Search

We identified different types of adolescent bullying perpetrators and nonbullies based on peer-reported bullying, victimization, and peer status (popularity, likeability, and rejection) and examined differences between bully subtypes in typical forms of bullying perpetrated. Moreover, we studied how bully subtypes differed from nonbullies with varying levels of victimization and peer status in academic and psychosocial adjustment. The study utilizes data from 10,689 adolescents (48.3% boys, mean age 14.7 years). Latent profile analysis identified three distinct subgroups of bullies: popular-liked bullies (13.5%), popular-rejected bully-victims (5.8%), and bully-victims (6.9%), and four groups on nonbullies. High-status bullies (popular-liked and popular-rejected) resembled nonbullies in many ways and had even lower social anxiety, whereas bully-victims were the most maladjusted group. Overall, popularity seems to protect adolescents from social anxiety, and victimization is related to internalizing problems. Results suggest that bullying, victimization, and peer status can be used to identify distinct subtypes of bullies., (© 2024 The Author(s). Journal of Research on Adolescence published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Research on Adolescence.)

Several cross-sectional studies indicated a positive association between school bullying and homicidal ideation during early adolescence. However, few longitudinal studies investigated this association. This study examined whether a bi-directional relationship exists within the longitudinal association between bullying victimization or bullying perpetration and homicidal ideation among early adolescents using a Random Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Model. A total of 1611 early adolescents (39.5% girls; M age  = 12.50 years, SD = 0.50) were recruited from the Chinese Early Adolescents Cohort study. Data on bullying victimization, bullying perpetration, and homicidal ideation collected during three time points (September 2019, September 2020, and September 2021) were used. Bullying victimization showed a significant positive association with homicidal ideation at the between-person level. Bullying victimization and bullying perpetration had a bi-directional relationship with homicidal ideation at the within-person level. Additionally, this study considered the impact of biological sex-based differences and bullying types on adolescents' homicidal ideation. Based on these findings, school bullying might exhibit unique reciprocal associations with homicidal ideation., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Background: Bullying in school is a universal psychosocial issue that raises concerns about adolescents' safety and mental health and is positively associated with depressive symptoms. Social support could be a preventive factor that eases bullying and its psychological distress., Purpose: The primary purpose of this study was to examine the mediating effect of social support in the relationship between bullying and depressive symptoms among adolescents in Jordan. Another aim was to investigate predictors of depression based on adolescents' sociodemographic factors., Methods: In this cross-sectional, non-experimental mediational study, a stratified and systematic sampling method was used to recruit 270 Jordanian adolescents., Results: Sociodemographic variables of being female, having divorced parents, having illiterate fathers, and being older in adolescence explained 12.2% of the variance in depressive symptoms. Family social support partially mediated the relationship between bullying and depressive symptoms., Conclusion: Our findings showed that a notable proportion of adolescents experienced bullying victimization and depressive symptoms, and a positive relationship exists between these two variables. These results further highlight the role of family social support in buffering the negative impact of bullying on depressive symptoms., Implications to Practice: The study's results emphasize the significance of developing and implementing family-centered social support initiatives by nurses to lessen adolescents' bullying experiences and depressive symptomatology., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest No funding or conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Although hate speech against Asian American youth has intensified in recent years-fueled, in part, by anti-Asian rhetoric associated with the COVID-19 pandemic-the phenomenon remains largely understudied at scale and in relation to the role of schools prior to the pandemic. This study describes the prevalence of hate speech against Asian American adolescents in the US between 2015 and 2019 and investigates how school-related factors are associated with whether Asian American youth are victims of hate speech at school. Analyses are based on a sample of 938 Asian American adolescents (M age  = 14.8; 48% female) from the three most recently available waves (2015, 2017, and 2019) of the School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey. On average, approximately 7% of Asian Americans were targets of hate speech at school between 2015 and 2019, with rates remaining stable over time. Findings also indicate that students had lower odds of experiencing hate speech if they attended schools with a stronger authoritative school climate, which is characterized by strict, yet fair disciplinary rules coupled with high levels of support from adults. On the other hand, Asian American youth faced higher odds of experiencing hate speech if they were involved in school fights. Authoritative school climate and exposure to fights are malleable and can be shaped directly by broader school climate related policies, programs and interventions. Accordingly, efforts to promote stronger authoritative climates and reduce exposure to physical fights hold considerable potential in protecting Asian American youth from hate speech at school., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Gun violence, often characterized as a singular issue, is not one cohesive problem. Instead, it takes many forms resulting from the complex interplay of multiple factors. Outcomes of gun violence also vary significantly. They may be (a) physically non-injurious (a gun is brandished), (b) injurious but non-lethal, or (c) lethal. To understand and address gun violence effectively, it is essential to consider various risk factors for both non-lethal and lethal gun violence victimization, using a comprehensive, comparative framework. We present a novel comparative framework for better understanding gun violence, and for developing policy responses to this violence. We disaggregate gun violence into its various forms and propose a conceptualization of risk factors in discrete categories, each with important implications for policy intervention. While we emphasize the value of this framework for understanding and combatting interpersonal gun violence in America, the research and policy approaches discussed here should be equally applicable to other international contexts with gun violence as a serious public health issue as well., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)

Background: Today, addressing issues related to the use of virtual space is of paramount importance due to its significant impact on mental well-being. This is especially crucial when the research community consists of teenagers who are cyber bullies or their victims who have higher vulnerability. The aim of the present study was to investigate the mediating role of alexithymia in the relationship between cyberbullying and psychotic experiences in adolescents., Methods: The research method employed in this study was correlational, and the study population consisted of all male and female middle school students in Tehran during the 2022-2023 academic years. As for data collection, the Cyber-Bullying/Victimization Experiences questionnaire, Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences, and the Toronto Alexithymia scale were applied. A total of 602 samples were gathered by using multi-stage cluster sampling from Tehran in Iran. Four selection of the sample, the regions in Tehran were selected randomly according to the geographical directions of them and then some schools and classes were chosen randomly. Sample was included in the analysis after data entry into SPSS software and subsequent structural equation modeling using AMOS software., Results: According to the findings, cyberbullying (β = 0.11,p < 0.05) and cyber victimization(β = 0.41, p < 0.001) were significant predictors of psychotic experiences. Alexithymia partially mediated the relationship between cyberbullying and psychotic experiences with the mediation effect of 0.28 and cyber victimization and psychotic experiences with the mediation effect of 0.18., Conclusions: These findings underscore the importance of identifying cyber victims or cyberbullies in order to prevent alexithymia and psychotic experiences in future, in order to prevent more serious problems and becoming psychotic., Trial Registration: The goals and conditions of this research were investigated and approved by the Ethics Committee of Alzahra University in Tehran (code: ALZAHRA.REC.1402.055) on 13th September 2023., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Using data from a nationwide survey among high school students in Denmark, the aim of the current study is to measure the prevalence of online bullying and online sexual harassment and assess gender and age differences in exposure., Methods: We used data from the Danish National Youth Study 2019, which is a nationwide web survey among high school students, including general, commercial, preparatory and technical high schools. Data were collected from January to April 2019 through a self-administered questionnaire in the classroom. A total of 29,086 students participated (response rate: 66%). The survey included questions about online sexual harassment (victimization and perpetration) and online bullying., Results: Approximately 11% of students reported receiving sexually offensive inquiries online, and about 10% received a sexual image/video of others without the subjects' consent. Additionally, 4% experienced that other people shared a sexual image/video of them without their consent within the last 12 months. The most common type of online bullying was feeling ignored by others online (25%), followed by someone spreading rumors or writing nasty things about them (13%), and receiving threats/unpleasant messages (12%). Gender results were mixed., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision., (Copyright © 2024 Nielsen, Pisinger, Kusier and Tolstrup.)

Objectives: This study aimed to provide epidemiological information on drug-facilitated sexual assault in Spanish youth partying, with a focus on prevalence rates and associated sociodemographic factors., Study Design: Cross-sectional study., Methods: Quota sampling was used to recruit 1601 young people aged 18-35 years in Spain from a digital panel. A validated questionnaire on drug-facilitated sexual assault was used to assess five types of lifetime victimisation experiences while partying. Chi-square and the exact Fisher tests were used to describe the prevalence of victimisation, drug use patterns, and perpetrator profiles. Generalised ordered logistic regression was used to explore factors associated with victimisation, analysed by gender., Results: Half of young women and one-quarter of young men had experienced drug-facilitated sexual assault in their lifetime. Female victimisation due to touching and kissing was notably high, whereas men comprised almost half of the victims of more invasive DFSA experiences involving masturbation, penetration, and oral sex. Opportunism prevailed as the assault tactic, consisting of taking advantage of the victims' incapacity derived from voluntary alcohol use. Among women, risk of victimisation was associated with a lower education level, foreign-born status, and being non-heterosexual. Male victimisation risk was highest among non-heterosexual men., Conclusions: Drug-facilitated sexual violence in youth nightlife contexts is a serious public health issue in Spain, which requires urgent action. Most assaults involve taking advantage of victims who are incapacitated by the effects of voluntary alcohol consumption. This sexual violence primarily affects women with lower educational levels or those who are foreign-born and non-heterosexual men and women., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Sexual assault cases typically involve intense physical contact between victim and perpetrator, resulting in a high chance of trace transfer. In addition the victim's, and sometimes the suspect's, declaration is available, and can help direct the forensic investigation. However, many cases are still closed because of insufficient proof or an unknown perpetrator.Previously in Belgium, the forensic analysis strategy was often limited to the detection of human sperm fluid and if not found, the forensic part of the case was closed.Therefore, the Forensic Advice service from the Belgian National Institute for Criminalistics and Criminology (NICC) together with the public prosecutor's office of the Judicial district Antwerp, department Antwerp started "Project code 37". In Belgium every type of crime receives a code and sexual assault cases are categorized under code 37. Because a forensic advisor focuses on the potential of forensic examination on physical objects, the project focused on cases with samples taken on the victim or clothing available.The goal of the project was to perform a contextual analysis in order to go beyond the standard sperm fluid-orientated approach and evaluate if this had a positive impact on the conviction rate. The project also aimed to evaluate the impact of the consistent use of toxicological analyses on conviction rates. Through this systematic contextual analysis, it became clear that four clear categories could be defined: (1) cases with an unknown perpetrator, (2) cases where the suspect denies all contact, (3) cases where the suspect denies (part of) the sexual contact, and (4) cases where only the consent of the victim is disputed. These categories all assumed one female victim and one male perpetrator. Together with the NICC's DNA, trace evidence and toxicology lab, an analysis strategy was drafted for the four categories. All cases that do not fit this description were gathered in a fifth category (custom-made cases), as the victim's/perpetrator's sex has a significant effect on the forensic analysis strategy. At the end of the project, a comparison was made with the same set of cases from another judicial year where the standard analysis strategy was used. For all the categories for which data was available, there was a rise of the conviction rate and a decrease in the number of dismissed cases., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest I hereby declare that the disclosed information is correct and that no other situation of real, potential or apparent conflict of interest is known to me., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Resilience is a concept of growing interest because it can systematically inform prevention measures and psychosocial interventions for children and adolescents. The aim of this study was to explore resilience factors among young people who are victims of bullying and harassment (age 9 to 16 years old). In 2021 the burden of the pandemic lockdown became an additional adversity. The study used a repeated cross-sectional design. Two datasets with a total of 2,211 participants from 2017 (N = 972) and 2021 (N = 1,239) were included. The strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ) was applied to define the resilient and non-resilient groups, and the quality-of-life questionnaire (KINDL) was used to map resilience factors. A total of 227 participants reported that they were being bullied, and 604 participants reported harassments from their peers. We used correlation and regression analyses to identify which factors predicted the highest resistance to the negative effects of bullying and harassment. The results were that 77.2% of the participants stayed resilient when facing these maladjustments, but this dropped to 61.7% during the pandemic. The most important resilience factors before the pandemic were the school environment, emotional well-being, and good relations with their friends. The impact of these predictors changed during the pandemic. Emotional well-being increased in strength, school environment was reduced, and friends did not predict resilience anymore. The effect sizes were generally large to medium. As it is common to experience adversity at some stage in life, it is vital for families, schools, social and healthcare workers to be aware of the factors associated with resilience. The results of this study may contribute towards an evidence base for developing plans to increase the capacity of resilience among young people., (© 2024 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology published by Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: The aim of this study was to analyze the prevalence, age and gender differences, and psychological outcomes (anxiety, depression and self-esteem) related to being a victim of different forms of online gendered violence (OGV), namely: digital sexual harassment; physical appearance-based violence; gender role-based violence; and anti-feminism violence., Method: 2,471 respondents (71.1 % women) aged 18-79 years (M = 27.28, SD = 10.08) completed self-report measures., Results: The results showed that 82.6 % of respondents had experienced at least one form of OGV in the last 12 months. The most frequent form of OGV was digital sexual harassment (66.7%), followed by physical appearance-based violence (60.7%), anti-feminism violence (60.7%) and gender role-based violence (25.4%). OGV was significantly higher among women (88%) than men (68.6%), as well as among younger adults. Finally, the results showed that these forms of violence were associated with worse psychological outcomes, especially for younger respondents and for women., Conclusions: OGV is a common phenomenon that may be related to lower psychological well-being. This study provides relevant information that can shape the design of prevention and intervention programs for this form of digital violence.

Violence against women is a significant public health concern, with femicide as its most extreme manifestation. This crime is often perpetrated by current or former intimate partners, thus taking the name of intimate partner femicide (IPF). Although international comparisons are essential for prevention policies, cross-country comparative studies are scarce in this context. The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare clinical, epidemiological and medico-legal characteristics of IPF autopsy cases investigated at the Institutes of Legal Medicine of two Western European cities, in order to identify a potential medico-legal pattern of IPF. Autopsy and police reports of IPF cases occurred in the judicial district of Freiburg (Germany) and Padova (Italy) from 2000 to 2022 were analyzed. Data relating to victims, perpetrators, relationship context, and circumstantial and pathological-forensic characteristics of the homicide were collected. Statistical analyses were performed to explore potential relationships between the data collected. Additionally, a review of the literature dealing with autopsy-based studies on IPF was performed. Overall, 82 cases of IPF were analyzed, 39 from Freiburg and 43 from Padova. A total of 6 papers fulfilled the review inclusion criteria. Our study identified a medico-legal pattern of IPF and demonstrated that it did not vary substantially between the two European Countries considered, suggesting that certain IPF characteristics are shared at the European level. However, a significant finding emerged regarding the higher prevalence of firearm-related IPFs in Italy compared to Germany. Forensic pathology research might contribute to developing targeted prevention policies to protect women from this lethal form of violence., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest None, (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Effective classification of individuals who commit sexual offences is important for their assessment, treatment, and risk management. Victim age has often been used as a distinguishing factor between perpetrators., Objective: This study aimed to analyse the distinctive psychopathological and criminological characteristics of contact sexual offenders with adult and minor victims., Participants and Setting: The study involved 97 adult males who were serving a prison sentence in Spain for at least one contact sexual offence against an adult or a minor., Methods: Researchers gathered data on criminological variables concerning the offender, victim, and modus operandi from prison records and interviews. Participants completed the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III (MCMI-III) in a second session, and between-group differences were analysed., Results: Sex offenders with minor victims (SOMV) had significantly lower scores than sex offenders with adult victims (SOAV) on the Antisocial (r = -0.283, p = .005) and Sadistic (r = -0.209, p = .04) personality subscales, and on the Alcohol (r = -0.426, p < .001) and Drug dependence (r = -0.332, p = .001) syndrome subscales. SOAV were also more likely to use violence and/or intimidation, use a weapon, offend against female victims, offend against an intimate partner, commit their offences in public places, serve other ongoing prison sentences, and report a history of alcohol and substance abuse. SOMV were older and more likely to offend against family members., Conclusions: These results suggest that there are key differences between SOAV and SOMV that should be considered in tailored prevention programmes for each subgroup of offenders., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

The Boy Scouts of America's (BSA's) Ineligible Volunteer (IV) files, commonly called the "perversion files," is a unique data set allowing researchers to examine organizational characteristics that allow for child sexual victimization. Despite the uniqueness of this data set, few researchers have examined it. The researchers examined a random sample of cases from the IV files of scout leaders who molested scouts. A situational crime theoretical model was employed as had been used in studies on the Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal, proving effective. The researchers examined randomly selected from 1980 to 1999. Of initially examined 400 randomly selected cases, only 140 held retrievable data. The majority of the 140 cases did not have scouting victims, which resulted in a reduction to 48 cases. Beyond the several scouting forms, many files contained public domain information, including newspaper articles, police reports, criminal justice records, and/or records of civil litigation. Through both the scouting documents and the public domain records, the researchers identified six BSA-specific characteristics that allowed motivated adult leaders to molest their victims. These characteristics included (a) weak or inefficient incident reporting system, (b) failure to collect and review pertinent information, (c) organizationally legitimate reasons for one-on-one contact, (d) volunteer imbalance, (e) legitimate reasons for separation from protective adults, and (f) social status as a prophylactic defense. These structural characteristics are explored through descriptive statistics and specific case studies illustrating the phenomena. When the history of the IV files came to light through litigation, the BSA was forced to reconcile its past actions and develop new preventive measures. The Boy Scouts of America implemented various actions to protect the youth. Many of these protections specifically address structural characteristics., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interests with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.

Women in heavily policed and incarcerated communities face extremely high rates of intimate partner violence (IPV)-but how criminal legal system contact affects such violence remains poorly understood. This study explores the social ecology of IPV by fitting structural equation models to longitudinal, dyadic data from households in contact with the criminal legal system ( N  = 2,224) and their local communities. Results suggest that a complex of factors at multiple social-ecological levels-including adverse local conditions, dysfunctional couple conflict, and men's behavioral health and perceptions of their neighborhoods-may put women at heightened risk of IPV victimization in a time of mass incarceration., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Study Questions: Previous research has shown that human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) status and intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization are correlated. Furthermore, it has been consistently reported that transgender individuals are at an increased risk of experiencing IPV victimization and testing positive for HIV compared to cisgender individuals. However, past research examining the potential explanations for the correlation between HIV status and IPV victimization in transgender individuals using a large and inclusive sample is nonexistent., Subjects: A total of 12,592 transgender and nonbinary individuals from across the United States were included in the analyses., Methods: Through a bivariate probit analysis of data from the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, this study examines potential explanations for the association between HIV and IPV victimization in a sample of transgender individuals., Findings: The results support previous research, which indicates that a transgender individual's HIV status is significantly correlated with their likelihood to experience IPV victimization. Additionally, a participant's involvement in sex work and other risk-taking behaviors, such as binge drinking, was found to, in part, explain this co-occurring relationship. Other variables, such as coercive control and prescription drug misuse, were found to correlate significantly with IPV victimization but not HIV status. The relationships between participants' demographic variables, such as their race, sexuality, sex assigned at birth, IPV victimization, and HIV status, were examined and discussed as well., Implications: We conclude that it is imperative for LGBTQ + organizations to provide services aimed at protecting transgender individuals suffering from IPV victimization who have also tested positive for HIV through increased accessibility of care and a deeper understanding of the potential relationships in which a person may be involved. This type of outreach would likely be an important first step in allowing transgender individuals to feel safer in their romantic relationships while simultaneously encouraging safe sex practices and a healthy lifestyle, which would increase overall quality of life., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interests with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.

Background: Sexual assault (SA) is alarmingly prevalent, yet reporting rates remain disproportionately low. Forensic examinations (FE) play a crucial role in both immediate medical care and evidence collection, yet many victims/survivors may not report the crime initially, leading to the loss of vital forensic evidence. The storage of evidence "Option 3″ care alternative provides post-SA care including FE without initial police involvement., Methods: This is a cross-sectional study analysing the attendances of people who chose to store evidence at the Dublin Sexual assault Treatment Unit (SATU) between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2023., Results: There were 238 storage of evidence FEs ('Option 3') performed during the study period, which represented 12.8 % of all FEs. The majority identified as female (89.1 %), with an average age of 26.6 years. 31.9 % attended within 24 h of the incident, and 51.3 % self-referred. Most assaults occurred over weekends (64.7 %), with alcohol consumption reported in 82.2 % of cases and drug-facilitated SA concerns in 20.2 %. Genital injuries were present in 17.9 % of females and 19 % of males. Those that availed of storage of evidence (compared with those who initially reported to the police) were significantly more likely to have consumed alcohol (p < 0.001) and the assault was more likely to have occurred indoors (p = 0.002). There was no significant difference in care option choice for those 'unsure' of the assault occurrence (p = 0.353). Among storage of evidence cases, 20.2 % subsequently reported to the police, with females more likely to report (p = 0.02), while people who were uncertain whether an assault had occurred were less likely to report (p = 0.04). Genital injury (p = 0.822), victim-assailant relationship (p = 0.465), assault location (p = 0.487), and substance consumption (p = 0.332) did not significantly affect subsequent reporting rates., Conclusions: The availability of storage of evidence has afforded people the opportunity to access prompt, responsive SATU care including collection of forensic evidence which may have significant evidential value. This approach provides further opportunity for comprehensive detection of a crime, even if reporting to the police is delayed., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None, (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: People with mental disorders are more likely to experience sexual violence than the general population, but little is known about the prevalence of sexual violence in people who use psychiatric services. This paper aims to estimate the prevalence and odds of sexual violence victimisation within mental health services by gender and mental health setting (i.e. inpatient, outpatient and mixed settings)., Methods: This study is a systematic review and meta-analysis (PROSPERO registration number: CRD4201810019). Three databases (Medline, Embase, PsychINFO) were searched and citation tracking, and reference screening of included studies was conducted. Studies were included if the prevalence and/or risk of sexual violence in psychiatric service users were reported or calculable across the past year or adult lifetime. The methodological quality of included studies was assessed. A random effects meta-analyses was conducted to estimate odds ratios and pooled prevalence estimates of sexual violence in different mental health settings., Results: Twenty-six studies were included encompassing 197,194 participants. The meta-analyses revealed high pooled prevalence estimates and increased odds of sexual violence victimisation in male and female psychiatric service users compared to non-psychiatric service users., Conclusions: Mental health practitioners should be trained to respond effectively to disclosures of sexual violence, particularly from these vulnerable groups. Future sexual violence interventions should consider mental health as a treatment outcome., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Family environment and parental monitoring have long been recognized as two important factors associated with adolescents' psychological development. Studies have suggested a potential link between parenting style/parental engagement and the likelihood of bullying victimization among adolescents. Nonetheless, no studies to date have investigated the association between family environment and the subsequent risk of cyberbullying victimization among adolescents. In this study, we assessed the association between family environment (eg, parental monitoring and family conflict) and subsequent risk of cyberbullying victimization using data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD)., Methods: We used multivariable logistic regressions to assess the association between parental monitoring and family conflict at year 1 and the subsequent risk of cyberbullying victimization at year 2 in 10,410 eligible ABCD study participants., Results: Adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, study sampling weights and study site, higher levels of parental monitoring at year 1 were associated with a lower reported past 12-month (OR: 0.61, 95% CI: 0.50-0.75) history of cyberbullying victimization at year 2. Higher levels of family conflict at year 1 were associated with a higher risk of reported past 12-month history (OR: 1.10, 95% CI: 1.04-1.16) of cyberbullying victimization one year later., Conclusion: Higher levels of parental monitoring and lower levels of family conflict are associated with a subsequent lower risk of cyberbullying victimization among adolescents. Cyberbullying victimization preventive programs should advocate for increased parental monitoring and minimize family conflict at home to reduce the risks of cyberbullying victimization among adolescents., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest No conflict declared., (Copyright © 2024 Academic Pediatric Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Sexual assault is a persistent problem on college campuses that disproportionately impacts sexual and gender minority identified students. Objective: This study explores how circumstances of the crime, disclosure to informal sources, training and campus climate are associated with reporting sexual assault to college officials by these students. Participants : A total of 409 lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning college students who experienced sexual assault while attending their current four-year college. Results: Chi-square and t-test analysis found that reporting to college officials was significantly associated with the type of assault experienced, disclosure to a campus advocates, disclosure to a parent/guardian, and the campus climate for LGBTQ students. Conclusion: These findings suggest that practitioners and college officials may support reporting behavior amongst sexual and gender minority identified students through enhanced campus support systems and strategic educational efforts.

Although there has been a large body of research conducted on girl and young women victims of commercial sexual exploitation, boy and young men victims do not receive the same attention. The scant research that exists demonstrates mixed findings on the prevalence of boys and young men as victims of commercial sexual exploitation. For example, some studies find they are not as likely to be victims and others find they are victimized equally, or in some cases, potentially even more so than girls and young women, depending on location. ECPAT published a study in 2013 that revealed a lack of awareness and misclassification of boys as victims and the lack of services available to help them. The purpose of this study is to replicate the ECPAT study and determine what changes might have occurred over the past decade. We consulted with key individuals involved in serving boys and young men and conducted a survey of anti-trafficking service agencies to gather current information on the boys/young men being referred to them for care, the dynamics of their victimization, their most pressing needs, the services/programs being offered, and gaps in service in their respective locations. Among other relevant findings, one commonality among the boys and young men served by the responding agencies was a history of sexual abuse. Findings inform service providers and contribute to advocacy efforts and policy recommendations at the local, state, and federal levels.

Although studies have been made of different subtypes of individuals who committed sexual homicides, the research into nonstranger and stranger sexual homicides remains limited. This study therefore aimed to examine whether those who sexually murder nonstrangers differ from those who kill strangers. Data derived from police records, court documents, and published case reports spanning a 31 year period (1988-2018) in mainland China were used to examine the modus operandi of 127 males who committed sexual homicides (45 nonstranger and 82 stranger cases). Relative to nonstranger sexual homicides, stranger sexual homicides were more likely to have been committed by individuals with a previous sexual offense conviction and the victims were more likely to have been single and employed at the time of the offense. Furthering the analysis, a logistic regression found that individuals who targeted strangers were significantly more likely to have committed their homicide at an outdoor location, to have been sexually motivated, and to have used murder weapons that required more physical strength than those who killed nonstranger victims. These findings can be informative to law enforcement agents and security professionals in their investigative processes., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Purpose: Cyberbullying is a crucial issue that affects adolescent mental health, with evidence to suggest that adolescents who are victims of cyberbullying are at higher risk for self-harm. However, longitudinal evidence is lacking, meaning the direction of effects cannot be established. This study investigated longitudinal associations between levels of cyberbullying involvement (bully, victim, or both), frequency, and self-harm a year later in an adolescent sample., Methods: Data were collected from Year 9 students (13-14-year-olds; N = 1,195) enrolled in 19 schools in Southwest England using an online questionnaire with a 1-year follow-up period (October 2019-October 2020). Multivariable logistic regression analysis was conducted to test for associations between different levels of cyberbullying involvement at baseline and the likelihood of self-harm a year later, adjusting for key covariates. A secondary regression analysis also explored the associations between the frequency of cyberbullying involvement at baseline and subsequent self-harm., Results: Compared to those with no cyberbullying involvement, individuals who were both victims and perpetrators (adjusted odds ratio = 2.94, 95% confidence interval: 1.99-4.34) as well as victims only (adjusted odds ratio = 2.81, 95% confidence interval: 1.95-4.04) showed an increased risk of subsequent self-harm. In terms of frequency, associations were found between frequent and occasional cyberbullying and self-harm for both victims and perpetrators; however, associations for the perpetrator group attenuated to the null following adjustment for covariates., Discussion: Our findings highlight cyberbullying in early adolescence as a risk factor for subsequent self-harm. Cyberbullying prevention should be a priority for school mental health interventions, with consideration that most perpetrators of cyberbullying may also be victims., (Copyright © 2024 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: This study uses the bioecological model of human development and person-centered methods to describe the underlying patterns of risk and their association with bullying perpetration and victimization among U.S. children., Methods: Using the National Survey of Children's Health, this study (n = 7319) explored the underlying patterns of risks across six domains (i.e., individual, family, school, neighborhood, economic, and socio-cultural) associated with bullying perpetration and victimization among U.S. elementary school children., Results: Latent Class Analysis uncovered four patterns of risks. The low risks group (72.4%) showed the lowest rates of bullying perpetration (24.6%) and victimization (57.2%). The individual and environmental risks group (15.3%) presented moderate levels of bullying perpetration (31.8%) and victimization (67.1%). The family risks group (8.3%) showed moderate levels of bullying perpetration (35.9%) and victimization (66.0%). High risks group (4.0%) presented exceptionally high rates of bullying perpetration (59.1%) and victimization (87.3%)., Conclusion: Results suggest rates of bullying perpetration and victimization differed across the four patterns of risks. Understanding the sources of risk may be critical to alleviate bullying perpetration and victimization among children., Implication: Findings suggest that child bullying should be approached with customized treatment considering their pattern of risk exposure., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

While there is a considerable body of literature on sexual aggression, we know much less about the violation of sexual boundaries within professional relationships. To address this knowledge gap, the characteristics of cases of sexual misconduct in the province of Quebec were extracted, based on a search of published disciplinary decisions between 1998 and 2020, using the legal databases CANLII and SOQUIJ. The search yielded 296 decisions including 249 male and 47 female members from 22 professional orders, and involving 470 victims. Results indicate that male professionals approaching mid-career accounted for a greater proportion of cases of sexual misconduct. Moreover, physical and mental health professionals were overrepresented in cases, as were female adult victims. Acts of sexual misconduct concerned mostly sexual touching and intercourse and occurred during consultations. Female professionals were more inclined to establish romantic and sexual relationships with clients than their male counterparts. Of the 92.0% of professionals found guilty of at least one count of sexual misconduct, two thirds eventually returned to practice. Following the guilty verdict, few faced rehabilitative measures. Recommendations are provided for the prevention of sexual recidivism and the accompaniment of victims of sexual misconduct throughout the disciplinary process., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Introduction: Childhood maltreatment, peer victimization, and borderline personality traits have all been shown to be linked to suicidal risk. However, there remains a need to illuminate the possible direct and indirect pathways among them from a developmental perspective that could serve as intervention targets. This study thus aimed to investigate the direct and indirect relationships among developmental trajectories of childhood maltreatment, peer victimization, borderline personality feature, and suicidal risk in adolescents., Methods: A total of 1648 Chinese adolescents (48.12% boys; M age  = 13.69; SD = 0.82) in junior middle schools completed self-report measures on three-time points across 1 year. Latent growth curve modeling was used to evaluate the direct and indirect relationships among the developmental trajectories of the aforementioned study variables., Results: The developmental trajectories of childhood maltreatment, peer victimization, and borderline personality feature were positively and directly related to the developmental trajectory of suicidal risk; and the developmental trajectories of childhood maltreatment, peer victimization were indirectly related to the developmental trajectory of suicidal risk through the mediating effect of the developmental trajectory of borderline personality feature., Conclusions: The findings elucidated the direct and indirect longitudinal relationships among childhood maltreatment, peer victimization, borderline personality feature, and suicidal risk, highlighting that interventions should target childhood maltreatment, peer victimization, and borderline personality feature to decrease suicidal risk in adolescents with a developmental perspective., (© 2024 Foundation for Professionals in Services to Adolescents.)

Abstract: Bullying victimization has been identified as a significant factor influencing academic outcomes. We sought to evaluate the educational outcomes and psychiatric comorbidities in children and adolescents who are victims of bullying using the National Survey of Children's Health dataset for the study. The participants were children and adolescents (age: 6-17 years) categorized into two groups: group 1, not bullied ( n = 21,015), and group 2, bullied more than once ( n = 21,775). Individuals whose health status was fair or poor have experienced more bullying (2.4% vs . 1.4%, p < 0.001). Individuals in the group 2 were more likely to repeat the grades than the group 1 (7.1% vs . 5.9%, p = 0.039). Individuals who were missing ≥11 school days and sometimes or never engaged in school were observed to be more in the group 2 compared with the group 1 (5.9% vs . 3.2% and 20.3% vs . 10.6%, p < 0.001). In conclusion, bullying victimization could be a risk factor and associated with decreased academic outcomes., (Copyright © 2024 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Quarantine guidelines that arose with the COVID-19 pandemic limited opportunities for social interaction, raising concerns about increases in intimate partner violence and cyberabuse while simultaneously restricting access to help. The current study assessed increases in cyberabuse, sexual aggression, and intimate partner violence victimization and perpetration during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in a U.S. nationally representative sample of young adults ages 18 to 35, recruited from a probability-based household panel. Data were collected between November 2020 and May 2021. Descriptive analyses were conducted to assess the prevalence of any self-reported increase in cyberabuse, sexual aggression, or intimate partner victimization or perpetration during the COVID-19 pandemic. Logistic regression models were run for each outcome measuring any increase compared to no increase. Approximately one in ten U.S. young adults ages 18 to 35 reported experiencing an increase in cyberabuse victimization (12.6%) and cyberabuse perpetration (8.9%) during the pandemic. Similar proportions were observed for increased sexual aggression victimization (11.8%) and perpetration (9.0%). More than one in five respondents (21.4%) reported that their intimate partner was more physically, sexually, or emotionally aggressive toward them during the pandemic. Conversely, 16.2% of respondents reported that they were more physically, sexually, or emotionally aggressive themselves toward an intimate partner, compared to their behavior before the onset of the pandemic. Having an intimate partner and staying at home more than usual during the pandemic were protective factors for both cyberabuse and sexual aggression victimization. Respondent age, education, and race and ethnicity were not associated with increased victimization or perpetration of cyberabuse or sexual aggression. However, women reported lower odds of increased sexual aggression perpetration than men. These findings improve understanding of changes to interpersonal abuse and associated risk factors during a period of social disruption., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interests with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.

Background: Previous studies have identified the association between classroom social status and bullying victimization, but it remains unclear how different victimization trajectories relate separately to social status dimensions: preference (acceptance and rejection) and popularity (popular and unpopular), and whether there are differences between victimization trajectory groups. This study assumed a longitudinal approach to explore these research questions., Method: A total of 3.182 (50% girls; M = 12.55 years at wave 1) students participated in the study., Results: Four bullying victimization trajectory groups were found: high, decreasing, increasing and low in victimization. Multigroup analyses showed that high in victimization group had the worst acceptance, rejection, and unpopularity indexes. The decreasing victimization group increased in acceptance and popularity, whereas the increasing victimization group increased in rejection and popularity., Conclusions: These results underline the importance of considering the different dimensions of social status and their association with victimization trajectories when anti-bullying programs are proposed.

South African adolescents experience a high prevalence of violence victimization alongside the health and economic burdens of HIV/AIDS and poverty. Polyvictimization is a useful theory and framework that allows for a nuanced understanding of lived adolescent experience patterns. Polyvictimization examinations are further enriched by person-centered analytical approaches. This study used latent class analysis to differentiate a sample of South African adolescents from highly deprived communities by their polyvictimization profiles and contextual violence risk and protective factors. Adolescents were sampled twice (2010/2011; 2011/2012), and data reflected their lifetime (sexual abuse) or recent (all other forms of assessed abuse/violence) violence victimizations, as well as individual, household, and community characteristics. Model fit indices supported a seven-class model with adolescents in high, moderate, and low polyvictimization classes. Adolescents in the high polyvictimization classes experienced a heavy burden of poverty and multiple forms of violence across contexts and were distinguished by HIV/AIDS and disability. Adolescents in the low polyvictimization class experienced relatively little violence, despite living in violent communities, and low household and individual burdens of HIV/AIDS and disability. Findings emphasize the importance of considering adolescent violence through a contextually sensitive polyvictimization lens to understand the complex web of violence that adolescents experience. This work supports previous research in low-resource South African settings highlighting the interconnected nature of violence, poverty, disability, and HIV/AIDS. Future research should explore these complex violence patterns and their effects, while program and policy actions must target and prevent adolescent violence especially for those impacted by poverty, disability, and HIV/AIDS., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interests with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.

Although the high prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Haiti is well-documented, its association with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms among adolescents and young adults remains unexplored. Using a representative sample of adolescents and young adults from rural and urban areas across the 10 geographical regions of Haiti, this study investigates the association between IPV and PTSD symptoms. It explores the role of social support, emotion regulation, other traumatic events, and sociodemographic factors. The sample consisted of 3,586 participants, of whom 43.21 % (1,538) reported being in a dating relationship in the past year (56.04 % women). Overall, 25.53 % of the participants were categorized as having probable PTSD. Results showed that participants who experienced at least one episode of IPV victimization presented a higher prevalence of PTSD (32.28 %) compared to those who did not have any experience (16.29 %), χ 2 (1) = 44.83, p < .001. The logistic regression model showed that emotional IPV, sexual IPV, traumatic life events, emotional dysregulation, and social support were associated with PTSD symptoms. This study highlights a strong association between IPV and PTSD symptoms, as well as factors that can contribute to the development and implementation of prevention and intervention programs among adolescents and young adults in Haiti., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest No conflict of interest for any author., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Sexual violence among adolescents represents a significant problem in society. In this study, we aimed to examine risk factors for sexual violence perpetration in adolescent men and victimization in adolescent women among a community sample of Norwegian high school students. The participants (560 men and 751 women, aged between 16 and 21 years) responded to online questionnaires covering physical and non-physical forms of sexual harassment and possible risk factors identified in the literature. Last year's prevalence rate of physical sexual perpetration reported by adolescent men was 7%. Comparably, the prevalence of physical sexual victimization reported by adolescent women was 30%. Path analyses suggest that sociosexuality was associated with adolescent men's sexual perpetration indirectly through sexual risk taking, alcohol intoxication, porn exposure, and sexual underperception that in turn was positively associated with undesirable non-physical solicitation from and toward women. In addition, rape stereotypes were associated with perpetration behavior in adolescent men. For adolescent women, sociosexuality was associated with being sexually victimized primarily through sexual risk behavior, alcohol intoxication, and sexual overperception. These factors were again positively associated with sexual derogation from adolescent women and solicitation from adolescent men. Prior sexual abuse victimization was only indirectly associated with victimization. The factors associated with adolescent men's perpetration and adolescent women's victimization were highly similar. Future work aimed at reducing sexual violence in adolescence within the educational context might find it more effective to specifically target non-physical forms of sexual harassment., (© 2024 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology published by Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Many nationally representative datasets are available for assessing the magnitude, trend, and risk for child sexual victimization in the United States. Unfortunately, the disaggregation of sexual violence into more specific sex crimes and the reliable measurement of these specific acts are often avoided by researchers due to the methodological limitations of victimization data. For example, previous scholars have successfully measured the strength of the relationship between the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) and child sexual abuse (CSA) within their respective samples; however, little is known about the extent to which CSEC occurs in the larger U.S. population, irrespective of past CSA. This study presents new analyses of publicly available representative data on the incidence, trend, and risk for CSA and CSEC independent of one another. We find that significantly more is known about CSA than CSEC. In addition, while victims of CSA and CSEC share many risk factors, CSA is far more common than CSEC, and their trends are going in different directions. We find that rates of CSA and CSEC are often derived from data with significant methodological limitations, such as administrative datasets that are limited to only victimizations reported to governmental agencies or representative surveys that measure the incidence/prevalence in one year alone, not repeatedly as required to assess trends. We fill in some of the gaps existing in our analyses with a review of other studies examining CSA and CSEC, as well as discuss future directions in research that researchers and child welfare practitioners should consider.

Introduction: Bullying is a widespread public health issue, found in different contexts (e.g. schools, universities, workplaces, families), and it has negative consequences on both the perpetrator and the victim. There is a lack of studies addressing bullying among university students in Arab countries and more specifically in Lebanon. The objective of our study was to determine the prevalence of bullying among a sample of university students in Lebanon, its forms, and associated factors., Methods: The study consists of a cross-sectional online survey addressed to university students in Lebanon that evaluates sociodemographic data, presence and type of bullying, history of bullying during childhood, adverse childhood experiences, daily life functioning, and mental health status (reported psychiatric disorders, substance use, self-harming behaviors, and suicidal attempts). Chi-Square and Fisher's exact tests were used to compare the results between victims of bullying and the rest of the sample., Results: Three hundred and twenty-seven university students participated in this study. The prevalence of bullying was 14.1%. The main forms of reported bullying were verbal (58.7%) and social bullying (65.2%). The main associated factors were being a witness of bullying at university (84.8% vs. 56.2% - P<.001) and history of cyberbullying (13% vs. 4.6% - P=.024). Among students who reported current bullying, 28.3% had a psychiatric diagnosis, 19.6% reported substance use, 15.2% had self-harming behaviors, and 8.7% had suicide attempts. Victims of bullying in the university reported a significant negative impact on their daily lives (lack of interest in daily activities, academic decline) (83.7%) and mental health concerns (psychiatric disorders, substance use, suicide attempts) (88.4%)., Conclusion: Even though bullying is an event less experienced in university than in school, it is nevertheless still present with potential negative impact on the victims. Bullying in a university setting is a public health issue that could benefit from more studies as well as prevention and intervention programs., (Copyright © 2023 L'Encéphale, Paris. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

The present study describes intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration and victimization alongside theoretically associated variables in a sample of lesbian, gay, and bisexual veterans. We conducted bivariate analyses (chi-square tests and independent t test) to examine whether the frequencies of IPV perpetration and victimization varied by demographic characteristics, military sexual trauma, alcohol use, and mental health symptoms. Out of the 69 lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) veterans who answered the questions on IPV, 16 (23.2%) reported some form of IPV victimization in the past year, and 38 (55.1%) reported past-year perpetration. Among the 43 veterans who reported psychological IPV, roughly half (48.9%) reported bidirectional psychological IPV, 39.5% reported perpetration only, and 11.6% reported victimization only. LGB veterans who reported bidirectional psychological IPV in their relationships were younger and reported greater symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and depression. The results presented here call for universal screening of IPV perpetration and victimization to both accurately assess and ultimately intervene among all veterans. Inclusive interventions are needed for all genders and sexual orientations, specifically interventions that do not adhere to gendered assumptions of perpetrators and victims. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Background: Child neglect is prevalent in western rural China, yet there is limited research among ethnic minority communities. The Salar, a Turkic-Muslim ethnic minority residing primarily in western China, also face this specific problem. The group is deeply influenced by ethnicity, Islam and Chinese Confucianism, which in turn makes women vulnerable to child marriage and IPV. These victimizations, coupled with various life stressors, further complicate the challenges of providing adequate care for their children., Objective: This study hypothesizes a relationship between child neglect and maternal child marriage, IPV victimization, and depression symptoms., Participants and Setting: 201 married Salar women from five villages in Xunhua Salar Autonomous County, China, were randomly selected to participate in the study., Method: A probability proportional to size (PPS) sampling approach was used to collect a random representative multi-stage cluster sample in 2022. Random effects Poisson regression models were used to test the hypotheses., Results: The participants reported a 65.6 % rate of child neglect and a 30.8 % rate of IPV in the past year. 37.6 % experienced child marriage. Results revealed significant associations between child neglect and child marriage, IPV, and depression symptoms. A two-way interaction between IPV and depression symptoms was strongly positively associated with child neglect., Conclusions: This research indicates that Salar Muslim mothers who have experienced child marriage, adulthood victimization, and depression are at a higher risk of neglecting their children. The findings represent a valuable initial step toward researching and addressing the protection needs of women and children from Muslim ethnic minorities in China., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest We have no known conflict of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: A significant number of referrals to the emergency departments is due to violence and conflict leading to serious injuries and death. The increasing number of such cases highlights the urgent need for investigating victimization of physical violence., Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency of demographic and clinical characteristics in victims of violence and classify them based on penetrating or blunt trauma., Methods: The data of the patients who had been the victims of violence in 2020 were extracted from the Trauma Registry System(TRS) of the Guilan Road Trauma Research Center(GTRC). All analyses were performed using SPSS software version 24. The significance level was considered less than 0.05., Results: There was a significant difference in the type of violence-related trauma in different age groups (P < 0.001), based on sex (P = 0.002), and marital status (P = 0.012). A significant difference also existed between the trauma type and clinical variables including smoking (P = 0.032), history of alcohol drinking (P = 0.005), and other substance use (P = 0.002), the anatomical location of injury (P < 0.001) and therapeutic interventions (p < 0.001(., Conclusion: Most of the clients of the violence suffered from blunt trauma, the severity of which was mild, and they were treated supportively without the need for surgery. Blunt trauma was seen more in women, divorcees, over 40 years and non-smokers. Penetrating trauma was observed more in lower limb injuries and alcohol and amphetamine users. Prevention programs and educational interventions should be programmed for the society long before men alcohol and amphetamine abusers reach their fourth decade of life. Accurately recording the type of physical violence, and the weapon used, and determining the injury severity score in TRS can lead to more reliable results in researching the field of violence issues., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Few studies have focused on evaluating the relationship between dating violence (DV) and suicide during the critical period of adolescence, particularly for transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) youth. The study examined the relationship between experiencing DV victimization and perpetration in the past 6 months and suicidality (ideation and attempts) among male, female, and TGD adolescents. This study used data from a longitudinal randomized trial examining the effectiveness of myPlan, a healthy relationship and safety planning app intervention for adolescents, to a control website. Data for this study was collected virtually, in which participants completed surveys through online platforms. A convenience sample was recruited through youth organizations and posting on online platforms including social media. N  = 610 adolescents age 15-17 years, who resided in the U.S. experienced DV in the past 6 months, had access to a safe device, and were able to access online surveys were included in this study. The majority were female (63.8%) with (19.5%) TGD and 16.7% male. Nearly 22% of the sample identified as Hispanic/Latino and 61.0% as white. Participants completed an online survey consisting of measures of socio demographics, DV victimization and perpetration via the Conflict of Adolescent Dating Relationships Inventory (CADRI), and suicidality. The primary outcome was the association between DV victimization and perpetration on suicidality. Different forms of DV were accounted for including emotional/relational, physical, and sexual DV. Logistic regressions determined differences in the rate of DV victimization and perpetration on suicidality between gender groups (cisgender female, cisgender male, and TGD). A stratified analysis was conducted to test if the relationship between DV and suicidality differed across gender identity. Approximately one-third (32.2%) of adolescents reported suicidality in the past 6 months. TGD adolescents were more likely to report suicidality compared to males (20.6%, p  < .05) and females (32.7%, p  > .05). The overall odds of suicidality increased as frequency of emotional/relational DV victimization (OR = 1.37, p  < .001), physical DV victimization (OR = 1.59, p  < .001) and sexual DV victimization (OR = 1.42, p  < .001) increased. These relationships were not significant for DV perpetration. When stratifying findings by gender groups, all forms of DV victimization significantly increased the odds of suicidality for females as well as female perpetration of physical violence. For males, all forms of DV victimization and perpetration were associated with increased odds of suicidality, although not significant due to the smaller sample size. While DV victimization is associated with increased odds of suicidality for TGD, perpetration of DV is associated with decreased odds of suicidality, although not significant due to small sample size. The findings from this study provide further insight into experiences of DV and suicidality among gender diverse youth and can guide future interventions aimed at preventing DV and suicide among adolescents.

Background and Objective: Human trafficking or contemporary slavery is the recruitment and transfer of people by force or deception for sexual, labour or other types of exploitation. Although the violence, abuse and deprivation that trafficking entails are a threat to the health of its victims, in Spain the clinical or forensic data available in this regard is scarce. At the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences of Catalonia (IMLCFC), a unit specialized in the forensic assessment of these victims was created. The objective of this work was to describe a series of forensic cases of trafficking victims., Material and Method: Retrospective study of victims in judicial cases opened for an alleged crime of human trafficking registered in the IMLCFC until 06/30/2023., Results: 57 different victims were registered. The majority were women (71.9%). The average age was 30.5 years (s.d. 10.31). All the victims were foreigners, mostly from Latin America (45.5%). The exploitation was mainly sexual (61.4%). There were some sociodemographic differences and in the conditions and consequences of trafficking between victims of sexual exploitation and the rest. Mental health problems were very common in all victims at the time of the assessment (87.5%)., Conclusions: The consequences of trafficking on health, especially mental health, are notable and the forensic assessment of victims is valuable in judicial proceedings. It is necessary to deepen our knowledge of the phenomenon in our environment., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.)

Objective: In 2021, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency established a support service to provide additional assistance to victim-survivors involved in complaints related to sexual boundary violations. This study evaluates the first stages of service delivery to understand participants' experiences with the service, gauge the service's reception, and improve support provided in future., Design: Programme data was analysed descriptively to understand uptake and participant engagement since inception. Semistructured interviews with a purposive convenience sample of participants who had recently completed service engagement were conducted over 6 months and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Findings were triangulated to judge the effectiveness of the support provided by the service and highlight learning and development opportunities., Results: During the study period, 275 participants were referred to the programme and 175 (64%) of those referred had engaged with the service. At the time of analysis, less than a quarter (21%) had refused support or disengaged following referral. Participants reported appreciation of and satisfaction with the support they received from the service and strongly reiterated the need for support in this context. Flexibility and quality communication as part of the service model was associated with participants feeling supported through three main themes: safety and connection, guidance and process navigation and representation and advocacy., Conclusion: Good uptake of the service and positive feedback from participants suggests that the programme has been a valuable and well-received initiative. Exploration of engagement trends as well as a more nuanced analysis of the benefits of support provided would augment these findings., Competing Interests: Competing interests: All authors were current employees of the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency at the time of submission, and declare no further competing interests., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

School bullying represents a widespread expression of violence in the peer context. Guided by the social-ecological model, this study investigated the longitudinal and transactional pathways linking domestic and neighborhood/community violence exposure (through direct victimization and witnessing), self-serving cognitive distortions (CDs), and school bullying perpetration. Furthermore, consistent with the previous literature, we tested the cognitive desensitization process that could develop in response to chronically violent contexts. Two four-wave cross-lagged panel mediation models were tested in a sample of 778 high school students (28.1% males; M age [Time 1; T1] = 14.20, SD = 0.58). The results showed differential effects of multiple contexts and forms of violence exposure, with domestic violence victimization and community violence witnessing being associated with self-serving CDs and bullying perpetration over time. Moreover, significant associations between CDs and bullying perpetration over time were found, with bidirectional effects for each of these longitudinal patterns. Finally, self-serving CDs significantly mediated the relationships between both domestic violence victimization and community violence witnessing and school bullying perpetration. These findings highlight the need to consider school bullying as a social phenomenon stemming from a complex and bidirectional interplay between individuals and the environments they inhabit, confirming a basic postulate that "violence breeds violence".

Introduction: Interpersonal violence is a phenomenon that can occur with different people and conditions. However, people with intellectual disabilities have increased vulnerability to this problem, with potential risks to their health and well-being. The aim of this study was to identify the sociodemographic characteristics of people with disabilities who have been victims of interpersonal violence, the profile of the perpetrators and the measures taken after the victims have been cared for., Methods: This is an exploratory, descriptive, cross-sectional study using the Interpersonal Violence Notification Forms entered into the Brazilian Ministry of Health's Notifiable Diseases Information System. The city of São Paulo was chosen as the setting because it is the largest city in Latin America and has a faster data processing system than other cities. The period covered notifications made between 2016 and 2022. The information was collected between October and November 2023 and a univariate statistical analysis was carried out. Fisher's exact test was used, with a significance level of 5% (α = 0.05)., Results: There were 4,603 notifications against people with intellectual disabilities in the period. The forms of physical violence, neglect/abandonment and psychological/moral violence were more frequent in the 15-19 age group, while sexual violence was more frequent in the 10-14 age group (p < 0.001). The sex most often attacked was female in all the forms investigated (p < 0.001) and the skin colors of the most victimized people were black and/or brown, except in cases of neglect/abandonment (p = 0.058). Most of the victims had little schooling (p = 0.012). The aggressions were committed by one person (p < 0.001), known or related to the victim, such as mother or father, except in cases of sexual violence, where strangers were the main perpetrators (p < 0.001). The sex of the perpetrator was male, except in cases of neglect and/or abandonment (p < 0.001), and the age was between 25 and 29 (p = 0.004). In cases of sexual violence, rape was the most frequent and the procedures carried out were blood collection followed by prophylaxis for Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) were the main procedures carried out by health professionals (p = 0.004). The majority of referrals made after receiving care were to the health and social assistance network, with few referrals to bodies such as the human rights reference center, guardianship council and police stations (p < 0.001)., Conclusion: People with intellectual disabilities are highly vulnerable to the forms of violence studied, especially children and adolescents, black or brown, with low levels of education. The perpetrators are usually close people, male and older than the victims. The referrals made by health professionals did not prioritize the victim's safety and the guarantee of human rights. Lines of care for the health of victims of violence should be implemented, taking into account special aspects, such as people with intellectual disabilities, whose search for help can be difficult., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Technology-facilitated sexual violence (TFSV) is a ubiquitous societal problem with negative health consequences. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric (CAP) patients are burdened with more violence exposure than other groups, but more work is needed to chart their exposure to TFSV specifically and to understand how it relates to their mental health. In this study, we aimed to investigate the occurrence of unwanted online sexual solicitation (UOSS) in a young Swedish psychiatric sample. We also aimed to measure the associations between psychiatric symptoms and exposure to UOSS, offline sexual harassment, cyberbullying, and offline bullying. We also aimed to analyze possible differences between boys and girls. Our results show a high occurrence of UOSS (48.61%), which is higher than in the general population. UOSS was significantly higher among girls (57.31%) than boys (20.59%), but boys in the CAP group were burdened with more UOSS victimization than boys in general. Co-occurrence of UOSS with other types of offline and online harassment was substantial. UOSS, together with age and offline sexual harassment, predicted anxiety and depressive symptoms among both girls and boys. UOSS also showed a significant interaction effect with gender, suggesting that boys exposed to UOSS suffer higher levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms than girls exposed to UOSS. Preventing and treating mental health difficulties needs to consider contextual circumstances such as exposure to sexual violence online.

This study aims to analyze the association between bullying behaviors, adverse childhood experiences and social capital in late adolescence. Secondary school students aged 15-19 of a metropolitan region of Brazil were recruited for a sectional epidemiological survey, with a sample of 2,281 students, stratified by municipality of school location. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed from three instruments: Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire, Childhood Adversity History Questionnaire and Integrated Questionnaire to Measure Social Capital, in adapted versions. The results showed that the factors associated with bullying victims were gender and adversity in childhood. The factors associated to bullying aggressors were gender, childhood adversities, and cognitive social capital. And the factors associated with bullying aggressor-victims were gender, childhood adversities, and cognitive social capital. It is concluded that bullying is associated with adversity in childhood and also with cognitive social capital and they point out the need to address the causes of violence in order to provide a healthy and safe development for children and adolescents, preventing negative outcomes for physical and mental health.

Black adolescent males are disproportionally impacted by violence exposure and violent loss. The primary aim of this study was to explore the bereavement experiences of Black adolescent males who have lost a friend or family member to murder. Participants were Black adolescent males between the ages of 14-19 years. This was a purposive sample recruited from a community-based study that took place in urban neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Participants who completed their final survey for the parent study were recruited from January to June 2017. Participants completed a brief computerized survey and those who responded affirmatively to a screening question about losing a friend or family member to murder were invited to a qualitative interview. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and coded to identify key themes. Among the 31 youth interviewed, 30 had lost more than one person to murder. Four primary themes emerged from their narratives: (1) self-preservation through isolation, (2) finding sanctuary through shared narratives of loss, (3) freedom from the mind, and (4) post-traumatic growth (i.e., motivation, healing, resilience). Findings suggest that interventions that provide sanctuary for youth that are culturally relevant and create opportunities for youth to process violent loss may aid in promoting opportunities for youth to grieve and heal from violent loss., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

An overrepresentation of stepchildren as victims of filicide has been explained as a consequence of 'discriminative parental solicitude'. The idea being that Darwinian selection has favoured parental love and concern only for biological children, and when such parental feelings are absent, as in stepparents, conflicts with a child could easier escalate to lethal violence. An alternative explanation for this overrepresentation of stepchildren is that risk factors for filicide, such as criminal behaviour and mental health problems, are more prevalent in stepparents. This study focused on paternal filicide in Sweden and investigated (i) if stepchildren are overrepresented as victims of filicide compared with biological children, (ii) if filicides are committed in a context that implies a 'conflict with the child victim' and (iii) if stepfathers and biological fathers differ in characteristics associated with filicide risk. The analyses showed that stepchildren were overrepresented as victims compared with children of fathers in families with two biological parents and this overrepresentation was even higher in young children. Children of single biological fathers and children of non-residential biological fathers were also overrepresented as victims of filicide. Less than 20 percent of the filicides were committed in the context of a 'conflict with the child' and in these cases only stepchildren were overrepresented as victims. In the population at large, both stepfathers and single biological fathers had higher rates of mental health problems, violent criminality and illegal possession of drugs compared with fathers in families with two biological parents., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

This in-depth review delves into the multifaceted realm of mass shootings and explores their epidemiology from a psychological perspective. The article presents a comprehensive examination of the prevalence, perpetrator and victim profiles, motives, and contributing factors associated with mass shootings. By investigating the intricate relationship between masculinity, domestic violence, military service, social media, fame-seeking, suicidal ideation, mental illness, and firearms, this article sheds light on the multifaceted nature of mass shootings. Moreover, it discusses the importance of implementing effective prevention strategies to address this growing public health concern. The findings from this review serve as a valuable resource for researchers, practitioners, policy makers, and the community at large, facilitating a deeper understanding of mass shootings and fostering the development of evidence-based solutions to prevent these tragic incidents.

Background: Though separate bodies of research have shown sexual and gender minority (SGM) youth, and youth with disabilities, separately, face distinct social and health disparities, little is known about youth who both identify as SGM and have disabilities., Objective: The current study examined differences in wellbeing among SGM youth by disability category (i.e., physical, developmental, psychiatric) across victimization, bullying, dating violence, school safety, and experienced stress., Methods: Using self-reported data from 9418 SGM youth aged 13-17 in the United States, multivariate linear regressions were conducted to examine how stress and social safety experiences varied across disability status., Results: Compared to SGM youth without a disability, SGM youth across all disability categories (physical, developmental, psychiatric) had greater odds of LGBT- and disability-based victimization, greater average stress, as well as lower levels of school safety. SGM youth with any disability, physical disability, or psychiatric disability also had greater odds of dating violence compared to SGM youth without a disability., Conclusion: SGM youth with disabilities may be in particular need of targeted programs that address both disability and sexual/gender identities, and may benefit from increased supports across developmental contexts (e.g., against bullying in school). Stakeholders should consider how such support can be improved, tailored, and implemented, for SGM youth and the diversity of disabilities they have., (Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Background: Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) and Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) infections are the most common bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs) worldwide. These STIs are frequently asymptomatic, which often delays diagnosis and treatment with the risk of serious long-term complications. Current French recommendations call for targeted screening of populations considered to be at risk, including victims of sexual assault. However, no recent data on the prevalence of these STIs in this population are available in France. The aim of this study was therefore to determine the prevalence of CT/NG infections among victims of sexual assault attending three Clinical Forensic Units (CFUs)., Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the forensic records of patients aged over 12 years reporting a sexual assault and referred between January 1, 2020 and December 31, 2021 to the CFU of Montpellier, Angers or Saint-Denis de La Réunion. Patients who had been screened for CT and NG infections were included., Results: 341 alleged victims of sexual assault (324 women, 17 men, median age = 23 years) were screened for CT/NG STIs during the inclusion period (Montpellier, n=196; Angers, n=63; Saint-Denis, n=82). The median time between the sexual assault and the examination was 1 day. CT and NG were detected in 28 patients (8.2 %) and 8 patients (2.3 %) respectively, with no men tested positive. Positive results concerned genital samples, except for two CT-positive anorectal samples and one NG-positive oropharyngeal sample. Two patients (0.6 %) were co-infected with CT/NG. The overall prevalence of CT/NG STIs was 10.0 % and was higher in the 18-24 age group, reaching 13.2 % for CT., Conclusions: This multicenter study confirms the high prevalence of CT/NG STIs in victims of sexual assault, and the vulnerability of the youngest age groups to these infections. Systematic screening for CT/NG STIs at the time of the forensic examination is the key to early diagnosis and effective treatment to prevent transmission and subsequent complications in these patients., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: The rate of violent crimes against Indigenous people, including murder and rape, is significantly higher than national averages. Even more concerning, Indigenous women and girls represent a large proportion of murdered and missing individuals in the United States. In addition to the murder rate of Indigenous women being higher than the national average, they are significantly more likely to experience rape or other types of sexual violence. The main goal of this study was to gain a better understanding of cases involving the homicide of Indigenous women and identify patterns associated with the violence committed against them., Methods: Cases of Indigenous women between the ages of 18 and 55 years were pulled from the database. Cases were coded and analyzed for information pertaining to victim, perpetrator, and crime characteristics. Descriptive analysis and test of association were performed., Results/findings: There was a statistical association between the nature of the relationship between perpetrators and victims and whether the crime occurred on a reservation, the race/ethnicity of the perpetrator, a victim's history of domestic violence, and the method and motive of murder., Discussion/conclusion: Indigenous women are at an increased risk of victimization, including intimate partner violence and homicide. They also represent a group that has been marginalized, receiving little attention from the media, clinicians, researchers, and policy makers. The findings in this study highlight specific factors that may help to mitigate risk factors and/or enhance culturally competent clinical and forensic nursing practice., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 International Association of Forensic Nurses.)