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To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2010.03.001 Byline: Sherry Hamby (a), David Finkelhor (b), Heather Turner (b), Richard Ormrod (b) Keywords: Intimate partner violence; Child maltreatment; Co-occurrence; Witnessing domestic violence Abstract: To examine the co-occurrence of witnessing partner violence with child maltreatment and other forms of victimization. Author Affiliation: (a) Department of Psychology, Sewanee, the University of the South, Sewanee, TN 37383, USA (b) University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA Article History: Received 23 July 2009; Revised 3 March 2010; Accepted 8 March 2010 Article Note: (footnote) [star] For the purposes of compliance with Section 507 of PL 104-208 (the 'Stevens Amendment'), readers are advised that 100% of the funds for this program are derived from federal sources (this project was supported by Grant No. 2006-JW-BX-0003 awarded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs, US Department of Justice). Financial support for this project was provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Injury Prevention. The total amount of federal funding involved is $2,709,912., [star][star] Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the US Department of Justice or the CDC.

Researchers assess partner violence using numerous formats, but whether questionnaire format affects obtained rates has rarely been examined. We compared paper-and-pencil versus computer administrations, and standard Revised Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS2) categories versus dichotomous (yes/no) response categories, in a 2 x 2 experiment with 160 undergraduate students. Differential validity was also examined for gender. Results provide some support for the use of all formats, although sexual coercion rates showed more measurement variability than reports of psychological aggression, physical assault, or injury. Sexual coercion effects also differed by gender. The standard CTS2 categories resulted in more disclosures than dichotomous categories for some variables. Differences between computer and paper-and-pencil formats were generally minimal. More attention to the effects of questionnaire design on disclosures of violence is urgently needed. Keywords: partner violence; measurement; CTS2; questionnaires

Objective: Children who experience multiple victimizations (referred to in this paper as poly-victims) need to be identified because they are at particularly high risk of additional victimization and traumatic psychological effects. This paper compares alternative ways of identifying such children using questions from the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire (JVQ). Methods: The JVQ was administered in a national random digit dial telephone survey about the experiences of 2,030 children. The victimizations of children 10-17 years old were assessed through youth self-report on the JVQ and the victimizations of children 2-9 assessed through JVQ caregiver proxy report. Results: Twenty-two percent of the children in this sample had experienced four or more different kinds of victimizations in separate incidents (what we term poly-victimization) within the previous year. Such poly-victimization was highly associated with traumatic symptomatology. Several ways of identifying poly-victims with the JVQ produced roughly equivalent results: a simple count using the 34 victimizations screeners, a count using a reduced set of only 12 screeners, and the original poly-victimization measure using follow-up questions to identify victimizations occurring during different episodes. Conclusion: Researchers and clinicians should be taking steps to identify poly-victims within the populations with which they work and have several alternative ways of doing so. Keywords: Crime; Abuse; Bullying; Witnessing; Sex assault

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2005.06.005 Byline: David Finkelhor (a), Richard K. Ormrod (a), Heather A. Turner (a), Sherry L. Hamby (b) Keywords: Crime; Abuse; Bullying; Witnessing; Sex assault Abstract: Children who experience multiple victimizations (referred to in this paper as poly-victims) need to be identified because they are at particularly high risk of additional victimization and traumatic psychological effects. This paper compares alternative ways of identifying such children using questions from the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire (JVQ). Author Affiliation: (a) Crimes against Children Research Center, University of New Hampshire, 126 Horton Social Science Center, Durham, NH 03824, USA (b) University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA Article History: Received 12 October 2004; Revised 8 June 2005; Accepted 20 June 2005 Article Note: (footnote) [star] For the purposes of compliance with Section 507 of PL 104-208 (the 'Stevens Amendment'), readers are advised that 100% of the funds for this program are derived from federal sources (US Department of Justice). The total amount of federal funding involved is $363,620.

The proposition that men and women perpetrate partner violence equally would make partner violence unique with respect to other forms of interpersonal violence. Women, however, commit a substantial minority of violent acts. Any theory of gender patterns in partner violence needs to be reconciled with other violence data. Data on other violence indicate that different methodologies sample from different sets of phenomena, and those methods that sample the least severe violence show greater gender equivalence. Interpretation is clouded, however, by underreporting and overreporting across methodologies. Despite improvements in self-report measures, partner violence measurement lacks a gold standard. A gold standard would include incident data, sexual violence, injury, and be developed through direct comparison of multiple methods, including perhaps real-time self-monitoring. KEY WORDS: partner violence; gender differences; measurement; interpersonal violence.

Objective: To assess the utility and performance of the 34-item Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire (JVQ) in eliciting the recent victimization experiences of a national sample of children ages 2-17. Method: The JVQ was administered in a national random digit dial telephone survey about the experiences of 2,030 children. The experiences of children 10-17 years old were assessed through youth self-report on the JVQ, and the experiences of children 2-9 assessed through JVQ caregiver proxy report. Results: Large numbers of recent victimizations were disclosed using the JVQ (71% of the sample reporting at least one victimization in the last year, with an average of 2.63 victimizations per child). There were few indicators of respondent confusion and little resistance to even the most sensitive questions. In a test of construct validity, endorsements of JVQ items correlated well with measures of traumatic symptoms. The instrument showed adequate test-retest reliability in a 3 to 4 week re-administration. Large numbers of victimizations were reported across the spectrum of ages, and there were no major discontinuities between the self-reports and proxy reports, suggesting that caregivers provided generally adequate and comparable information to child self-reports about the experiences of children under the age of 10. Conclusion: The JVQ has potential for use in future epidemiological research as well as clinical evaluation concerning the victimization of children. Keywords: Methodology; Crime; Assault; Sexual abuse

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2004.11.001 Byline: David Finkelhor (a), Sherry L. Hamby (b), Richard Ormrod (a), Heather Turner (a) Abstract: To assess the utility and performance of the 34-item Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire (JVQ) in eliciting the recent victimization experiences of a national sample of children ages 2-17. Author Affiliation: (a) Crimes Against Children Research Center, University of New Hampshire, 126 Horton Social Science Center, Durham, NH 03824, USA (b) University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA Article Note: (footnote) [star] For the purposes of compliance with Section 507 of PL 104-208 (the 'Stevens Amendment'), readers are advised that 100% of the funds for this program are derived from federal sources (US Department of Justice). The total amount of federal funding involved is $353,233.

Methodological analyses of sexual victimization research are still rare, despite the explosion of interest in this topic and widely varying rates across studies. In-depth analysis of the meaning of differences in rates is especially lacking. A series of five ethnically and geographically diverse focus groups were held to explore how wording in sexual victimization surveys affects the reporting of various types of negative sexual experiences. Participants provided rich formulations about sexual intercourse that suggest there is a wide range of coercion, from peer pressure to lose one's virginity to partner pressure to demonstrate one's commitment to stereotypical forced rape. Focus group participants asserted that many terms that are often used synonymously, such as unwanted, nonvoluntary, and forced, have distinct meanings. They also described how different social pressures on women and men, and differences in physical size lead to inevitable differences in perceptions of coerciveness. Although recent sexual victimization surveys have increased the specificity of descriptions of sexual acts, these findings suggest that it is equally important to be precise in communicating what is meant by coercion.

This article introduces the Anger Management Scale (AMS). Managing anger constructively without violence is at the core of many treatment programs for domestic violence offenders and prevention programs for youth. There is no measure, however, specifically developed to monitor these skills. The AMS was designed to assess very concrete, specific cognitions and behaviors that can increase or decrease anger in intimate partner relationships and therefore influence the respondent's level of partner violence. In addition to the full 36-item scale, there are 20-item and 12-item short forms. The AMS has four subscales: Escalating Strategies (behaviors that increase reactivity to the partner), Negative Attributions (cognitions such as blame or negative intentions attributed to the partner of the respondent), Self-Awareness (awareness of physiological changes indicating rising anger), and Calming Strategies (behaviors that decrease reactivity to the partner). Preliminary psychometric data based on a college student sample (n = 475) show a meaningful factor structure, good reliability ([alpha] .70 to .87), and good construct validity.

This article examines abused women's use of labels when describing their experiences with violence. Labels include battery, abuse, and victimization.

If gender differences in recovery from childhood sexual abuse (CSA) go unrecognized, treatment may be unsuccessful. Gender differences in abuse characteristics, outcomes, and recovery are described for 131 therapists with CSA histories. Female clinicians reported more problems with self-esteem, relationships, trust, sex, and work than males. Female clinicians identified several recovery experiences as more important: relinquishing guilt, talking about the abuse, renegotiating family-of-origin relationships, personal therapy, reading or writing about their CSA, hospitalization, and CSA workshops. Therapists working with male victims need to be aware of possible gender differences in symptom report and effects of healing strategies.

Objective: To create a parent-to-child version of the Conflict Tactics Scales, the CTSPC. Method: Description of the conceptual and methodological approaches used and psychometric data for a nationally representative sample of 1,000 U.S. children. Results: (1) Improved Psychological Aggression and Physical Assault scales. (2) New Nonviolent Discipline scale, supplementary scale for Neglect, and supplemental questions on discipline methods and sexual abuse. (3) Reliability ranges from low to moderate. (4) Evidence of discriminant and construct validity. Conclusions: The CTSPC is better suited to measuring child maltreatment than the original CTS. It is brief (6 to 8 minutes for the core scales) and therefore practical for epidemiological research on child maltreatment and for clinical screening. Methodological issues inherent in parent self-report measures of child maltreatment are discussed. Key Words - Neglect, Abuse, Child maltreatment.

Research indicates that it is important to consider both maladaptive and adaptive responses in studies of partner violence. Most deficit-based response models focus too narrowly on behavioral deficiencies and cognitive distortions. The passive and active responses and cognitive reactions of 136 abused women were studied, with the greater violence levels found to produce the most active behavioral responses and most disapproving cognitive reactions.

In a national survey of 1,000 parents, which primarily concerned disciplinary practices and violence toward their children, two questions were asked about whether the children had been sexually abused. This was to assess the feasibility of epidemiological research on contemporaneous sexual abuse using parental interviews rather than the usual adult retrospective approach. From these questions, rates of sexual abuse for children currently 0-17 were estimated at 1.9% in the last year and 5.7% ever. The cases making up these rates included a nearly equal number of boys and girls and no female victims between the ages of 9 and 12, a distribution different from those generally obtained by other epidemiological methods, but due possibly in this case to normal sampling variation. Cases were more likely to be disclosed for children whose parents had themselves been sexually abused, who were from lower income households, or who were living with only one biologic parent. Although some of the findings suggest caution in generalizing about child sexual abuse from survey samples of parents, the method is worthy of exploration if only to gain better epidemiologic data about parent knowledge, reaction, reporting, and coping strategies. Key Words - Sexual abuse, Survey, Parent.

This study examined the impact of childhood sexual abuse history (CSA), gender, and theoretical orientation on treatment issues related to childhood sexual abuse. A survey of 501 clinicians found that 32% reported CSA histories. Sexually abused therapists were more likely to report some countertransference issues, especially boundary issues, than nonabused therapists, but gender differences were more important in determining differences in clinical practice. Female clinicians reported that CSA was more difficult to treat, that they screened more regularly for CSA, and that they utilized more coping strategies than male clinicians. Dissimilarities were also found between self-identified feminist therapists and psychoanalysts in their clinical practices, including the use of personality disorder diagnoses, reported countertransference issues, and coping strategies. Greater recognition of these issues in training programs is recommended.

Certain contrasting findings are indicated in the study concerning marital power and adjustment. Studies indicate that equal relationships represent a lack of structure, which lead to increased conflict in the process of decision making for problems or changes. However, it has also been argued that the lack of a power structure leads to higher flexibility and lower levels of conflict. The concepts of balanced and equal power are featured.

This article describes a revised Conflict Tactics Scales (the CTS2) to measure psychological and physical attacks on a partner in a marital, cohabiting, or dating relationship; and also use of negotiation. The CTS2 has (a) additional items to enhance content validity and reliability; (b) revised wording to increase clarity and specificity; (c) better differentiation between minor and severe levels of each scale; (d) new scales to measure sexual coercion and physical injury; and (e) a new format to simplify administration and reduce response sets. Reliability ranges from .79 to .95. There is preliminary evidence of construct validity.

Frequency measures for partner violence generally represent the latent construct while the severity measures do not. A survey of undergraduate women reflects the similarities and differences of the different partner violence measures. Inconsistent classification is seen for milder and rare violence. Unaccurate classification results from single violence measure reports. Minor violence leads to greater depression and weak family activities. The partner violence depends on violent behaviors and individual personalities.

Reviewed by: SHERRY L. HAMBY Women and Violence: Realities and Responses Worldwide is a comprehensive global review of violence against women. Miranda Davies has done an admirable job of compiling […]

Specific acts of psychological aggression and whether they are more closely linked to physical assault than others, were examined using item analysis in male and female undergraduates. Results suggested that all psychological items were linked to physical assault for both men and women, although some associations were stronger for males than for females.