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There are a multitude of behaviors that child sexual abusers use to 'groom' children into becoming vulnerable to abuse. In this study of 277 adult survivors of child sexual abuse, participants advised the many ways they were groomed into being abused by up to three perpetrators. The effects of three categories of grooming (Verbal Coercion, Grooming that used Drugs/Alcohol, and Threatening/Violent Grooming) were examined for their effects on trauma symptom severity. Using Linear Regressions, each grooming category had a significant predictive effect on trauma symptom severity. Multiple Linear Regressions revealed that for most trauma symptoms, Threatening/Violent Grooming was a significant predictor of trauma symptom severity, even when other more well-known variables were controlled for (including age at onset of abuse, relationship to perpetrator, and severity of abuse), with a notable exception of verbal coercion as a significant predictor of sexual problems in adulthood (i.e. not satisfied, low drive, overactivity, confusion, bad thoughts or feelings). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a robust predictor of trauma symptoms. Past research has identified many correlates of trauma symptoms following disclosure of CSA. Theory suggests that loss of social contact may be another important contributor to adolescents' trauma symptoms following CSA. A clinical sample of 166 adolescents (95% female) between 11 and 19 years (M = 13.80, SD = 1.87) reported on perceived loss of social contact, the extent to which the CSA was coercive, appraisals of self-blame for the abuse, supportiveness of a primary non-abusing caregiver, and trauma symptoms. The adolescent's relationship to the abuser, abuse severity and duration were coded from forensic interviews. Results indicated that greater perceived loss of social contact was associated with higher levels of trauma symptoms, even after controlling for other correlates of trauma symptoms and demographic variables. These findings suggest that perceived loss of social contact may be an important variable to consider in assessing and intervening with adolescents who have been sexually abused. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many forms of victimization, including bullying and property crime, are increasingly moving online, but most studies of poly-victimization still primarily focus on in-person crime and violence. Few studies have examined the importance of incorporating technology-based victimizations for assessing the true burden of violence. The purpose of this study is to explore whether digital poly-victimization contributes to post-traumatic stress and anxiety/dysphoria symptoms after controlling for in-person poly-victimization. Given that technology use and technology-based victimization are changing rapidly, a mixed methods approach was adopted. In the first two phases, focus groups and cognitive interviews (89 total participants) were used to identify the range of digital victimization and develop the Digital Poly-Victimization Scale. In the third phase, the new measure was included in a community survey (n = 478, 57.5% female; 62.6% earning under $50,000 per year) in a rural Southern region, along with measures of in-person poly-victimization, posttraumatic stress and anxiety/dysphoria symptoms, and other outcomes and personal characteristics. A comprehensive measure of digital poly-victimization indicated that almost 3 in 4 participants (72.3%) had experienced at least one form of digital victimization. The results indicated that digital poly-victimization contributed unique variance to post-traumatic stress and anxiety/dysphoria symptoms (p < .001), health-related quality of life (p < .01), and subjective and family well-being (both p < .001), even after controlling for demographics and in-person poly-victimization. Digital victimization often presents fewer risks to perpetrators and can be expected to represent an increasing share of the societal burden of violence. Future research on poly-victimization should pay more attention to the role of digital victimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Youth who have experienced sexual abuse sometimes also experience non-supportive responses, such as accusations of lying, from people in their family and social environment. Little is known about how such responses from different sources (caregivers, friends, other adults) correlate with one another and operate together in the prediction of youth problematic thinking, such as self-blame, and trauma symptoms. To better understand how non-supportive responses from different sources relate to one another and contribute to youth problems following sexual abuse. Participants were 475 youths (M age = 13.57, SD = 1.77) brought to a children's advocacy center in the southern United States. Participants completed measures of non-supportive responses from caregivers, friends, and other adults. They also completed measures of abuse-specific self-blame and trauma symptoms. Non-supportive responses from caregivers, friends, and other adults correlated with each other and with abuse-specific self-blame and trauma symptoms (correlations ranged from 0.12 to 0.18; all p values <.001). Results of regression analyses indicated that only non-supportive responses from caregivers contributed independently to abuse-specific self-blame, whereas non-supportive responses from caregivers and friends contributed to trauma symptoms. In the aftermath of sexual abuse, non-supportive responses from caregivers and friends relate to youth trauma symptoms. Assessing non-supportive responses broadly across the social network can be useful in understanding youth adjustment following sexual abuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study that examines the prevalence of cases identified by the validity scales of the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSCC) and its analytical impact. Regression models with the use of data from two community samples and two samples of at-risk youth had been compared. The analytical impact of the TSCC validity scales had been demonstrated and statistical evidence for the removal of invalid cases had been provided.

Previous studies find that childhood exposure to family and community violence is associated with trauma symptoms. Few studies, however, have explored whether community violence exposure (CVE) predicts trauma symptoms after controlling for the effects associated with family violence exposure (FVE). In the current study, CVE and FVE were examined in a sample of 179 youth with a recent history of maltreatment. CVE was associated with trauma symptoms after controlling for FVE, but FVE was not associated with trauma symptoms after controlling for CVE. In addition, negative coping strategies (e.g., self-harm, interpersonal aggression) partially mediated the association between CVE and trauma symptoms. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for interventions aimed at addressing the needs of children exposed to violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a pooled data set of two waves of the National Surveys of Children's Exposure to Violence, this study investigates links between indicators of socioeconomic resources and lifetime exposure to two different forms of child neglect (physical and supervisory), examines how neglect is associated with the risk of other types of victimization, and estimates the impact of neglect on trauma symptoms. Findings suggest that physical neglect is directly linked to economic stressors, while low parental education is consequential for both physical and supervisory neglect. Both types of neglect also were strongly associated with risk of other maltreatment and most other forms of victimization. Physical neglect was particularly strongly related to sexual abuse and witnessing sibling abuse, while supervisory neglect was most strongly related to risk for sexual victimization by a nonfamily adult. Although neglect is significantly associated with trauma symptoms, poly-victims had, by far, the highest levels of trauma symptoms.