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Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a prevalent problem worldwide. Friends of perpetrators may be in a unique position to support or affect change. However, little is known about the influence of friendship with a perpetrator on responses to IPV. Social identity theory describes an ingroup bias whereby ingroup perpetrators of violence are viewed as less personally responsible than outgroup perpetrators. This bias has been consistently found for impersonal ingroup relationships, but there is limited research in relation to friends of perpetrators. Drawing on social psychological theories, this study aimed to explore the impact of friendship with a perpetrator on responses to IPV—specifically, on attributions of causality and social rejection. A fictional vignette depicting IPV perpetrated by either a friend or a stranger was presented to 174 university students, who then completed a questionnaire on attributions and social rejection. Results indicated that participants attributed high blame to the perpetrator regardless of their relationship, but friends of the perpetrator were significantly more likely than strangers to attribute the cause of the violence to external factors. Friends of perpetrators were likely to continue the friendship, though social rejection was significantly more likely when the perpetrator was attributed high blame and internal causality. Ingroup bias was not consistently present across all outcomes, demonstrating the complexity of social relationships and IPV. The findings suggest expectancy based on past behavior may influence attributions for violence in existing relationships. The combination of high blame, external attributions, and low social rejection was discussed in relation to opportunities for friends to intervene to prevent IPV. The multifaceted influence of friendship on responses to IPV perpetration suggests the need to consider relationship factors when designing violence prevention campaigns and bystander intervention programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Socially constructed images of motherhood suggest that a "good" mother is caring, nurturing, and selfless—the perfect maternal figure. When these standards are not met, mother blaming (i.e., assigning fault to mothers) occurs even in child sexual abuse (CSA) cases. We collected 312 open-ended responses in total from 108 community-based participants to understand contextual factors that increase and decrease in mother fault in a CSA-related vignette depicting the mother's partner as the perpetrator. Thematic analysis revealed five main themes. Three themes were associated with decreased blame: Lack of Overt Knowledge (i.e., the mother had no direct knowledge of the CSA and thus cannot be blamed), Physical Act (i.e., the mother was not the actual perpetrator; only the perpetrator is responsible for the CSA), and Trust (i.e., the mother should be able to trust her partner). Two themes were associated with increased blame: Covert Knowledge (i.e., the mother was expected to have covert, intuitive knowledge of the CSA) and Mistrust (i.e., the mother should have known better than to trust her partner). Faulting mothers for the CSA of their child may reduce reporting of, and help seeking for, CSA, due to fear of being blamed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Youth who are blamed for their sexual abuse may experience increased negative outcomes, such as amplified self-blame. Similarly, blaming nonoffending parents can impede their ability to support their child following disclosure. Understanding the factors that influence how people perceive victim, caregiver, and perpetrator responsibility is imperative for the protection and treatment of families who have experienced sexual abuse. Little research has explored victim and abuse characteristics that influence the perception of sexual abuse. As such, the purpose of this study was to examine the roles of behavior problems and frequency of abuse in the attribution of blame in a hypothetical sexual abuse case. In addition, the relationship between several respondent characteristics and assignment of responsibility were explored as secondary aims. The study used a two (behavior problems: three suspensions in one school semester vs. no mention of behavior problems) by two (one abuse occurrence vs. five abuse occurrences) between-subjects design. Seven hundred forty-two participants read one of the four child sexual abuse (CSA) vignettes and completed measures related to responsibility. ANOVAs revealed those who read a vignette where the youth experienced multiple abuse incidents rated the victim as more responsible regardless of whether or not the youth was described as having behavior problems. Results indicate that respondents may have attributed more blame to the victim due to the belief that she could have done something to stop the abuse after the first incident. The abuse frequency manipulation when combined with the behavior manipulation appeared to relate to how respondents perceived the victim's parents. Males and younger respondents attributed more blame to the victim; however, sexual abuse or assault history did not associate with victim responsibility ratings. Clinical and research implications were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several cognitive elements have previously been proposed to elevate risk for physical child abuse. To predict parent–child aggression risk, the current study evaluated the role of approval of parent–child aggression, perceptions of children as poorly behaved, and discipline attributions. Several dimensions of attributions specifically tied to parents’ discipline practices were targeted. In addition, anger experienced during discipline episodes was considered a potential moderator of these cognitive processes. Using a largely multiple-indicator approach, a sample of 110 mothers reported on these cognitive and affective aspects that may occur when disciplining their children as well as responding to measures of parent–child aggression risk. Findings suggest that greater approval of parent–child aggression, negative perceptions of their child’s behavior, and discipline attributions independently predicted parent–child aggression risk, with anger significantly interacting with mothers’ perception of their child as more poorly behaved to exacerbate their parent–child aggression risk. Of the discipline attribution dimensions evaluated, mothers’ sense of external locus of control and believing their child deserved their discipline were related to increase parent–child aggression risk. Future work is encouraged to comprehensively evaluate how cognitive and affective components contribute and interact to increase risk for parent–child aggression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present longitudinal study examined relationships between self-blame attributions and social reactions to disclosure in a community sample of adult sexual assault victims ( N = 555). Cross-lagged panel analyses showed that neither characterological self-blame nor behavioral self-blame related to negative social reactions over the 1-year follow-up period. In contrast, characterological but not behavioral self-blame predicted fewer positive reactions over time. Although positive reactions did not reduce self-blame, negative reactions led to greater characterological, but not behavioral, self-blame during the course of the study. Thus, relationships between self-blame and social reactions were not reciprocal but rather quite complex. The effects of victims’ coping strategies and sexual revictimization were also assessed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the relationship between battered women's causal attributions for the violence they experience and their subsequent coping efforts. Causal attributions related to partner blame, excusing the violence, and the combination of partner blame and excusing the violence were regressed on six categories of coping strategies: placating, resistance, formal help source, informal help source, safety planning, and legal strategies. Of the 793 women approached outside of a battered women's shelter and the district court, 406 women completed the baseline measure. It was found that women who hold their partners accountable for abuse are more likely than women who excuse the violence to utilize more overall coping strategies. Also, women who blame their partners for the abuse utilize both more active and more public coping efforts. After accounting for the effects of ethnicity, violence severity, and excusing the violence, the percentage of blame attributions endorsed predicted informal (R2 = .077, p = .001) and safety planning (R2 = .054, p = .014) strategies. After controlling for ethnicity, violence severity, and blaming, the percentage of excuse attributions predicted placating (R2 = .103, p = .016) strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the effect of voluntary and involuntary drug use on attributions about sexual assault. The sample was composed of 280 randomly selected male and female undergraduate students. The type of drug used (GHB, alcohol, or none) and the voluntariness of the administration were varied in an unambiguous date rape scenario. Participants viewed sexual assault facilitated by alcohol or drugs similarly to sexual assault without drug or alcohol involvement, assigning the highest levels of responsibility and blame to the perpetrator and the lowest levels of both to the victim in these situations. In contrast, women's voluntary consumption of drugs prior to a sexual assault reduced perpetrator responsibility and blame and increased blame to the victim compared to other situations (except in some cases, voluntary drunkenness). These findings extend the limited research on date rape drugs and previous work on the influence of alcohol on date rape attributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Approximately 32% of dating college females reported that they engaged in physical aggression against their partners and that they engaged in acts of physical aggression more often than their male partners engaged in aggression against them. However, the females also reported that their male partners attempted to force them to engage in oral sex more often than the females engaged in such coercive behavior. Based on both open-ended and closed responses, the primary reasons given for engaging in physical aggression were anger at the partner and poor communication. Females who reported physical aggression in their relationships were less satisfied with their relationships. and both psychological and physical aggression were negatively correlated with positive feelings about the partners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective is to know if high-risk mothers for child physical abuse differ in their evaluations, attributions, negative affect, disciplinary choices for children's behavior, and expectations of compliance. The effect of a stressor and the introduction of mitigating information are analyzed. Forty-seven high-risk and 48 matched low-risk mothers participated in the study. Mothers' information processing and disciplinary choices were examined using six vignettes depicting a child engaging in different transgressions. A four-factor design with repeated measures on the last two factors was used. High-risk mothers reported more hostile intent, global and internal attributions, more use of power assertion discipline, and less induction. A risk group by child transgression interaction and a risk group by mitigating information interaction were found. Results support the social information-processing model of child physical abuse, which suggests that high-risk mothers process child-related information differently and use more power assertive and less inductive disciplinary techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary purpose of this investigation is to assess the factor structure of survivors' attributions for previously experienced sexual assaults. Two hundred twenty-four female survivors of sexual assault responded to measures assessing attributions for past assaults, perceived avoidability of future assaults, frequency of past victimizations, and psychological distress. Factor analysis of the attributions measure suggested five underlying factors: perpetrator blame, characterological self-blame, situational factors and/or chance blame, behavioral self-blame, and societal blame. Results indicated that characterological self-blame, but not behavioral self-blame, was associated with negative outcomes, including increased psychological distress and increased frequency of past victimization. Although behavioral self-blame was associated with perceived avoidability of future assaults, it was not associated with lower psychological distress or reduced frequency of past victimizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This analogue study (written vignettes and videotapes) examines the influence of -- victim-perpetrator relationship (spouse or acquaintance), sex of perceiver, and type of abuse (psychological vs. physical) on attributions about victims and perpetrators of domestic abuse. College student participants (73 men, 108 women) were randomly assigned to condition. As expected, type of relationship influenced observer perceptions. Specifically, participants rated the victim of marital violence as more psychologically damaged and disturbed by the abuse than the victim of acquaintance violence. Furthermore, interaction effects showed that men, more than women, rated the actions of the married perpetrator as more of a victim's rights violation than the actions of the acquaintance perpetrator. Second, type of abuse was shown to influence perceptions of the perpetrator but not the victim. Sex-of-perceiver effects were also obtained. Women held the perpetrator more responsible and assigned less blame to the victim than did men. Legal and clinical implications are then discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]