When Compassion is Making It Worse: Social Dynamics of Tabooing Victims of Child Sexual Abuse

The paper explores the social dynamics of tabooing, using sexual abuse of children as an example. Some social categories are problematic to embrace, because they entail socially problematic category bound activities in an emotional context of guilt and shame. This theoretical paper shows how a victim of sexual abuse as a child may suffer from two separate offenses, a sexual and a social; one caused by actions of the offender, one caused by actions of intended helpers. By ascribing an identity of ‘incest victim’ or ‘victim of child sexual abuse’ to a person, the taboo act becomes linked to the person. This may be an inescapable ascribed identity for the person, leading her/him to be subject of both sexual and social offenses. As a consequence, potential ‘victims’ may have troubled affiliation with such identity casting, and may fight a future tabooed role by not reporting tabooed abusive actions, hence not receiving the help needed to recover.     

Risk Factors of Sexual Aggression and Victimization Among Homosexual Men1

This study examined risk factors of sexual aggression and victimization among homosexual men (N= 310). They completed the Homosexual Experiences Survey to record sexual aggression and victimization and provided information about 2 groups of potential risk factors: childhood abuse and sexual lifestyle (number of partners, age at first intercourse, age at coming out, accepting or paying of money for sex, and rape proclivity). One in 4 respondents reported severe forms of sexual victimization; 17% reported moderate victimization. Prevalence of perpetration of sexual aggression was almost 20% for severe aggression and 9% for moderate aggression. The risk of victimization increased as a function of childhood abuse as well as high number of partners and acceptance of money for sex. The risk of committing sexual aggression was positively related to childhood abuse, acceptance and payment of money for sex, high number of sexual partners, and rape proclivity. The findings are discussed in relation to evidence on heterosexual aggression.     

The Effect of Social and Situational Factors on the Intended Response to Aggression Among Adolescents

ABSTRACT

In this study, I explored intended response to aggression among adolescents. I drew hypotheses from social identity theory, cost/benefit considerations, and social information processing model. I asked 217 Jewish and Muslim male adolescents in this study to assess their intended use of aggression in 12 hypothetical conflict situations (vignettes), in which I manipulated the opponent's religion, gender, acquaintance, and severity of aggression. I mainly found that male adolescents respond to aggression by same-religion opponents more moderately than to cross-religion aggression; their response is more moderate to cross-gender aggression than to same-gender aggression; response is more moderate to the aggression of familiar opponents than to that of unfamiliar ones; and response is less severe toward moderate than toward severe aggression.     

A Comparison of Sexual Aggression Risk Factors Between the United States and the Philippines

Sexual violence against women is a global problem, prompting the need to investigate the risk factors among males in non-Western, non-industrialized countries. Using the expanded Confluence Model, this study examined and compared risk factors of sexual aggression between male college students in the Philippines and the United States. Using path analysis and multiple group analysis, results indicated that the expanded Confluence Model was generally invariant between countries. Direct paths from hostile attitudes toward women and impersonal sex to sexual aggression were non-significant, but indirect effects from hostile attitudes toward women, alcohol consumption, and impersonal sex to sexual aggression via the frequency of misperceiving a woman’s sexual intent were observed. Additional risk analysis indicated that the number of elevated risk factors were associated with higher self-reports of sexual aggression.     

Dimensions of Masculinity: Relations to Date Rape Supportive Attitudes and Sexual Aggression in Dating Situations

Sexual assault in general and date rape in particular are major issues for practitioners, educators, and researchers in counseling. This study sought to extend and refine existing research on the links between masculine gender roles and date rape by exploring 3 masculinity-related constructs that, until recently, have received relatively little attention in the context of rape research: masculinity ideology, attitudes toward feminism, and homophobia. In general, combinations of masculinity-related constructs were found to predict self-reported acceptance or perpetration of sexually coercive behaviors. Specifically, multiple regression analyses revealed that attitudes toward feminism and various, specific dimensions of masculinity ideology (vs. a global assessment, as in previous research) predicted unique variance in several types of date rape-supportive attitudes and beliefs: the Facade/Counterdependence dimension of masculinity ideology also predicted unique variance in self-reported history of sexual coercion. Implications for prevention, education, and future research are discussed.     

For Better and Worse: Social Influences on Coronary Heart Disease Risk

From the neighborhoods we live in to those we marry, other people are a part of our everyday lives. Mounting evidence suggests that these social factors constitute risk and resilience influences for coronary heart disease (CHD). The current aim is to summarize the literature into four representative categories relating to CHD risk: social environments, social roles, social resources, and close relationships. The argument is made that these factors moderate and mediate stress and associated physiological responses constituting a psychosomatic pathway to disease.     

Gender and Military Contextual Risk Factors for Intimate Partner Aggression

This study explored individual and military risk factors for intimate partner aggression (IPA) perpetration among Navy personnel in their second year of service. We found some evidence that job stress was related to higher perpetration among men. Contrary to expectations, ship duty was related to lower perpetration rates, even though it involves more military operational stress and more frequent deployments than does shore duty. Premilitary alcohol problems were a stronger risk factor for men than for women, whereas premilitary patterns of aggressive behavior were a stronger risk factor for women. Recommendations for future research and public health interventions are discussed.     

Social and Situational Factors Associated With Contraceptive Switching: Implications for Practitioners1

This study was an investigation of contraceptive switching in the context of a 5-wave panel design of diaphragm and pill users from the New York City metropolitan area. The respondents were 525 women between the ages of 14 and 46, who came to one of 10 family planning clinics to obtain birth control, Results indicated a hazard function for switching in which the hazard rate increased in the initial weeks and then gradually declined over time. Clinic experiences on the part of the women were found to alter survivorship trends. Implications of the data for service providers were developed.     

Talking Dirty: Responses to Communicating a Sexual Message as a Function of Situational and Personality Factors

Situational and personality factors associated with responses to communicating a sexual message were investigated. Male (N = 101) and female (N = 89) subjects delivered a prepared speech on either a sexual or a nonsexual topic to an audience that ostensibly varied in age (peer versus older individuals) and sex (male versus female). Results indicated that communicating the sexual (versus nonsexual) message resulted in more negative perceptions of audience response. Communicating the sexual message to older audiences in general and to older female audiences in particular resulted in the most negative perceptions of audience response. Correlational analyses revealed that individual difference factors such as positive affective orientation to sex and relatively greater sexual experience were associated with less negative reactions to communicating the sexual message (all p < .05).     

Sexual Self‐Concept Ambiguity and the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide Risk

Mechanisms (i.e., thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness, hopelessness) derived from the interpersonal theory of suicide which are hypothesized to account for the relation between sexual orientation self‐concept ambiguity and active suicide ideation were examined. Participants included 349 women, among whom 42% currently self‐ascribed a non‐exclusively heterosexual sexual identity. Among women reporting higher levels of sexual self‐concept ambiguity, greater risk for active suicide ideation is found when perceptions of burden and feelings of thwarted belonging co‐occur with feelings of hopelessness. Results support relevant theory useful for understanding suicide risk among sexual minority women who acknowledge ambiguity with regard to their sexual orientation.     

Callous-Unemotional Traits,Relational and Social Aggression,and Interpersonal Maturity in a Sample of Behaviorally Disordered Adolescents

The authors examined the degree to which callous-unemotional traits and narcissism predict relational aggression, social aggression, and prosocial skills in a sample of 79 adolescent offenders (13–18 years old; 26% girls; 74% boys) attending a school for youth with behavior disorders in the Mid-Atlantic United States. Narcissism made a significant contribution to the prediction of both relational aggression and social aggression, accounting for most of the unique variance in the prediction of these indirect forms of aggression. Conversely, callous-unemotional traits—but not narcissism—made a significant contribution to the prediction of lower prosocial skills. Furthermore, in contrast to the large number of studies indicating gender differences in the expression of aggression, no significant gender differences in the present study were found.     

Integrating Etiological Models of Social Anxiety and Depression in Youth: Evidence for a Cumulative Interpersonal Risk Model

Models of social anxiety and depression in youth have been developed separately, and they contain similar etiological influences. Given the high comorbidity of social anxiety and depression, we examine whether the posited etiological constructs are a correlate of, or a risk factor for, social anxiety and/or depression at the symptom level and the diagnostic level. We find core risk factors of temperament, genetics, and parent psychopathology (i.e., depression and anxiety) are neither necessary nor sufficient for the development of social anxiety and/or depression. Instead, aspects of children’s relationships with parents and/or peers either mediates (i.e., explains) or moderates (i.e., interacts with) these core risks being related to social anxiety and/or depression. We then examine various parent- and peer-related constructs contained in the separate models of social anxiety and depression (i.e., parent–child attachment, parenting, social skill deficits, peer acceptance and rejection, peer victimization, friendships, and loneliness). Throughout our review, we report evidence for a Cumulative Interpersonal Risk model that incorporates both core risk factors and specific interpersonal risk factors. Most studies fail to consider comorbidity, thus little is known about the specificity of these various constructs to depression and/or social anxiety. However, we identify shared, differential, and cumulative risks, correlates, consequences, and protective factors. We then put forth demonstrated pathways for the development of depression, social anxiety, and their comorbidity. Implications for understanding comorbidity are highlighted throughout, as are theoretical and research directions for developing and refining models of social anxiety, depression, and their comorbidity. Prevention and treatment implications are also noted.     

When Silence Speaks Louder Than Words: Explorations Into the Intrapsychic and Interpersonal Consequences of Social Ostracism

Respondents wrote 2 stories, 1 about a time they were given the silent treatment and 1 about a time they used the silent treatment on another. Content analyses indicated that targets who were unable to attribute the ostracism to a specific cause suffered greater threats to belongingness and self-esteem than those who understood the reasons for their treatment. Targets who felt that others were oblivious to their presence reported stronger threats to belongingness, self-esteem, and meaningful existence and were more likely to affiliate with others than were targets who generated alternative reasons for their treatment. People high in self-esteem were more likely than those low in self-esteem to (a) use ostracism as a means of terminating the relationship and (b) terminate relationships with their ostracizing partners. People low in self-esteem, conversely, were more likely to ostracize others in defense against criticism or rejection, ostracize others in general, and report being ostracized by others. Finally, perspective differences indicated that sources portrayed the ostracism as a useful interpersonal tactic that ultimately led to conflict resolution, whereas targets emphasized feelings of withdrawal and resentment.     

The Relationship Between Perceived Violation of Social Norms and Social Control: Situational Factors Influencing the Reaction to Deviance

Social control is the generic term for all reactions through which people express their disapproval to someone who engages in a counternormative behavior or who holds a counter-normative attitude. The literature on helping behavior suggests that perceived personal implication should play an important role in the decision of whether or not to exert social control. A field study involving 5 different experimental settings was conducted in order to test this hypothesis. Confederates engaged in a variety of behaviors that violated social norms. Perceived personal implication was consistently the best predictor of social control behavior, such that the more someone felt that a deviant behavior affected him or her personally, the more he or she was likely to communicate his or her disapproval to the deviant confederate. Perceived deviance of the behavior was a less powerful predictor of social control. These findings speak to the moderating factors of social control behavior and to the circumstances under which social norms protecting public property are likely to be perpetuated.     

Risk Factors Associated with Proactive and Reactive Aggression in a Child Psychiatric Inpatient Sample

Proactive and reactive aggression represent distinct functions of aggression that are associated with different risk factors, including individual and contextual characteristics. However, more research evaluating the interactive effects of risk factors is needed. The current study evaluated whether corporal punishment moderated the influence of neighborhood problems and anger coping on proactive and reactive aggression in a child psychiatric inpatient sample of 6 to 13 year olds (n?=?151). Findings were compared across child- and caregiver-reports of aggression. Consistent with expectations, anger coping was more strongly associated with reactive aggression than proactive aggression across informants. In contrast, perceived neighborhood problems were only associated with child-reports of proactive aggression, with corporal punishment moderating this association. Specifically, the association between neighborhood problems and proactive aggression was only evident at high levels of corporal punishment. Treatment implications and future directions are discussed.     

Nonconsensual Sexual Experiences in Precollege Women: Prevalence and Risk Factors

The authors of this study examined the prevalence of nonconsensual sexual experiences in dating situations among a sample of 330 incoming female college students. Results indicated that 38.5% of women reported experiencing at least one form of sexual victimization in dating, ranging from unwanted sexual contact to rape. Victimization was related to history of childhood sexual abuse as well as previous consensual sexual activity. Discussion focuses on the need for education and prevention programs during the secondary school years and counseling assistance for college-age victims.     

Aggression and the Risk for Suicidal Behaviors among Children

Two subtypes of aggression—reactive and proactive—were examined to see how they relate to suicidal behaviors among young children admitted for acute psychiatric inpatient care. The children and their parents completed self‐report questionnaires/interviews. Regression analyses revealed that depressed girls who scored higher on reactive aggression reported more suicidal behaviors; whereas proactive aggression did not relate to suicidal behaviors for either boys or girls.     

Emotional Dysregulation and Interpersonal Difficulties as Risk Factors for Nonsuicidal Self-Injury in Adolescent Girls

The purpose of this study was to examine a model of factors that place psychiatrically hospitalized girls at risk for non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). The role of familial and peer interpersonal difficulties, as well as emotional dysregulation, were examined in relationship to NSSI behaviors. Participants were 99 adolescent girls (83.2% Caucasian; M age = 16.08) admitted to a psychiatric hospital. Structural equation modeling indicated the primacy of emotional dysregulation as an underlying process placing adolescents at risk for NSSI and mediating the influence of interpersonal problems through the family and peer domains. When family and peer relationships were characterized by conflict and lack of support for managing emotions, adolescents reported more dysregulated emotion processes. Family relational problems were directly and indirectly related to NSSI through emotional dysregulation. The indirect processes of peer relational problems, through emotional dysregulation, were significantly associated with NSSI frequency and severity. The findings suggest that the process by which interpersonal difficulties contribute to NSSI is complex, and is at least partially dependent on the nature of the interpersonal problems and emotion processes.     

When the Boss Feels Inadequate: Power, Incompetence, and Aggression

ABSTRACT— When and why do power holders seek to harm other people? The present research examined the idea that aggression among the powerful is often the result of a threatened ego. Four studies demonstrated that individuals with power become aggressive when they feel incompetent in the domain of power. Regardless of whether power was measured in the workplace (Studies 1 and 4), manipulated via role recall (Study 2), or assigned in the laboratory (Study 3), it was associated with heightened aggression when paired with a lack of self-perceived competence. As hypothesized, this aggression appeared to be driven by ego threat: Aggressiveness was eliminated among participants whose sense of self-worth was boosted (Studies 3 and 4). Taken together, these findings suggest that (a) power paired with self-perceived incompetence leads to aggression, and (b) this aggressive response is driven by feelings of ego defensiveness. Implications for research on power, competence, and aggression are discussed.