with 35,004 observations and 42 covariates, to which we apply an additive probit model estimated with a boosting algorithm to overcome high-dimensionality and simultaneously perform variable selection and model choice. The dataset integrates 10 information sources, allowing us to properly characterize the four levels of the ecological approach, which is the first contribution of this paper. In addition, there are three key contributions. First, we identify a number of factors significantly linked to emotional IPV against women with children: age, age at sexual initiation, age at marriage (or cohabitation), autonomy regarding professional issues, social support networks, division of housework, the community's Gini index, women's economic participation in the municipality, and the prevalence of crime against males in the region. Second, we discuss some risk factors whose effects have not been examined or have been underexplored for Mexico; these include women's decision-making autonomy, social support networks, distribution of housework, the community's economic inequality, and criminality. Third, we identify specific risk subgroups that are generally overlooked: women who had their first sexual intercourse during childhood and women who got married (or moved in together with a partner) late in life. The main results suggest that strategies aiming to promote women's social and economic empowerment and reduce criminality should also incorporate a gender component regarding emotional violence against women with children in the context of intimate relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Same-sex intimate partner violence (SSIPV) is still under-investigated despite its spreading. Unique risk factors, such as internalized homonegativity, have been found to be related to physical SSIPV perpetration. However, the mechanisms that regulate this association are still unclear. Drawing from the psychological mediation framework (PMF), this paper aimed to explore the relationship between internalized homonegativity and physical SSIPV perpetration, assessing the mediating role of emotion dysregulation. In all, 139 gay and lesbian participants involved in same-sex relationships participated in the study by completing a self-administered online questionnaire. Mediation analyses were used to assess both the direct and indirect effects. Internalized homonegativity was not directly associated with physical SSIPV perpetration. However, internalized homonegativity was positively associated with emotion dysregulation, which, in turn, was positively associated with physical SSIPV perpetration. The indirect effect of internalized homonegativity on physical SSIPV perpetration through emotion dysregulation was also confirmed. The results that emerged extend the application of the PMF to SSIPV. The data found can inform both preventive interventions and treatments targeting SSIPV perpetrators to reduce the phenomenon and limit recidivism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why are women's murders (femicide) more common in some localities than in others? This paper addresses this question in the context of Turkey, a country with a high and rising number of women's murders. It uses province-level data between 2010-2017 and the Negative-Binomial estimator to explore the importance of several socio-economic, cultural, and political factors. It finds that a province's ethnic composition, divorce rate, gender equality in education, and level of economic development are significant predictors of women's murders. The main result is that whether economic development reduces femicide depends on other factors: in poorer provinces, there is a strong positive correlation between women's murders and equality in education and divorce rates, but in richer provinces, these associations are significantly weaker. These results are consistent with the idea that economic development may not reduce women's murders by itself, but it can mitigate the effects of male backlash against women who challenge the status quo. The main policy implication of this study is that pro-development policies may save more lives if they target those poorer provinces that also carry these additional risk factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unpredictable and widespread threat of mass shootings make them a concern that could affect anyone, anywhere. As such, being able to interrupt the process of planning and conducting a mass shooting represents a matter of public safety. Willingness to report, particularly on loved ones or associates, ultimately requires the public to be supportive of the interventions they think will be applied. In this study, we analyzed responses to an online "opt-in" survey (n = 274) that measured public opinion regarding how punitive (or therapeutic) the public at large suppose the sanctions for planning (but not [yet] conducting) a mass shooting should be. Our findings suggest the public is supportive of a balanced justice approach for both juveniles and adults, with and without mental illness, who plan a mass shooting when given the option. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intimate partner sexual violence (IPSV) is a substantial public health issue faced by youth, with disparities along lines of race, gender, and sexual orientation. Using an intersectional framework, the current study describes the prevalence of self-reported IPSV victimization across intersecting social positions among adolescents. High school students who completed the 2019 Minnesota Student Survey were asked whether they had ever experienced IPSV. Using exhaustive Chi-Square Automatic Interaction Detection (eCHAID), responses were modeled using five indicators: racial/ethnic identity, transgender/genderqueer/genderfluid identity, sex assigned at birth, sexual orientation, and school location. The prevalence of IPSV victimization within each end group identified by the eCHAID varied from 2.6% to 32.0%. The highest prevalence of IPSV among all students was observed in subgroups defined by multiple marginalized social positions; for example, 32.0% among lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, pansexual, or questioning (LGBQ+) students of color who were transgender, genderqueer, genderfluid or unsure of their gender, and assigned male at birth; 22.8% among LGBQ+ students assigned female at birth and enrolled in a Greater Minnesota (outside of the Twin Cities) school; and 22.2% among Native+ or missing race LGBQ+ students assigned female at birth and enrolled in a metropolitan school. Within the eCHAID decision tree, several subsamples of students were split into two more subsamples with a twofold or greater statistically significant difference in IPSV victimization prevalence between them. Findings from this study highlight notable disparities in the prevalence of IPSV victimization among Minnesota youth and demonstrate the importance of detailing the distribution of interpersonal violence outcomes across youth with multiple marginalized identities. Findings suggest that disparities reported along one categorical axis only may miss important nuances in how risk for IPSV is distributed. Population health researchers should utilize methods that allow for the explication of complex intersections that characterize individuals' social positions in estimating the prevalence of sexual violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to estimate direct health-related costs for victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) using nationwide linked data based on police reports and two healthcare registers in Finland from 2015 to 2020 (N = 21,073). We used a unique register dataset to identify IPV victims from the data based on police reports and estimated the attributable costs by applying econometric models to individual-level data. We used exact matching to create a reference group who had not been exposed to IPV. The mean, unadjusted, attributable healthcare cost for victims of IPV was €6,910 per individual over the 5-year period after being first identified as a victim. When adjusting for gender, age, education, occupation, and mental-health- and pregnancy-related diagnoses, the mean attributable health-related cost for the 5 years was €3,280. The annual attributable costs of the victims were consistently higher than those for nonvictims during the entire study period. Thus, our results suggest that the adverse health consequences of IPV persist and are associated with excess health service use for 5 years after exposure to IPV. Most victims of IPV were women, but men were also exposed to IPV, although the estimates were statistically significant only for female victims. Victims of IPV were over-represented among individuals outside the labor force and lower among those who were educated. The total healthcare costs of victims of IPV varied according to the socioeconomic factors. This study highlights the need for using linked register data to understand the characteristics of IPV and to assess its healthcare costs. The study results suggest that there is a significant socioeconomic gradient in victimization, which could also be useful to address future IPV prevention and resource allocation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sexual minority, individuals who are not heterosexual, college students experience high rates of intimate partner violence (IPV), which is linked to a myriad of deleterious outcomes. However, little work has evaluated whether there are differences in IPV outcomes among sexual minority college students as compared to heterosexual college students. Further, the extent to which minority stress at the institutional and individual level relates to IPV outcomes among sexual minority students is understudied. As such, the purpose of the current study was to evaluate IPV outcomes in a large sample of undergraduate students attending 18 medium- to large-sized universities across the contiguous U.S. Results supported that sexual minority victims of IPV had more anxious and depressive symptoms than heterosexual victims of IPV but were not more likely to engage in hazardous drinking. Further, analyses supported that several campus-level (but not individual-level) indicators of minority stress moderated the relation between IPV victimization and negative outcomes among sexual minority students, such that the association between IPV and negative outcomes was stronger among students embedded in campuses with higher levels of minority stressors. Results support the critical importance of interventions addressing campus-level minority stressors to reduce deleterious IPV outcomes among sexual minority college student victims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prevalence rates of dating violence (DV) on college campuses are high. The documented effects of DV suggest substantial challenges across all domains of functioning; yet, DV is preventable. The research on risk and preventive factors for Latino college students is limited. This study used the social–ecological model to examine factors associated with DV at the individual, relationship, and societal levels. More specifically, we utilized structural equation modeling to build an acceptable model of physical and psychological intimate partner violence (IPV) experiences for Latino participants based on variables of gender role beliefs, acculturation, attitudes toward violence, and surveillance behavior, while considering development issues. We describe the practice and prevention implications of the study findings. Overall, the model showed excellent model fit (χ2[40] = 52.06, p <.09, root mean square error of approximation = 0.025, comparative fit index = 0.99, Tucker–Lewis Index = 0.98, and a coefficient of determination of 0.04), and several proposed pathways were found to be significant, exhibiting the utility of this model in understanding Latino Dating violence. Maternal education was found to be significantly negatively associated with Mexican orientation (β = −.13, p =.02) and indirectly associated with both DV attitudes and surveillance through Mexican orientation, suggesting protective effects for lower maternal education and higher Mexican orientation. Machismo (β =.18, p =.002) and caballerismo (β =.26, p <.001) were both related to IPV attitudes. Machismo also directly increased the risk of surveillance (β =.21, p <.001) and indirectly increased the risk of physical and psychological victimization through surveillance behavior. Mexican orientation predicted less endorsement of DV attitudes (β = −.16, p <.001) and less surveillance (β = −.09, p =.04). Victimization was predicted by caballerismo (β = −.19, p <.001) and surveillance (β =.33, p <.001). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the global rates of intimate partner violence (IPV) for Indigenous women have been acknowledged as substantial, few studies have incorporated an analysis of the impacts of colonization in the context of IPV. This secondary mixed-methods analysis explored the experiences of 40 Indigenous women from the Canadian prairie provinces who were abused by their intimate partners. The women discussed the impact of colonization, including the use of residential schools, to break down family life, spiritual beliefs, and languages, at times linking this to IPV. Of the 40 women, 38 described male partners as the abusers and two identified female abusive partners. Consistent with the literature, many of the male partners physically assaulted the respondents so severely that the women were injured and were at risk of death. Almost half of the men (47.4%) used sexually coercive strategies and/or sexually assaulted the women. Implications include the importance of professionals considering the broader historical experiences and possible trauma of Indigenous women who seek assistance for IPV from abusive partners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a significant global public health problem that results in high social and economic costs to individuals and communities. Compared to women in the general population, women engaged in sex work (WESW) are more likely to experience physical, emotional, and sexual IPV. This study examines the correlates of IPV among young WESW with their intimate partners in Southern Uganda. We used baseline data from the Kyaterekera project, a 5 year NIH-funded longitudinal study aimed at reducing HIV risks among 542 WESW in Southern Uganda. To examine the factors associated with IPV, we fitted three separate multi-level Poisson regression models for physical, emotional, and sexual IPV, respectively. Average age was 31.4 years, and 54% of the women reported being victims of at least one form of IPV from their intimate partners. Model one assessed correlates of sexual IPV. Being married women (β =.71, 95% CI [0.24, 1.17]), divorced/separated/widowed (β =.52, [0.02, 1.02]), depressed (β =.04, [0.02, 0.05]), and having any sexually transmitted infections (STIs) (β =.58, [0.14, 1.01]) were associated with sexual IPV. Model two assessed correlates of physical IPV. Experience of childhood sexual abuse (β =.12, [0.04, 0.19]) was associated with an increase in physical IPV, and increasing age reduced its occurrence (β = −.02, [−0.04, −0.001]). Finally, model three assessed emotional IPV. Women with higher education (β =.49, [0.14, 0.85]) and symptoms of depression (β =.02, [0.001, 0.04]) had higher risks for emotional IPV. For WESW, IPV presents an additional potential pathway for HIV and STIs acquisition and transmission through a lack of negotiating power for safe sex. Efforts to reduce violence against WESW should be prioritized as a strategy for enhancing the well-being of WESW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing from Agnew's general strain theory, this study examines whether certain risk factors have a consistent effect across different situational contexts that characterize bullying perpetration. A conjunctive analysis of case configurations was conducted to examine and identify situational factors that increase adolescents' risks for bullying perpetration using data from the 2019 Minnesota Student Survey. Results from a sample of 166,176 U.S. adolescents show that (1) incidents of traditional bullying perpetration cluster significantly among dominant situational profiles; (2) students most likely to be bullies experience victimization, but students least likely to bully their peers rarely experience bullying victimization; and (3) being a victim of traditional bullying can increase the chances of traditional bullying perpetration in some situational contexts, but can have almost no influence on perpetration in other contexts. Current findings are discussed considering existing bullying scholarship and recommendations for policy and future areas of research are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this article is to assess the effect of domestic violence on abortion and investigate the mediating role of unwanted pregnancy. A secondary analysis was conducted on the National Family Survey data. This survey was a cross-sectional study conducted across Iran in 2018. The association between domestic violence and abortion was analyzed using the Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Model (PLS-SEM) with WarpPLS version 8.0. From among 1,544 married women (mean age 42.8 years) who participated in this survey, 27% (418 women) reported experiencing at-least one-lifetime of abortion. Overall, two in three women (67.3%) experienced at least one form of domestic violence. Almost half of the women with experience of abortion (49.3%) reported at least one unwanted pregnancy in their life course. The bivariate analysis showed a significant positive relationship between domestic violence and abortion, and there was a positive direct effect of domestic violence on unwanted pregnancy. Moreover, age had a negative direct and indirect effect on unwanted pregnancy and abortion. Although, the direct effect of domestic violence on abortion was not significant in the Structure Equation Model, a positive indirect effect of domestic violence on abortion through unwanted pregnancy was confirmed. The effect of unwanted pregnancy on abortion was particularly strong (β =.395, p <.01). These results have some implications for prevention of abortion through interventions against unwanted and unplanned pregnancy and domestic violence. This study makes a unique theoretical contribution to the literature through assessing the mediating role of unwanted pregnancy between domestic violence and abortion by using the SEM model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Netherlands, as in many other countries, victims of intentionally committed violent crimes may apply for state compensation if the offender is unknown or unable to pay for the damages of the crime. This state compensation scheme is run by the Dutch Violent Offences Compensation Fund (VOCF). Lawyers who work for this fund need to evaluate applicants' eligibility for state compensation on the basis of two criteria: (1) the plausibility of the applicant's victimization story and (2) the severity of the injury sustained by the applicant. Whether these criteria are fulfilled is largely left to the discretion of the lawyer who evaluates the application. This discretionary power makes the decision-making process prone to biased outcomes. Inspired by previous research, this study investigated whether information from mental health care providers, such as psychiatrists or clinical psychologists, serves as a potential source of bias. Although this type of information may or should sometimes be used to evaluate an applicant's eligibility for compensation, in most cases it should not affect the outcome of this evaluation because of its potential unreliability. A statistical association between availability of information from mental health care providers and adjudication of state compensation is therefore not to be expected. Analyzing 246 applications submitted to the Dutch VOCF between July 1st 2016 and July 1st 2017, this study tested the empirical validity of this expectation. Results indicated that the availability of information of mental health care providers was associated with adjudication of state compensation. This finding was discussed in view of the literature on heuristic thinking and biased decision making and the study's limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sexual assault is prevalent in the U.S. society, with an estimated 16% of women and 8% of men experiencing some form of sexual violence during their lifetime (Breiding, 2014). Sexual violence crosses all identity lines; however, legislation, cultural representation, and academic scholarship on sexual violence has historically been limited to assaults against women perpetrated by men. This dominant analysis of sexual assault focuses on the impact of sexism on sexual violence, neglecting the impact off other forms of oppression and attitudes related to sexuality and gender. This dominant representation leaves non-prototypical victims, such as men, people of other genders, and sexual minorities of all genders, less visible and less understood. This underrepresentation may lead to negative reactions toward these victims including blame, exoneration of the perpetrator, and reluctance to acknowledge assaults. In the current study, I explored the impact of both victim gender and sexual orientation on reactions to a hypothetical intimate partner sexual assault victim. Results indicated that perpetrators who assaulted a man were blamed less than those who assaulted a woman. Furthermore, study participants had more empathy for women who were assaulted than they did for men. There were no differences in participants' negative reactions to victims by sexual orientation. Results suggest that, while some advances have been made in public support for sexual assault victims, these advances may not extend yet to men as victims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from a cross-national survey conducted on representative samples of populations from 10 European countries (n = 10,766), the present study is the first one to empirically measure the validity of Christie's influential ideal victim model. We use a range of scenarios built around common types of anti-LGBT violence to verify the extent to which the public's empathy for victims is contingent on the victim's identity and the circumstances of the crime. The results provide strong evidence that, when applied to this group of victims, the rules of the ideal victim work, adequately moderating the public's emotional reactions. We found that all victims receive relatively high levels of empathy, but the further the victim is from the ideal, the less support they can count on. Thus, even though no victim is "rejected," a clear hierarchy of victimization emerges. As a group, LGBT people suffer from an empathy deficit, but there also are considerable variations within this group, with a lesbian attacked by extremists receiving the most, and a drunk transgender person receiving the least empathy from the public. The study contributes to the development of theory by embedding the ideal victim model in a broader sociological paradigm of dramaturgical analysis. Since our research shows that the victim's LGBT status decreases the levels of empathy (being seen as a type of stigma), we call for more attention to be paid to the actor's identity in Goffman's framework. Implications for practice and further research are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dating app facilitated sexual assault (DAppSA) is a concerning phenomenon with minimal published research. This retrospective study explored if DAppSAs were different than other sexual assaults (SAs) committed by acquaintances through a review of 3,413 sexual assault medical forensic examination (SAMFE) charts from 2017 to 2020 in a Mountain West state in the United States. Routine Activities Theory and Confluence Model of sexual aggression provided the theoretical framework for the study. Inclusion criteria for DAppSA cases included (1) victim was 14 years of age or older; (2) victim indicated meeting the perpetrator on a dating app; (3) SA occurred at initial in-person meeting; and (4) victim had a SAMFE with SA kit evidence collection. DAppSAs (n = 274) represented 8.02% of overall cases and 13.92% of acquaintance SAs (n = 1,968). DAppSA victims had unique characteristics including a higher percentage of male victims (7.5%), college students (22.2%), and victims with self-reported mental illness (MI) (59.6%). Victims were less likely to fight back during the assault with lower percentages of kicking (5.8%) and hitting (9%). DAppSA victims and perpetrators were less likely to use drugs or alcohol before or during the assault. DAppSAs were found to be more violent SAs with increased strangulation (32.4%); assaultive/penetrative acts; and victim injuries, especially anogenital and breast injuries. Unique and troubling differences were found in DAppSA cases than other SAs committed by acquaintances. Due to the increased violent nature of DAppSAs, the researchers propose that sexual predators use dating apps as hunting grounds for vulnerable victims. Recommendations to address dating app safety concerns, influence dating app usage policies, and improve care to survivors are discussed through systems-based and trauma-informed approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A significant amount of literature exists on the lasting effects of interparental abuse on children's psychological health as adults. However, evidence on how children's childhood experience of interparental violence shapes their attitude toward partner violence in adult intimate relationships is limited. Given the existing evidence that women's acceptance of partner violence as a social norm increases the risk of partner violence, we analyzed the effect of girls' witnessing interparental abuse (where a father is a perpetrator) on their attitude toward partner violence in their intimate relationships as adults. We used data from the Demographic and Health Surveys for 31 low and middle-income countries in Asia and Africa. Aggregating information about women's attitudes toward partner violence into a binary "intimate partner violence acceptance" variable, we found that a woman who witnessed her father beat her mother was 1.62 times more likely to justify partner violence than a woman who did not experience such interparental abuse (adjusted odds ratio [ AOR ] = 1.62, 95% CI [1.57, 1.66], p <.001). Additionally, using individual components of acceptance as response variables, we found that a woman who witnessed interparental abuse was significantly more likely to justify partner violence if she went out without telling her husband (OR = 1.49, 95% CI [1.45, 1.54], p <.001), neglected children (OR = 1.53, 95% CI [1.49, 1.58], p <.001), argued with the husband (OR = 1.49, 95% CI [1.45, 1.53], p <.001), refused sex with the husband (OR = 1.35, 95% CI [1.31, 1.39], p <.001), or burned food (OR = 1.36, 95% CI [1.31, 1.41], p <.001). This study highlights the need to put in place children-specific social policies to limit the intergenerational transmission of the adverse effects of intimate partner violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intimate partner violence (IPV) has garnered the attention of scholars, policymakers, and social justice actors for several decades. Shortcomings in police response to IPV may be related to police attributions of victim culpability. A dearth of research has assessed police officers' assignment of blame, responsibility, and causality directed toward IPV victims, particularly those who identify as LGBTQ+. Using a randomly assigned, experimental vignette design, the current study employed surveys from a sample of 305 police officers commissioned at a sizeable police department in one of the most populous and diverse U.S. cities to (1) assess culpability attributions directed toward same-sex IPV (SSIPV) victims, (2) determine whether culpability attributions differed between male and female SSIPV victims, (3) examine officer demographic, occupational, attitudinal, and experimental predictors of IPV culpability attributions directed toward SSIPV victims, and (4) assess differences in predictors of culpability between male and female SSIPV victims. Results from the current study suggest police officers attributed average levels of culpability toward SSIPV victims and levels were not significantly different between male and female SSIPV victims. Adherence to heteronormative IPV myths and trauma misperceptions increased police officers' attributions of culpability directed toward same-sex victims. Presence of physical evidence decreased culpability attributions among police officers. Educational programming developed for police officers should focus on the dynamics of IPV and cultural competency. Future research should continue to explore police officers' perceptions of and responses to SSIPV incidents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the relationship between domestic violence and dating violence victimization, and the mediating influence of the justification of dating violence among female Korean university students. The present study uses a cross-sectional survey (N = 550) to examine three research questions. First, does exposure to domestic violence during childhood predict dating violence victimization later in life? Second, does justifying violence mediate the relationship between domestic violence experience and dating violence victimization? Third, does justifying violence show a difference depending on the sexes of the perpetrator in influencing victimization of violence? A series of structural equation modeling analyses were conducted. The results showed that witnessing interparental violence and experiencing child abuse directly influenced dating violence victimization. Second, the justification of violence mediated the relationship between witnessing interparental violence and dating violence victimization. Third, justifying male to female violence influenced dating violence victimization. The study's findings emphasize the importance of the gender-specific justification of violence among young female adults. This study makes essential empirical and theoretical contributions. A more in-depth understanding of the justification of violence between their prior and present experiences of violence in different contexts would support victims to recover and prevent poly-victimization experiences. Significant implications for school counselors as well as practitioners are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic hardship may lead to a wide range of negative outcomes, including violence. However, existing literature on economic hardship and violence is limited by reliance on official reports of violence and conflation of different measures of economic hardship. The goals of this study are to measure how violence-related injuries are associated with five measures of county-level economic shocks: unemployment rate, male mass layoffs, female mass layoffs, foreclosure rate, and unemployment rate change, measured cross-sectionally and by a 1-year lag. This study measures three subtypes of violence outcomes (child abuse, elder abuse, and intimate partner violence). Yearly county-level data were obtained on violence-related injuries and economic measures from 2005 to 2012 for all 87 counties in Minnesota. Negative binomial models were run regressing the case counts of each violence outcome at the county-year level on each economic indicator modeled individually, with population denominator offsets to yield incidence rate ratios. Crude models were run first, then county-level socio-demographic variables and year were added to each model, and finally fully-adjusted models were run including all socio-demographic variables plus all economic indicators simultaneously. In the fully-adjusted models, a county's higher foreclosure rate is the strongest and most consistently associated with an increase in all violence subtypes. Unemployment rate is the second strongest and most consistent economic risk factor for all violence subtypes. Lastly, there appears to be an impact of gender specific to economic impacts on child abuse; specifically, male mass-lay-offs were associated with increased rates while female mass-lay-offs were associated with decreased rates. Understanding the associations of different types of economic hardship with a range of violence outcomes can aid in developing more holistic prevention and intervention efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Black, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT), individuals experience higher rates of violent victimization compared to their cisgender heterosexual counterparts over their life course. Among Black LGBT people, witnessing and experiencing violence have been related to poor health outcomes, including depression, risky sexual behavior, substance use, and lower engagement in healthcare services. We engaged in research to better understand the effects of violence experienced by the Black LGBT youth community. We conducted a qualitative, phenomenological study focused on the causes of violence occurring in the lives of Black LGBT youth engaged in a recreation-based community health program. The study consisted of four focus groups with Black LGBT youth (N = 24) and in-depth individual interviews with medical and social service providers who work with Black LGBT youth (N = 4). Data analysis presented three themes: (1) causes of violence, (2) the context of intracommunity violence, and (3) solutions to violence. The first theme describes the reasoning, motivation, or explanation for violence experienced by the Black LGBT youth community. The second theme, the context of intracommunity violence, describes how violence occurs specifically within Black LGBT young adult communities. The third theme, solutions to violence, describes the recommendations for addressing, reducing, and/or eliminating violence within the Black LGBT youth community. Our findings highlight the need for safe spaces, culturally-relevant services, and trusted figures for Black LGBT young adults, which can serve as mechanisms for mitigating violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the fact that intimate partner violence (IPV) occurs within intimate relationships, we know relatively little about the characteristics of those intimate relationships, and even less about how IPV changes across time within different relationships. We use the Relationship Dynamics and Social Life (RDSL) study, based on a random sample of 1003 18–19-year-old women residing in a Michigan county. Women were interviewed weekly for 2.5 years, resulting in an age range of 18 through 22. We estimate hybrid "within-between" regression models, which allows us to directly compare the same woman's risk of experiencing IPV across her different relationships, varied in terms of resources, balance of power, conflict, childbearing, relationship type, and duration. Our analyses demonstrate that power imbalance in intimate relationships, non-monogamous and unstable relationships, relationships with men who are not the father of a woman's existing children, and serious relationships (especially stayover and cohabiting) place young women in their late teens and early twenties at particularly high risk of multiple dimensions of IPV. Our fixed-effects modeling strategy isolated the increase in IPV risk that is due to these characteristics and experiences within intimate relationships from the risk due to young women being at high risk of IPV for other reasons who might tend to choose these types of relationships. The elevated risk of IPV in relationships with these characteristics and experiences supports a causal link between them. Our research supports the potential efficacy of interventions that reduce conflict, equalize power within relationships, and encourage women—especially young mothers—to delay serious relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stemming intimate partner violence among adults demands earlier education and skill-building supportive of healthy youth and young adult dating relationships. The current U.S.-based study examines a spectrum of youth and young adult relationship dynamics (RDs), inclusive of abusive interactions. In a nationally representative cohort of youth aged 10–18 at baseline and one parent or caregiver, survey responses regarding RDs from 618 participants ages 15–23 at wave 5 follow-up were analyzed. Latent class analysis of four positive dynamics, six problematic dynamics, and three scales of adolescent relationship abuse (ARA) were estimated, yielding four latent profiles of dating RDs. Relationships characterized by Unhealthy and Intense RDs both exhibited high probability of ARA but differed from each other in terms of other positive and problematic dynamics. Relationships characterized by Disengaged RDs had lower probability of ARA but elevated probability of awkward communications, negative feelings, social liability, and other challenging dynamics. Several baseline covariates were significantly associated with profiles of dating RDs approximately 5 years later. Younger participants were more likely to subsequently fall in an Intense or Disengaged RDs profile, as were participants with baseline emotional health problems. Further, classification in the Unhealthy RDs profile was less likely for participants reporting a better baseline relationship with their parents and more likely for those exposed to violence in childhood. These findings suggest that in addition to developmental maturity, youth and young adults would benefit from closer investigation and processing of past emotional and relational issues and traumas to foster healthier dating relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Incest is a globally prevalent phenomenon and is defined as sexual relations between closely related family members. Despite being a criminal offense irrespective to the gender and age incest is a prevalent issue in Nepal. Incest survivors are sheltered in safe homes for specific periods and reintegrated into their families following their healing. This research aims to explore the challenges and issues involved in the reintegration of incest survivors and investigate how the interconnected perceptions of families and individuals relate to the incest survivors' successful reintegration. Methods: This qualitative study was conducted in three districts of Nepal. Fourteen incest survivors, five service providers from safe homes, and 22 community members were purposefully and theoretically selected. Semi-structured interviews were carried out to collect the study data, which were subsequently coded and analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Results: The results indicate the importance of the reintegration of incest survivors, as staying in a safe home may not offer a long-term solution for these individuals. However, reintegration is challenging without acceptance and support from the survivors' families and communities, the survivors' readiness to reintegrate, and agreement from the survivors' safe homes. Factors found to influence the unsuccessful reintegration of survivors included family fragmentation, socio-economic status, family resistance, the survivor-perpetrator relationship, survivors' interests, fears, and the possibility of repeated incidents, harmful social norms and cultural practices, community intervention, and negative perceptions. Conclusion: This study found that factors associated with impeding the reintegration of incest survivors are found in survivors, their families, and their communities. Creating harmonious family systems, providing education on gender equality, empowering women to fight against all sorts of abuse, and governmental assurances on the implementation of legal aid, human rights, ratified conventions on child rights and women's rights may help prevention of incest, and address the reintegration challenges of incest victims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent literature has described a rise in the activity of right-wing extremists in the United States. Several studies have examined this phenomenon in relation to the actions of President Trump. Comparatively, little research has examined the impact of the Obama presidency on right-wing extremism despite a peak in the number of right-wing extremist groups during his second term. Using a power-threat framework, this study examines the unique effects of the presidential candidacies and elections of Obama and Trump on the frequency of attacks committed by right-wing extremists in the U.S. as documented in the Global Terrorism Database (GTD). Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) modeling is applied to monthly counts (n = 151) of 141 domestic terrorist attacks committed by right-wing extremists that occurred in the U.S. between June 3, 2006, and December 31, 2018. Consistent with the political threat hypothesis, our findings indicate that the re-election of President Obama was associated with a gradual, permanent increase in the frequency of attacks by right-wing extremists. Yet, none of the intervention components associated with his first candidacy or election were associated with statistically significant changes in right-wing terrorist attacks. In contrast, and in accordance with the emboldenment hypothesis, all intervention components associated with the candidacy and election of Donald Trump predicted permanent increases in the frequency of attacks—and most were abrupt in nature. In view of these findings, political leaders on the left and right must anticipate the ability of their rhetoric and behavior to both alienate and embolden extremist groups and individuals, particularly within the far-right. As our findings demonstrate, failure to do so risks contributing to increased activity among far-right extremists as a product of either political threat or emboldenment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School violence is a global public health epidemic, with students with disabilities at a significantly greater risk than their non-disabled peers. Students with disabilities are more vulnerable to school violence from peers, teachers, and school staff due to stereotypes and prejudice. Teachers are pivotal in preventing violence and intervening, but literature on the role that teachers play in responding to disability-based violence is limited. Guided by the social–ecological framework of bullying, this qualitative study explored educators' responses to school violence against students with disabilities in Zambia. Data generation included document review, interviews, and focus groups with 33 teachers and 12 parents, and child-friendly methods with 90 students with disabilities. Findings illuminated that students with disabilities are less safe in schools. Teachers are not responding to violence seen or heard about due to stigmatizing beliefs and cultural norms surrounding disability and violence, with students with disabilities blamed for the violence and the response being their burden. Students with disabilities felt protected by special education teachers; however, disability-based stigma did not end with the student. By association, special education teachers were experiencing stigma from other teachers and were discouraged to respond. This stigma undermined the support special education teachers could provide to decrease school violence. Findings provide direction so teachers can respond to school violence in prosocial ways that create an environment where students with disabilities feel safe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, one in three women will experience intimate partner violence (IPV) within her lifetime. IPV attitudes are highly predictive of IPV. While a wealth of literature on risk factors related to IPV exist, an overarching critique in the field is the lack of studies examining risk factors across the socioecological framework. Using data from multiple administrative and individual surveys, this study fills a gap in the literature by evaluating the effect of meso-influences on physical IPV attitudes (i.e., permissibility of a man beating his wife) while accounting for known micro- and macro-risk factors in 64,466 individuals across 51 low-, middle- and high-income countries. Mixed-effects modeling was used to evaluate factors and identify comparative contributions of each factor representing the socio-ecological levels. We tested five multivariate logistic models. The final model indicated that greater perceived neighborhood disorder and less perceived neighborhood security were associated with physical IPV attitudes, while individual endorsement of interpersonal violence, belief in corporal punishment of children, holding greater patriarchal beliefs, being male, being separated from a significant partner, reporting greater household hunger and nationally lower levels of female literacy were associated with beliefs that IPV is acceptable. Overall, the findings of this study support that IPV is a complex behavior, influenced by factors across socio-ecological domains. However, data on neighborhood structural factors (i.e., exosystem) would help unpack the mechanisms between macro-, meso- and micro-level factors and may be important for protecting women from violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Court-ordered treatment programs are a widely used response to intimate partner violence (IPV) and many states have developed standards to guide programs. The current study provides an update to Maiuro and Eberle's. (2008) review of states' standards and extends the literature by using the principles of effective intervention (PEIs; i.e., risk, need, responsivity, treatment, and fidelity) as an organizational framework to examine standards. Findings showed that 84% of states had standards in 2020, compared to 88% in 2007, and extensive changes both within and across states' standards had occurred. Regarding the PEIs, in line with the risk principle most states mandated the use of risk assessments; inconsistent with the needs principle, few states used these assessments to classify clients into risk levels or inform individualized treatment. The majority of standards addressed the treatment principle by outlining a required structure and duration, but few attended to responsivity factors (e.g., identifying treatment modalities, attending to specific client factors). Regarding the fidelity principle, most standards outlined education or training requirements for staff and required periodic program reviews or audits, but few standards were evidenced-based and only about half required that programs collect data to measure effectiveness. Taken together, findings suggest that standards have continued to evolve and that the integration of PEIs into IPV treatment is only just beginning. Standards provide a rich opportunity for future researcher–practitioner partnerships in the field of IPV intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intimate partner violence (IPV) relates not only to physical forms of abuse, but also psychological, emotional, economic, and financial controlling behaviors. IPV is a dynamic, complex phenomenon that occurs over a relatively long period of time. While several measures of IPV exist, a method that can track the progression and escalation of such behaviors in relationships could offer more understanding and highlight key intervention points for individuals in such relationships. Behavior Sequence Analysis is used in the current research to map the chain and progression of behaviors in multiple real-world cases of IPV. Results indicate clear sequential clusters of behaviors such as physical and psychological abuse, and coercive controlling behaviors such as gaslighting, restricting movement, and removing freedoms. Overall, this research stands as a foundation framework to build a greater understanding of the processes and pathways of IPV, and offers workers in the field a novel method to assist with interviewing and intervening in such cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The link between individual experiences in early childhood or adolescence years and future dating violence (DV) perpetration has been well established and explored across various populations. However, little is known on a worldwide scale, about the association between national conditions during childhood, like overall well-being or status of women in that nation, and perpetration of DV in emerging adulthood. Applying life-course theory and a socioecological framework to data from the International Dating Violence Study and country index scores, this study examines whether the overall well-being of a country during childhood affects the perpetration of DV in emerging adulthood. We also examine if the national status of women during childhood moderates the association between overall well-being of a country during childhood and DV perpetration in emerging adulthood, all while controlling for the individual effects of gender, violence approval, criminal history, neglect history, and anger management. The study's sample size included 4,280 people from 19 countries. Men reported less likelihood of perpetrating DV compared to women. Cross national comparative analysis revealed a significant interaction effect between country well-being and women status on DV perpetration (β = 0.69, p <.05) at the national level. When women's status was low or moderate, the well-being status showed an inverse effect on the probability of DV perpetration, but this direction switched in the face of high women's status. Contrary to previous research, higher women status may contribute to increased intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration. Our findings underscore the existence of context-specific social conditions in relationship to IPV. Broad implications of the findings, potential explanations and directions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While an increasing body of literature has assessed police response to intimate partner violence (IPV), a dearth of this research has examined police decision-making with formal reports of IPV among Latina immigrants. Using a LatCrit theoretical framework, the current study addressed this substantive gap through the systematic methods of the grounded theory approach to assess a sample of 36 police case files drawn from an agency located in one of the fifth most populous and diverse US cities. Results from the current study identified five themes related to shortcomings in police response to Latina immigrant IPV victims. The themes included cultural coercive control, language barriers, victim participation, case clearance efforts, and service provision. Policy implications and avenues for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An examination of the interaction of pre- and post-migration stressors is critical to understanding Canadian Muslim immigrant women's experience of intimate partner violence (IPV). This study uses a dominant qualitative design, supplemented by quantitative data to understand eight Canadian Muslim immigrant women's experience of IPV from six countries of origin. Five themes were identified: (a) childhood exposure to trauma and violence, (b) iron cage of society, (c) the fusion of love and violence, (d) postmigration challenges and assistance, and (e) toll and consequences of IPV. These themes are described to illustrate the trajectory in the development of IPV and the participants' eventual decision to leave their relationship. Pre-migration experiences included adverse childhood experiences, family history of IPV, and difficulty with help-seeking for IPV. Post-migration challenges of language difficulties, lack of social connections, internalized familial patriarchal values, and sexism influenced women's help-seeking and decision-making. Results from this sample suggested that immigrant Muslim women are likely more affected by IPV in comparison to Canadianborn Muslim women, experienced more stressors, less support, delayed help-seeking process, and more serious mental health consequences. Quantitative measures revealed negative effects of IPV on women's mental and overall health. The roles of ethnic communities, religious institutions, law enforcement, and service providers in supporting Canadian Muslim women with experience of IPV are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dating violence is a public health problem affecting people worldwide. This study evaluated the occurrence of different types of adolescent dating violence using a mixed analysis of each data source. The present study addresses the following research questions: does the occurrence of the types of violence analyzed in the quantitative phase match with the narratives obtained in the qualitative phase? and does the additional information obtained in the qualitative phase improve the understanding of the analyzed phenomenon? In the quantitative phase, 410 participants (aged 13 to 19 years) answered a questionnaire based on the Modified Conflict Tactics Scale, while in the qualitative phase, 26 participated in two focus groups. Data were collected from May to June 2019. Written informed consent was obtained from the parents or legal guardians of those who had agreed to participate. The present research was approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador. The results were divided on: prevalence of dating violence based on age groups and gender, management and resolution of dating conflicts, victimization and perpetration of intimate partner violence, factors favoring intimate partner violence and acceptance of abuse. The results were analyzed via triangulation and indicated thatadolescents were involved in the perpetration and victimization of psychological as well as mild and severe physical violence. An analysis of the contributing factors revealed a strong tendency toward the acceptance of the traditional gender model. Challenging these models is crucial to deconstruct hierarchical models, develop conflict resolution skills, and promptly identify abusive behaviors that affect emotional development. The combination of different methodological approaches improved the understanding of the phenomenon studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has documented the considerable hardships immigrant women often face if they want to leave abusive relationships, but the cumulative impacts of such experiences have received insufficient scholarly attention. In response, this study investigates women's difficulties leaving abusive relationships based on life story interviews with 35 immigrant women who experienced partner abuse. Almost all the women originated from "patriarchal belt" countries in, for example, the Middle East and all arrived in Denmark as adults. Using a model of gendered geographies of power, this study examines key interview passages in which the women use dramatized speech to tell about their younger selves' interactions with significant others. These dramatized episodes of interactions emerge as crucial for the interviewees to communicate why they remained in abusive relationships for years and how most finally managed to leave their husbands. The narrated episodes reveal how the women's frequent lack of success in various interactional situations can be attributed to women "having the lower hand"—holding disadvantaged positions in the familial, social, and national hierarchies of power. These hierarchies reinforce each other, for example, when insecure residency status limits immigrant women's options to solicit help from Danish society. The analysis demonstrates that—in contrast to the stereotype of the abused immigrant woman as a passive victim—micro- and macro-level processes may work together to undermine immigrant women's possibilities to act independently at important junctures in their lives. The results also stress the importance that frontline workers have sufficient understanding of immigrant women's predicament and the ability to extend qualified and timely support. Such support can be crucial for abused immigrant women to become able to move away from their violent home environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though previous research has examined survivors' use of formal and informal services, less research has looked at whether sexual orientation, race, and different sexual assault types (e.g., coercive) are associated with seeking support services. The purpose of this study is to examine factors associated with utilizing services or support from informal sources (e.g., telling a friend) and formal sources (e.g., psychological counseling) following a sexual assault. Data were gathered in Fall and Spring of 2019–2020 from undergraduate students at a Midwestern university. Logistic regression results showed that heterosexual students had 56% lower odds of using informal supports, while females were 2.05 times more likely to have used informal supports compared to their counterparts. Students who reported more heavy drinking had 37% lower odds of using informal supports compared to their counterparts. Those who experienced physical and incapacitated sexual assault were 2.09 times and 3.60 times more likely to have used informal supports, respectively. Additionally, older students were 1.35 times more likely to have used formal supports compared to younger students, whereas heterosexual students had 67% lower odds of using formal supports compared to sexual minority students. Those with greater PTSD symptoms were 1.07 times more likely to access formal services. Finally, students with greater depressive symptoms had 8% lower odds of using formal supports. Identifying college students who are less likely to access support services following a sexual assault has important implications for targeted prevention and intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School violence is a social issue of particular interest both for intervention and research. Attitudes towards violence have been reported in the literature as relevant variables for evaluation, prevention, and intervention in this field. This study aims to examine in-depth attitudes toward school violence. The sample consists of 96 participants from Spanish Elementary Education and Compulsory Secondary Education schools. A qualitative study was conducted through focus groups and thematic analysis of the data. The results identify a habitual set of attitudes towards violence in children. These are related to violence as a way to feel better or increase self-esteem, as leisure or fun, perceived as legitimate, when violence is exercised against those who are different, when it has no consequences, to resolve conflicts, to socialize, and to attract the attention of peers. These results could serve as a basis for the creation of evaluation tools, as well as the design of prevention and intervention plans based on attitude modification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sexual harassment continues to be a consistent destructive feature of American life and workplaces, especially in fields for which women are under-represented, such as law enforcement. We use one of the first nationally representative cross-sectional surveys (n = 2,867) of female and male law enforcement officers (LEOs) to assess the prevalence of workplace sexual harassment victimization. Next, we assess how risk factors are related to this harassment through multivariable modeling. We observed large differences between rates of sexual harassment for female compared to male officers on both our measures of non-physical and physical workplace sexual harassment (sexual assault). Our combined measure of non-physical sexual harassment and sexual assault of female officers (71%) was in the range found in prior research and our 41% rate for male officers is also not trivial and requires attention from law enforcement leaders. We tested two competing hypotheses on whether female officers (and possibly some male officers not meeting certain definitions of masculinity) viewed as the most threatening by virtue of their job role in the male-dominated hierarchy will have the highest probability of being a victim of workplace sexual harassment (power-threat model) or whether those viewed as the most vulnerable officers will have the highest probability of sexual harassment victimization (vulnerable-victim model). We found greater support for the vulnerable-victim model. We discuss the implications of these results for guiding training and prevention strategies to address sexual harassment in the law enforcement workplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary objective of the current study was to explore the adoption of different coping strategies among survivors of acid violence in Pakistan. The data were collected from survivors of acid violence till saturation point was reached with the help of four key informants through a semi-structured interview guide from March, 2019 to June, 2019. Survivors who have lived with at least six months of acid violence were included in the current study. The researchers faced difficulty in recruitment of survivors as survivors usually choose to remain anonymous due to the social stigma attached with acid violence widespread in the society. Ethical considerations were also taken into account. The data were transcribed and in analysis the emerged themes were then classified into different coping strategies in the existing body of knowledge. The researchers used descriptive phenomenology to explain the lived experiences of survivors of acid violence. The patriarchy theory served as the theoretical foundation for the current study. The survivors of acid violence used coping strategies according to their abilities and availability. The victims of acid violence adopted the problem-focused coping strategies such as support seeking (e.g., talking to family and friends, appreciation and support of children), cognitive decision-making (e.g., accepting a new identity, busy routine, confidence), direct problem solving, (e.g., covering with a scarf, avoiding sun exposure), and avoidant action (e.g., limited social interaction). In addition, they used emotion-focused coping (such as cringing in loneliness, yelling at others, withholding feelings) and religious-spiritual coping (such as asking for forgiveness, offering prayers). In revenge, males have disfigured females' faces and bodies (presumable physical assets) but could not subjugate their resilience and power to survive (psychological assets) even in the oppression of patriarchy. In originality, it was the first study to explore the adoption of coping strategies among the survivors of acid violence in Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of routine activity theory (RAT) as a guiding theoretical approach to understand online victimization has been well documented. However, the recent emphasis in criminology on its applicability to online victimization has largely been based on evidence from Anglo-American studies. This study fills this gap by testing the predictive utility of RAT for cyberstalking victimization, using data from a sample of female Iranian students. Our structural equation model showed that online exposure to motivated offenders, target suitability, and ineffective online guardianship were positively and significantly associated with cyberstalking victimization. Our results provide strong support for RAT, indicating its generalizability to a different sociopolitical context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While rape and sexual violence have long been a widespread social problem, and one that has garnered significant attention, research that specifically examines the phenomenon of male victimization of sexual violence remains lacking. Addressing the gaps in the research, the current study uses 10 years of law enforcement data from the United States' National Incident-based Reporting System (2007–2016) on sexual victimization of males 14 years of age or older. The study sought to assess the impact of victim, offender, and incident characteristics associated with the outcome of the case (i.e., open, arrest, and exceptional clearance due to the victim declining or the prosecution refusing to pursue the case) for 20,701 male victims who reported a forcible sex offense to law enforcement as well as agency variation for cleared crimes. Using multilevel multinomial logistic regression, exceptionally cleared cases are more likely to resemble open cases than those resulting in arrest with incident characteristics having a larger influence than victim and offender characteristics. Cases involving concomitant offenses, committed by a stranger, resulting in injury, increase the likelihood of arrest—all of which support the "real rape" hypothesis. Exceptionally cleared cases represent more than one-third of cleared cases and there is significant department variation in the usage of exceptional clearance, as a number of agencies are exceptionally clearing more than half of their cleared cases, artificially increasing their clearance rate. These results, in conjunction with research on female victims, suggests that the handling of sexual assault cases reported to law enforcement remains problematic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of mistreatment of older adults have revealed alarmingly higher prevalence rates of mistreatment of those who have dementia. When the mistreatment occurs within the context of the home and is perpetrated by a family caregiver, it may remain hidden and only be discovered by the health and social service practitioners who have access to the home. Understanding the contexts within which this mistreatment occurs, and the influence of these contexts on the experience of these practitioners as well as on the resulting outcomes for mistreated older adults, has received little attention in the literature. This qualitative study, framed by critical social theory, aimed to answer the following research question: What are the contextual influences on practitioner experience with mistreatment of older adults with dementia by a caregiver within the home? Specifically, this study explored contextual influences within a Canadian province, where there is neither specific adult protective legislation nor infrastructure when mistreatment occurs within the home. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews, journals, and focus groups with 51 practitioners from various disciplines providing services to mistreated older adults with dementia in their homes. Theoretical thematic analysis led to the discovery of five contextual themes influencing the experience: the privileged burden of seeing behind closed doors; a domestic problem within a societal context; interprofessional challenges; a history of stagnation, losses, and systems failure; and a legislative complexity and oppression. Understanding these contextual influences is crucial to supporting practitioners, who, although entrusted to protect mistreated older adults, describe powerlessness within current contexts. This understanding is needed to improve outcomes for mistreated older adults with dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research demonstrates that Teen Dating Violence (TDV) programs impact TDV knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors, decreasing the odds of TDV victimization and perpetration. Studies indicate that students who do not complete a TDV intervention have significantly higher odds of physical and emotional TDV victimization and emotional TDV perpetration. This study uses multiple logistic regression and multiple linear regression to examine predictors of the presence and the strength of state legislation addressing TDV education and school policies. Results indicate some success in predicting the existence of TDV laws but less support for forecasting the strength of the policies passed. Dominant political party and state median income were found to be potentially important determinants of TDV state school policies. A state's political culture influenced the strength of states' TDV policies. Showing that policy existence and strength are related to different processes is important for advocates to understand. Future research should look at additional variables and explore legislative histories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent randomized controlled trial reported that Green Dot (GD)—a bystander intervention training program that targets popular opinion leaders for intensive training—reduced school-level interpersonal violence perpetration and victimization. Expanding GD's targeted group members to include "mavens" of bystander intervention—those who spread bystander intervention norms to others by communicating with peers—may increase the effectiveness of such training. Self-report data collected from students at the 13 intervention high schools in Kentucky are analyzed to identify characteristics of those who engage in discussions with peers about preventing interpersonal violence. Findings show that students who engage in more frequent bystander behaviors are more likely to have such conversations with peers, but GD participants were no more likely than nonparticipants to discuss preventing interpersonal violence with peers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Confluence Model of Sexual Aggression is a well-established framework for understanding factors that contribute to men's perpetration of sexual aggression against women, highlighting the roles of hostile masculinity, impersonal sex orientation, and exposure to pornography. To date, only one study has applied aspects of the Confluence Model to examine predictors of sexual aggression in adolescent males, and the study did not include pornography exposure as a predictor. The current study evaluates the Confluence Model as a framework for understanding the perpetration of both contact and noncontact sexual aggression in a sample of 935 heterosexual 10th-grade adolescent boys. Composite scores for hostile masculinity and impersonal sex orientation were generated. Nearly all the variables included in the hostile masculinity and impersonal sex constructs were associated with perpetration. Zero-inflated Poisson regression models revealed distinct combinations of salient predictors when the dependent variable was identified as boys' frequency of perpetration, compared with when the dependent variable was defined as any perpetration of sexual aggression. Impersonal sex orientation and violent pornography exposure were associated with perpetrating noncontact sexual aggression in the last 6 months, while violent pornography exposure and the interaction of hostile masculinity and impersonal sex orientation increased the frequency of recent contact sexual aggression. Results suggest that hostile masculinity, impersonal sex orientation, and violent pornography exposure are important factors to address within sexual assault prevention approaches for adolescent boys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within a lifetime, one in four women and more than one in 10 men will experience intimate partner violence (IPV). Researchers have begun to examine physical and social neighborhood risk factors of IPV, often using cross-sectional data. Most studies focus on risk or promotive factors. Often, neighborhood factors are studied through the lens of social disorganization theory, which focuses on how a neighborhood slips into a violent and crime-ridden place. Busy streets theory provides an alternative perspective, focusing on how building up community assets and resources may help create a safe and vibrant neighborhood. A conceptual approach that utilizes risk and promotive neighborhood variables may help develop new conceptual frameworks for understanding how context may decrease risk for, or moderate, the negative consequences of IPV. Using five waves of data from a 24-year longitudinal study, we employ multilevel linear regression models to examine the trajectory of IPV experiences in relation to positive perceptions of neighborhood, neighborhood cohesion, and informal social control in individuals aged 28 to 33 years. We control for the neighborhood and individual-level risk factors of alcohol consumption, drug use, observed neighborhood violence, and demographic factors of age, race, sex, and socioeconomic status. We found that positive perceptions of neighborhood, alcohol consumption, drug use, economic need, and observed neighborhood violence are associated with IPV. Levels of IPV risk were relatively constant within individuals across waves, but varied significantly between individuals. The measure of positive perceptions of neighborhood is derived from busy streets theory, which may be a useful conceptual framework for understanding how neighborhoods may contribute to positive social contexts that can protect residents from IPV experiences, and potentially other violent behavior. Additional research examining promotive social neighborhood features derived from busy streets theory may help expand our understanding of contextual factors that affect IPV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Native American women are at an especially high risk of lifetime violence, including childhood abuse, intimate partner violence (IPV), and sexual assault, and are overrepresented in the criminal justice system. Yet few studies have examined how the long-term effects of child maltreatment and other adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) affect Native American women prisoners' perpetration of physical violence in adult intimate relationships. This is surprising because ample research illustrates that childhood adverse events, particularly childhood abuse and neglect, have far-reaching effects across the life course and that these experiences are especially apparent in the lives of women involved in the criminal justice system. Using data from a stratified random sample of Native American (n = 92) and non-Native American (n = 264) women prisoners in Oklahoma, we explore the relationships between individual, cumulative, and clusters of ACEs as they relate to the use of physical violence in adult intimate relationships. Utilizing a feminist life course theoretical framework, our findings indicate that ACEs are not only critical to understanding adult IPV but also that the mechanisms and processes underlying the relationships between ACEs and the perpetration of physical violence in adult intimate relationships differ for Native American and non-Native American women. The findings of the current study demonstrate that it is imperative that prison programming includes trauma-informed and trauma-specific interventions targeting Native Americans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even after enactment of the Protection of Women From Domestic Violence Act 2005, over the last 10 years, the rate of decline of prevalence of spousal violence against women has remained low in India. This study attempts to explain the experience of spousal violence using a social–ecological framework. We analyzed the National Family Health Survey 2015 to 2016 (NFHS-4) data of 66,013 ever-married women aged 15 to 49 years. Participants in the domestic violence module of the NFHS-4 reported their experience of violence committed by their husband within the 12 months preceding the survey. Multilevel logistic regression analyses were done to determine the association between spousal violence and different explanatory variables of various levels of social ecology including variables on women's empowerment. About one fourth of ever-married women reported experiencing any form of violence during the last year. The experience of spousal violence was significantly associated with social ecology at multiple levels. At the individual level, the odds of experiencing physical violence were higher among younger women, who married at a younger age, had an age gap of 3 to 4 years with her husband, and had more children. Women in vulnerable groups, with poor economic status, and members of marginalized communities had higher odds of experiencing spousal violence. Women had high odds of experiencing spousal violence if living in a social ecology with unfavorable social norms, higher rates of domestic crimes, and a higher prevalence of underage marriage. The association of spousal violence with women's empowerment remained inconclusive. The results argue for manipulating contextual factors to empower women to challenge gender-related equations and investing in education for gender sensitization at the higher level social ecologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Limited research on female-assigned-at-birth sexual and gender minorities (FAB SGM) suggests that their risk of psychological, physical, and sexual intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization and perpetration may be linked to childhood violence exposure (CVE), such as experiencing child abuse, or witnessing sibling or interparental abuse. That said, there is a dearth of research in this population examining whether there is typically a violence type match between CVE and IPV (e.g., physical CVE predicting physical IPV), a gender match between those involved in CVE and later IPV (e.g., witnessing the abuse of female parents predicting IPV among women), or an increase in IPV risk commensurate with the number of different CVE types experienced. Addressing these gaps, this article draws on the baseline survey data of FAB400, a merged cohort accelerated longitudinal study of 488 FAB SGM adolescents and young adults. Analyses focused on the subsample of 457 participants with prior intimate relationship experience. Findings revealed that each assessed form of CVE—parental verbal abuse victimization, parental physical maltreatment victimization, childhood sexual abuse victimization, witnessing sibling abuse, and witnessing interparental violence—predicted risk of IPV perpetration and victimization, without evidence of violence type match. Witnessing interparental violence was associated with IPV irrespective of the abused parent's gender. In addition, exposure to a greater number of forms of CVE was associated with an increased risk of all types of IPV victimization and perpetration. Results offer preliminary evidence that the intergenerational transmission of violence is an applicable framework for FAB SGM, and as such this should be considered when screening and intervening for childhood, family, and partner violence in this population. Suggestions for future directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The roles of shame and guilt, and their relationships to empathy, have not been modeled adequately as key factors in moral decision-making in the study of violence. The role of moral emotion has been neglected in existing criminological research and this study seeks to develop current explanations of the comprehensive myriad of factors that play a role in moral crime decision-making. This research will test the different roles of empathy, shame, and guilt in violence decision-making using a situational action theory (SAT) perspective. Data taken from the Peterborough Adolescent and Young Adult Development Study (PADS+), a longitudinal study with a large representative sample, provide quantitative questionnaire indices to enable comparison of a persistent and frequent violent offender subsample (N = 48) with the remaining PADS+ study sample (N = 607). A striking majority of violent offenders report that they do not think it is wrong to commit violence, and do not care about it, that is, they lack shame and guilt, and report that violence comes as a morally acceptable and natural action alternative. Furthermore, violent offenders do not register the predicament of their victims; there is a distinct lack of empathy. This article demonstrates a key finding which has rarely been explored to date; regression analyses reveal an interaction effect whereby individuals with weak shame and guilt, combined specifically with weak moral rules, are more likely to commit acts of violence. The study findings provide strong support for the SAT of the role of weak morality in violence decision-making. To reduce the possibility of crime being seen as an action alternative, moral development programs should be developed and administered in childhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]