The Use of Mental Health Services Among Victims of Partner Violence on College Campuses

The present study investigated the relationship between past victimization of different types of intimate partner violence (IPV; physical, psychological, and sexual) and the likelihood of using mental health services. Results indicate 86% of participants reported experiencing some form of IPV, but only 16% of those victims used mental health services to address emotional problems. The participants reported embarrassment, expense, ineffectiveness, and social stigma as the most prominent barriers to seeking help from a mental health professional. The study also found that participants who experienced physical and psychological IPV, but not sexual IPV, reported using mental health services. Sexual IPV may elicit different barriers in help-seeking behaviors. Implications for college IPV prevention programs and mental health services are discussed.     

Preventing Intimate Partner Violence

ABSTRACT

Bringing together the energy, resources, creativity, and good will of citizens enhances community resilience. The shared responsibility and collective competence that emerge from community members banding together can be a powerful and ongoing positive influence on the quality of community life, including the relationships between intimate partners. We explore the importance that the community has for preventing intimate partner violence (IPV). We argue for active, network-oriented prevention efforts. We discuss key community principles and concepts (including a definition of the nature of community), explore a social organization perspective on communities, and present a theoretical approach to building community capacity. We posit implications for program development that include community as a place for prevention, a target for prevention, and as a force for prevention. Our implications for research include examining multiple community layers, the nexus of informal and formal social care systems, and contrasting extreme groups on pivotal social organization processes.     

The Resurgence of Anti-Semitism on American College Campuses

Few American college campuses have witnessed the number and intensity of anti-Semitic incidents reported at San Francisco State University, Columbia University, and the University of California at Irvine (2000–2005), however, dozens of American campuses every year experience at least some manifestation of this ugly problem, which is now undoubtedly national in scope. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) documents nearly 100 anti-Semitic incidents on American college campuses in 2005 alone. Most incidents are probably not reported to the ADL. The United States Commission on Civil Rights monitors anti-Semitic incidents on college campuses and will continue to do so.     

Improving Mental Health on College Campuses: Perspectives of Indian College Students

The mental health of college students is increasingly viewed as an important public health priority. However, there has been little attention paid specifically to college students’ perspectives on factors that contribute to mental health challenges or on potential initiatives that could address them. Even less research has focused on students in low- and middle-income countries. In an effort to better understand how to improve mental health and wellness on college campuses, we administered an open-ended survey to 141 Indian college students (M_age = 19.47, 65% female). We asked the students to identify: (a) issues that contribute to mental health problems among college students, (b) potential initiatives or strategies that could be used to improve mental health and wellness, and (c) topics that students would like to learn about in a course about mental health and wellness. Applying thematic analysis, we identified academic stressors (e.g., pressure to succeed, competitiveness) and social stressors (e.g., lack of community, party culture and substance abuse) that students reported as contributors to mental health problems. Students also described mental health promotion strategies that could be implemented by faculty members (e.g., providing academic accommodations for students with mental health concerns), the student body (e.g., establishing peer counseling groups), and individual students (e.g., checking in with others). Finally, they identified topics that they would like to learn about in mental health and wellness courses (e.g., how to identify mental health concerns, how to support friends). By raising several potential targets for mental health and wellness interventions for Indian college students, our study illustrates how open-ended surveys can be a useful and feasible way to solicit input from stakeholders in low- and middle-income countries. Future research will be needed to assess the effectiveness and feasibility of mental health promotion strategies, including those proposed by students.     

Preventing School Violence by Promoting Wellness

This paper presents a framework for school-based health promotion and prevention programming that can serve to guide planning and action. Rather than separating specific prevention programs (such as violence prevention, substance abuse prevention, etc.) from more broad-based youth development efforts, this approach provides an integrated framework that: (a) identifies benchmarks of healthy development and strategies to support this development across contexts; (b) specifies additional factors that contribute to identified problems that are not directly linked to healthy development; and (c) provides for matching services to individual needs. Suggestions for application of this framework are discussed, with a particular focus on its application to the development of school-based Wellness Centers.     

Preventing Family Violence: An Educational Model

This article gives an example of cross-cultural teaching between the United States and Korea using Bible study, lecture, and psychodrama by Korean students on the topic of domestic violence. In the process, basic education on domestic violence is presented in a culturally sensitive way.

Listening to Transgender and Gender Diverse Students on Christian College Campuses

Journal of Religion and Health - This study was an initial investigation of important areas of interest within the literature on transgender and gender diverse students, namely psychological...     

An Intergroup Contact-Theory Framework for Evaluating Racial Climate on Predominantly White College Campuses

This study examined the association of racial climate to social integration outcomes among 215 African American students and 144 White students from a predominantly White university. Presented is preliminary evidence regarding the utility of an ecological approach based on Allport's (1954) intergroup contact theory in examining students' climate perceptions and their impact. Responses to a racial climate scale previously used in secondary settings were collected from participants, and, through factor analysis, a revised scale was developed. The revised scale showed evidence for five subscales assessing perceived intergroup interactions on campus at individual and institutional levels, as well as individuals' personal intergroup interactions. Group differences were found for the subscales and in relationships between subscales and college integration outcomes. Findings suggest the importance of understanding college climate at interpersonal and institutional levels and of assessing impact for both majority and minority students.     

Violence in College Students' Dating Relationships1

In a survey of 504 college students examining predictors of violence in heterosexual relationships, over half of both men and women had committed at least one physically violent act, and men more often than women reported having been the victims of such acts. Most respondents who reported some experience with violence had both committed and received it, were involved in relatively few different types of violence, and first experienced violence when a relationship had moved beyond the casual dating stage. Modest associations between physical violence and sexual aggression were uncovered. In a series of discriminant analyses, men who abused their partners were not readily distinguished from men who did not, but tended to be young, low in family income, traditional in attitudes toward women, abused as children, currently living with a woman, and from Appalachian areas. Women who abused were more readily discriminated and scored low in social desirability, were abused as children, and were from non-Appalachian areas. Men who were abused were likely to be living with a woman and tended to be low in family income; similarly, cohabitation was related among women to being a target of violence, as were having been abused as a child and scoring low in social desirability. Findings are related to those of other studies of dating abuse, as well as to the family violence and aggression literatures.     

Correction to: Preventing Violence through Participation in Community Building in Youth

Applied Research in Quality of Life -     

Preventing Violence Against Women: Engaging the Fathers of Today and Tomorrow

Although fathers play a key role in helping their children develop ideas about gender relations and close relationships, they have been largely overlooked as a resource to help prevent violence against women. This paper explores some of the reasons why fathers have not been successfully engaged in violence prevention. Engaging fathers to promote wider definitions of masculinity for themselves and their children is presented as a major mechanism by which fathers could help prevent violence against women. The information-motivation-behavior model of change, developed for preventing high-risk sexual behavior, is applied to the area to provide structure for understanding previous and current attempts to engage fathers. Examples of innovative programs are used to highlight the application of this model.     

Predicting Bystander Behavior to Prevent Sexual Assault on College Campuses: The Role of Self-Efficacy and Intent

Bystander intervention has been increasingly applied to prevent sexual violence on college campuses. Its underlying theory assumes unidirectional relationships between variables, predicting that bystander behaviors (i.e., actions taken to intervene in sexual violence situations) will be influenced by bystander intentions (BI; i.e., likelihood to intervene in the future), which in turn will be affected by bystander efficacy (BE; i.e., confidence to intervene). One question for theory is whether a reciprocal relationship exists between BI and BE. We used structural equation modeling (SEM) with longitudinal data to test unidirectional and reciprocal causal relations between BI and BE. Participants (n = 1390) were students at a northeastern US university. Four models were examined using SEM: (1) a baseline model with autoregressive paths; (2) a model with autoregressive effects and BI predicting future BE; (3) a model with autoregressive effects and BE predicting future BI; and, (4) a fully cross‐lagged model. Results indicated that reciprocal causality was found to occur between BI and BE. In addition, a final model demonstrated indirect effects of a bystander intervention program on bystander behaviors through both BI and BE at different time points. Implications for theory and practice are described, and directions for future research discussed.     

Preventing Intimate Partner Violence: Towards a Framework for Supporting Effective Community Mobilisation

Community mobilisation is a promising new strategy for preventing intimate partner violence (IPV) against women in low‐income settings. However, little is known about the contextual factors (e.g. socio‐economic, cultural, historical and political conditions) that enable the effective mobilisation of communities for IPV prevention. This paper draws from the theoretical work of Campbell and Cornish (2010) on the relationship between context and community action in addressing HIV/AIDS to propose a framework for situating community mobilisation for IPV prevention in its surrounding symbolic, material and relational contexts. The framework is refined using empirical data from a case study of a gender‐based violence (GBV) prevention intervention in Rwanda, including interviews with members of government‐mandated GBV Committees and focus group discussions with members of two village communities (n = 35). A thematic analysis identifies various contextual factors needed to support community mobilisation for IPV prevention, including: broad symbolic understandings of what constitutes IPV; capacity to economically support women who choose to leave violent relationships; mechanisms for addressing the silence that often surrounds IPV; support from policy and government authorities; and opportunities to effectively challenge inequitable policy and legal frameworks. This framework is useful for policy‐makers and programme planners interested in IPV prevention in and by communities. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Positive Youth Development Program for Mental Health Promotion in College Campuses: Stakeholder Perspectives

The present study aimed at exploring stakeholder perspectives on felt need, potential content, receptivity and feasibility of a positive youth development program for mental health promotion in college campuses. Study objectives were attained through semi-structured interviews with 20 college faculty/administrators and five focus group discussions with 64 students across 16 colleges in a metropolitan city in South India. The need and relevance of a program for mental health promotion were endorsed by all the participants, and it was considered feasible with prior planning. Suggestions for potential content of such a program included mental health awareness, dealing with depression and anxiety, managing negative emotions, managing pressures and temptations, improving self-confidence, reflection and clarity about life goals, cultivating sense of gratitude, broadening other orientation, and time management skills. The content of intervention perceived as important by the two groups of stakeholders highlighted the broad convergences between the potential themes being considered by the researchers and the stakeholder views. Potential receptivity to the program was considered to be good though it was perceived to be influenced by the awareness about the importance of such a program. Suboptimal interest of college authority and/or students and competing academics and other programs were identified as potential challenges to program implementation. The findings are discussed with respect to implications for program development as well as for further research.     

The Role of Families and Care Givers as Risk and Protective Factors in Preventing Youth Violence

This paper reviews research which discusses the risk and protective functions that families and other caregivers provide in influencing the development of aggressive behavior in youth. Currently, there is an emphasis on providing violence prevention programs in the school environment, typically with little parental or caregiver involvement. By enhancing the role of families and caregivers in youth violence prevention programs, we assert that an unique opportunity exists to both address specific risk factors for violence while enhancing the protective features of the family. Relatedly, the risk literature on youth violence indicates that the most influential risk factors (i.e., the family, community, and peers) have their principle impact on youth aggression outside the school. We suggest a shift in the focus of violence prevention programming that is more inclusive of families as both a risk and protective agent. In support of this position, relevant theory and reviews of exemplary family-involved programs are offered. Challenges to involving youth caregivers are identified and recommendations for overcoming those challenges suggested. Last, recommendations for future research and public policy in the prevention of youth violence are offered.     

Factors Predicting Dating Violence Perpetration Among Male and Female College Students

This study examined the importance of witnessing parental violence, experiencing childhood violence, problems with alcohol, length of relationship, relationship satisfaction, anger management skills, and partner's use of physical and psychological aggression for male and female perpetrators of dating violence in college. For males, partner's use of physical aggression, low anger management skills, and high relationship satisfaction were the strongest predictors of physical aggression. For females, partner's uses of physical and psychological aggression were the most important predictors of their use of physical aggression. The model in this study was a good predictor of male violence, accounting for 81% of the variance; however, it only accounted for 51% of the variance in female violence.     

The Neutralization and Denial of Sexual Violence in College Party Subcultures

Heavy drinking and sexual assault are prevalent among college students who attend parties hosted by fraternities and athletic teams, and accusations often produce victim blaming and disbelief. We provide a symbolic interactionist explanation of how subculturally held sentiments shape students’ perceptions. We find that fraternity or athletic team party attendees (but not those who drink in other settings) are more likely than abstainers to hold stereotypical definitions of rape, rate sexual assault as less likely, and are less likely to acknowledge an assault as rape. This study offers a potential mechanism—meanings transmitted and sustained within subcultures—for explaining the denial of rape among students who attend parties hosted by fraternities or athletic teams.