Victim attributions and post-rape trauma

This study assessed (a) the kinds of attributions victims make, (b) whether behavioral and characterological self-blame are associated with other variables as hypothesized (e.g., perception of future avoidability of being raped), and (c) whether behavioral self-blame is associated with better post-rape adjustment (Janoff-Bulman, 1979). Attributions and adjustment were assessed in a sample of adult female rape victims seen at a hospital-based rape crisis program. Many victims blamed themselves but tended to place more blame on external factors. The pattern of relations between behavioral and characterological self-blame and other attributional measures did not support the hypothesized distinctions between them. Both kinds of self-blame were significantly associated with increased post-rape depression (all ps less than .05). Attributions strongly predicted adjustment, accounting for up to 67% of the variance in 3-day post-rape depression. The theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Self-blame attributions in women with newly diagnosed breast cancer: a prospective study of psychological adjustment.

Associations between self-blame and anxiety and depression symptoms in a sample of 76 women with breast cancer were investigated. At diagnosis, behavioral self-blame was associated with increased distress; at 3 months postdiagnosis, characterological self-blame was positively associated with affective symptoms and behavioral self-blame approached significance (p = .07); and at 6 months, behavioral self-blame was related to increased distress. Prospective analyses revealed that characterological self-blame at diagnosis approached significance in predicting distress at 3 months (p = .055) and was significant in predicting distress at 6 months and at 1 year after diagnosis. These data indicate that behavioral self-blame is a correlate of concurrent affective symptoms, whereas characterological self-blame predicts increased distress over time. Implications for social-cognitive processes in adaptation to breast cancer are discussed.     

Esteem and control bases of blame: "Adaptive" strategies for victims versus observers

An experiment was conducted to determine the esteem and control correlates of behavioral and characterological blame for victims and observers. On the basis of a proposed motivation to minimize perceptions of vulnerability, it was predicted that behavioral self-blame would be “adaptive” for victims, whereas both behavioral and characterological blame of the victim would be “adaptive” for observers. As hypothesized, behavioral self-blame by victims was associated with high self-esteem and perceptions of future avoid ability of the victimization, whereas both behavioral and characterological blame by observers were associated with high self-esteem. Behavioral blame was more likely to be engaged in by victims than by observers, and characterological blame was more likely to be engaged in by low esteem victims and high esteem observers. The study employed a role-playing/observer methodology. The adequacy of this methodology and the generalizability of results to actual victim/observer populations are discussed.     

Characterological versus behavioral self-blame: inquiries into depression and rape

Two types of self-blame--behavioral and characterological--are distinguished. Behavioral self-blame is control related, involves attributions to a modifiable source (one's behavior), and is associated with a belief in the future avoidability of a negative outcome. Characterological self-blame is esteem related, involves attributions to a relatively nonmodifiable source (one's character), and is associated with a belief in personal deservingness for past negative outcomes. Two studies are reported that bear on this self-blame distinction. In the first study, it was found that depressed female college students engaged in more characterologial self-blame than nondepressed female college students, whereas behavioral self-blame did not differ between the two groups; the depressed population was also characterized by greater attributions to chance and decreased beliefs in personal control. Characterological self-blame is proposed as a possible solution to the "paradox in depression." In a second study, rape crisis centers were surveyed. Behavioral self-blame, and not characterological self-blame, emerged as the most common response of rape victims to their victimization, suggesting the victim's desire to maintain a belief in control, particularly the belief in the future avoidability of rape. Implications of this self-blame distinction and potential directions for future research are discussed.     

The Contribution of Attributional Style to Perceived Disability in Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Longitudinal Study

The current study investigated the influence of general causal attributions on self-reported physical disability over the course of 1 year in a sample of 42 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Participants completed measures of attributional style, pain, and disability; physician assistants completed objective measures of disability on two occasions, approximately 1 year apart. Results indicated that internal attributions for disease-unrelated negative events assessed at Time 1 were associated with lower perceived physical disability, whereas stable attributions for negative events were associated with greater perceived physical disability 1 year later. These findings are discussed in terms of behavioral and characterological self-blame models, respectively. Implications of our findings for clinical management of RA are also discussed.     

Relative preference and adaptiveness of behavioral blame for observers of rape victims

Observers viewed one of nine dramatized videotaped interviews of a rape victim describing her rape. Information in the interview varied the prudence of the victim's behavior (careful, careless, no information provided) and the respectability of her character (good, bad, no information provided). Behavioral blame was significantly greater than characterological blame when the victim was careless or when no information was provided about behavior, regardless of the victim's character. When the behavior was careful, behavioral blame was equal in magnitude to characterological blame. In no case was characterological blame preferred. The adaptive value of behavioral blame for preserving a belief in a controllable and meaningful world was examined using a hierarchical multiple regression. After removing the effects of the prebeliefs of the subjects and the independent variable manipulations, only behavioral blame was significantly related to the maintenance of adaptive beliefs. Implications of the adaptive value of behavioral blame are discussed along with the importance of distinguishing observers' behavioral and characterological blaming strategies in the victimization literature.     

Self-blame attributions,control appraisals and distress among cardiac rehabilitation patients

This study examined associations between self-blame attributions, control appraisals and distress among cardiovascular disease patients participating in a cardiac rehabilitation (CR) programme. Questionnaire data were collected from 129 patients at the beginning and end of CR. We found little evidence that characterological self-blame (CSB) affects distress symptoms, but behavioural self-blame at the beginning of CR was positively associated with distress symptoms concurrently, and 12 weeks later. Furthermore, diet- and exercise-focused self-blame was only modestly, positively related to control appraisals concurrently, while CSB was negatively associated with control. Prospectively, we found few significant associations between self-blame and control. Results imply that making any type of self-blame attribution during CR does not aid in adjustment or enhanced control appraisals. Our findings suggest that CR staff should encourage patients to recognise their control over reducing risk for recurrence, but should discourage patients from looking backward and ruminating about factors that may have contributed to disease onset.     

Factors affecting reactions to a rape victim.

We examined the influence of the sex of the subject reacting to the rape victim, the type of rape (stranger vs. acquaintance), the location of the rape (inside vs. outside the victim's home), and the victim's attribution concerning the cause of the rape, on undergraduates' reactions to a rape victim. American undergraduates (264 women, 230 men) read a Rape Crisis Center Intake Form, watched a videotape of a rape victim (an actress) describing her psychological and behavioral reactions to the rape, and completed three questionnaires assessing their reactions to the victim. Women were more supportive of the rape victim than were men, and the stranger rape evoked more chance and characterological attributions than did the acquaintance rape. A rape outside the home evoked more chance attributions than did an "inside" rape. The rape victim was rated as having been more traumatized by the experience if she made any causal attribution than if she made no attribution at all.     

Perceived stigma,self-blame,and adjustment among lung,breast and prostate cancer patients

People who suffer from disease have often been stigmatised. The internalisation of stigma leads to the experience of self-blame. The relationship among stigma, self-blame and adjustment was framed with two theoretical perspectives: the looking-glass self and learned helplessness models. These models were studied in 96 lung, 30 breast and 46 prostate cancer patients. Consistent with the looking-glass-self model, we predicted that perceived stigma and self-blame would be associated with poorer psychological adjustment; the data supported these hypotheses. Consistent with the learned helplessness model, we predicted that self-blame would mediate the link between perceived stigma and psychological adjustment; data supported these hypotheses. The mediation model explained a greater percentage of the variance in adjustment in the lung cancer sample compared to the breast and prostate cancer sample. Participants who reported internal causal attributions reported poorer psychological adjustment. Lung cancer patients were more likely than breast or prostate cancer patients to report internal causal attributions for their cancer. Future research and cancer care are discussed in light of these findings.     

Rape: A Trauma of Paralyzing Dehumanization

This study examines the pathogenic role of rape-induced peritraumatic dehumanization, and subsequent humiliation and “freezing.” A theoretical causal model linking these rape-related peritraumatic responses to symptoms is tested while considering the ways in which rape differs from other types of nonsexual trauma in relation to this particular model. Two hundred and fifty-five participants completed self-report questionnaires. Structural path analyses identified dehumanization and humiliation as highly prevalent and almost invariably predictive of a freeze response in rape; and, in turn, of elevated self-blame and post-traumatic stress disorder in its wake while concurrently showing a poor fit for this model in respect to other traumas. In addition, multivariate analysis of variance results indicated that peritraumatic, as well as post-traumatic distress, was considerably more severe among rape survivors as compared to controls.     

Peer Victimization, Aggression, and Their Co-Occurrence in Middle School: Pathways to Adjustment Problems

An ethnically diverse sample of 6th-grade students completed peer nomination procedures that were used to create subgroups of students with reputations as victims, aggressors, aggressive victims, and socially adjusted (neither aggressive nor victimized). Self-report data on psychological adjustment, attributions for peer harassment, and perceived school climate were gathered. In addition, homeroom teachers rated participating students on academic engagement and students' grades were collected from school records. Victims reported the most negative self-views, aggressors enjoyed the most positive self-views, and aggressive victims fell between these two groups, although their psychological profile more closely resembled that of victims. However, all three subgroups encountered more school adjustment problems when compared to their socially adjusted classmates. Different pathways to school adjustment problems for aggressors and victims were examined. For victims, characterological self-blame for victimization and psychological maladjustment were the key mediators, whereas for aggressors, the significant pathway was mainly through perceived unfairness of school rules. Analyses by ethnicity revealed that African American boys were most likely to be perceived as aggressive and as aggressive victims and they were doing most poorly in school. Implications for intervention with subgroups of problem behavior youth and the particular vulnerabilities of African American adolescents were discussed.     

Self-blame among parents of infants with perinatal complications: the role of self-protective motives

According to the literature on defensive attribution, behavioral self-blame can bolster a sense of personal efficacy and is more likely to occur when victims perceive their misfortune as severe. In this study, mothers of infants with severe perinatal complications rated the severity of their child's condition, were asked about its causes, and completed a measure of emotional adaptation. As predicted according to the defensive attribution hypothesis, behavioral self-blame was associated with greater perceived severity and preventability of recurrence. The pattern of correlations suggests that greater perceived severity may produce greater self-blame, which in turn may play an indirect role in adaptation through its association with the belief that a recurrence could be prevented. Results of a post hoc path analysis were consistent with this hypothesis. These findings are discussed in terms of the adaptive features of behavioral self-blame, its relation to perceived control, methodological issues in the study of coping with victimization, and implications for helping professionals.     

Reaction to Self-Attributed Victim Responsibility: A Comparative Analysis of Rape Crisis Counselors and Lay Observers1

This research examined observers' reactions to sexual assault victims engaging in different forms of self-attributed responsibility. Theory and research suggests that behavioral responsibility contributes positively to the coping process of victims, whereas characterological responsibility impedes it. For observers in the present study, the expression of either type of self-responsibility by a rape victim resulted in a more negative impression of the victim's emotional well-being and greater attribution of responsibility to the victim in comparison to a victim relying solely on chance explanations. Moreover, this bias was evident among rape crisis counselors as well as lay observers. Discussion considered the implications of such biased perceptions for sexual assault victims and the need for a fuller understanding of the nature of self-attributions of responsibility by victims.     

The Spinal Cord Injured Revisited: The Relationship Between Self-Blame, Other-Blame and Coping

Self-blame has been viewed as functional for victims' adjustment to negative life events. This perspective has been primarily based on the findings of Bulman and Wortman's 1977 study of the spinal cord injured. The present study replicates and extends the Bulman and Wortman study, using similar measures on a comparable sample and comparable life event. Patients did not differentiate among the concepts of responsibility, fault, and blame for the cause of the accident. Patients were behavioral rather than characterological self-blaming and alcohol use prior to the accident was the best predictor of self-blame. Attributions of responsibility for the cause of the event versus responsibility for rehabilitation (sequelae of the event) did not distinguish effective from ineffective copers. Bulman and Wortman's (1977) single-item measure of coping correlated with this study's multidimensional assessment of coping. There was no relationship between patients' attributions of self-blame and nurse's ratings of patients' coping but other-blame was associated with poorer coping.     

Depression and cognitive style: comparisons between measures

Several instruments have been developed recently to measure cognitive styles associated with depression. At least four of them appear to have an underlying similarity. Each appears to reflect a tendency for respondents to infer a general lack of self-worth (or a continued likelihood of bad events) on the basis of a single discrete failure. The present research was a comparative test of one of these scales against the other three in terms of associations with Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scores. Though all instruments were significantly correlated with BDI, partial correlations revealed that our generalization scale was a more robust predictor of BDI than were (a) a measure of characterological self-blame, (b) a measure of cognitive bias, and (c) a measure of attributional style.     

Appraisals of marital conflict and children's adjustment, health, and physiological reactivity.

Children's appraisals of marital conflict were examined as moderators and mediators of conflict and children's adjustment, physical health, and physiological reactivity. Mothers completed measures of marital conflict and children's adjustment and physical health, and elementary school children provided information on their parents' marital conflict, appraisals of perceived threat and self-blame in relation to parents' conflicts, and their internalizing symptomatology. Children's heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and skin conductance response and level were examined during both a baseline and an interadult argument. Higher levels of both self-blame and perceived threat functioned as robust vulnerability factors for children exposed to higher levels of marital conflict in relation to internalizing behaviors, health problems, and higher levels of cardiovascular reactivity to the argument. Further, a higher level of perceived threat was a vulnerability factor for externalizing problems associated with exposure to marital conflict.     

INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL MEDIATORS OF WOMEN'S RAPE EXPERIENCES

Internal and external factors are examined as mediational processes and/or coping strategies that link four aspects of women's rape experiences to the initial and lasting effects on their post-rape adjustment, attitude toward sex and intimacy, and lifestyle changes to prevent future assaults. Data are from a multiethnic community sample of 55 women who had been victims of rape or attempted rape. A measured or observed variable simultaneous path analysis model was used to test the relationships among the traumatic circumstances, mediators, and outcome variables. More self-blame, high involvement of police or other agencies, a greater number of repeated rapes per incident, and severity of abuse predicted women's negative initial and lasting attitudes toward sex and intimacy. The implications of these findings are discussed as they relate to barriers in disclosing attempted and completed incidents of rape.     

Early adolescents' willingness to intervene: What roles do attributions,affect, coping,and self-reported victimization play?

Limited research has sought to understand early adolescents' willingness to intervene in peer victimization as a function of their own responding to being victimized. The present study examined whether early adolescents' attributions, affect, and coping responses to a victimization vignette were related to their willingness to intervene, and whether self-reported victimization moderated the aforementioned associations. Participants were 653 5th- to 8th-grade students (50.4% girls, 58.5% Caucasian, 34.5% Hispanic) who completed a self-report survey that included a vignette asking students to imagine that they were victimized in school. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted separately for boys and girls. Although attributions and affect showed no significant associations with students' willingness to intervene, seeking social support coping was associated with greater willingness to intervene for both boys and girls, and problem-focused coping was associated with willingness to intervene for girls only. Unexpectedly, self-reported victimization was associated positively with both boys' and girls' willingness to intervene. Findings also revealed two unexpected two-way interactions between peer victimization and boys' characterological self-blame and girls' wishful thinking coping. Overall, study findings highlight the need for future research and anti-bullying programs to address how victimization could either motivate or discourage a student's willingness to intervene.     

Teachers’ reactions to experiences of violence: an attributional analysis

Violence perpetrated against teachers is prevalent and has the potential to adversely affect teachers’ well-being, efficacy, and longevity in the profession. In this study, we examined teachers’ reactions after having experienced violence, specifically examining the roles of attributional processes. In collaboration with the American Psychological Association, National Education Association, and American Federation of Teachers, data were collected via a survey instrument from teachers across the United States. We examined responses from 2505 participants who described the most upsetting incident of violence that had been perpetrated against them in their roles as teachers. We examined predictors of (1) communicating with others after the incident and (2) implementing intervention strategies with the perpetrators of violence. Emotions were tested as mediators of the relations between attributions and outcomes. Results indicated that characterological and behavioral self-blame were predictive of negative affect, which in turn predicted the majority of outcomes. Study limitations and implications for research and practice are discussed.