Childhood Emotional Abuse and Psychological Distress in Gay and Bisexual Men

Despite the high prevalence of childhood emotional abuse (CEA) and adult psychological distress (depression and anxiety) among gay and bisexual men (GBM), there is little research examining the relationships among these variables. This study examined internalized homophobia (IH) as a mediator between CEA and psychological distress in a sample of 286 GBM. Controlling for demographics and childhood sexual and physical abuse, CEA was associated with self-report and clinician-administered measures of psychological distress. Concern about stigma of being gay mediated the relationship between CEA and psychological distress. Internalized antigay attitudes might be important in the relationship between CEA and adult psychological distress. Clinicians might address negative beliefs about the self as a GBM that could be exacerbated due to CEA.     

Dual Marginality: The Impact of Auditory Status and Sexual Orientation on Abuse in a College Sample of Women and Men

This exploratory study examined the relationship between the combination of auditory status and sexual orientation, and experiencing interpersonal violence, as measured by sexual, physical, and psychological abuse. A cross-sectional examination of 1,023 undergraduate students including 222 Deaf and hard-of-hearing students provided the data. Findings revealed that gay, lesbian, and bisexual students who also were Deaf or hard of hearing were more likely to experience sexual, physical, and psychological abuse than those in mainstream majority groups. The combination of auditory minority with sexual minority status for students had the strongest effect for physical and psychological abuse. Implications for policy and future research are provided.     

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.     

Parent Perspectives on the Use of Group Well-Child Care to Address Toxic Stress in Early Childhood

We sought to understand the experiences of parents who participated in Group Well-Child Care (GWCC) and Trauma-Informed GWCC (TI-GWCC). Three focus groups and design sessions with parents from either standard GWCC or TI-GWCC (N = 17) were conducted and synthesized into common themes using thematic analysis. Focus group themes included: (1) GWCC can empower parents to recognize toxic stress; (2) Parents identify ways that they role model behaviors for their child(ren); (3) Activities that facilitate reflection on attachment and anger management encourage intentional parenting practices. Our qualitative findings suggest that TI-GWCC supports the prevention of childhood adversity by creating connections between parents, helping families understand and identify toxic stress, and teaching parenting practices that mitigate stressors.     

Trauma Exposure and Health: A Review of Outcomes and Pathways

A growing body of literature has established robust relations between trauma and a variety of adverse physical health outcomes. In both retrospective and prospective research, adults with a history of self-reported or court-substantiated maltreatment report significantly more health concerns than those without maltreatment histories, in both clinical and community samples, whether health problems are self-reported or physician-diagnosed. Two pathways by which poor health outcomes are theorized to occur include the biological pathway, which largely implicates severe stress and subsequent dysregulations in central stress-response systems as the underlying cause of health problems, and the behavioral pathway, which suggests that health risk behaviors are largely responsible for the relations between trauma and health. This article reviews the research evaluating the relations between various types of trauma, particularly physical and sexual abuse in childhood, and three such health outcomes: pain, gastrointestinal disorders, and cardiovascular disease. Evidence to support the biological and behavioral pathways is also reviewed.     

Effects of Abusive Parenting,Caretaker Arrests,and Deviant Behavior on Dating Violence Among Homeless Young Adults

Although dating violence is widespread among young adult homeless populations, its risk factors are poorly understood by scholars. To address this gap, this study uses a social learning theory to examine the effects of abusive parenting and caretaker arrests on dating violence among 172 homeless young adults. Results from path analyses revealed that child physical abuse and caretaker arrests were positively associated with engaging in a greater number of school fights, which, in turn, was strongly and positively correlated with participating in more deviant subsistence strategies (e.g., stealing) since being on the street. Young people who participated in a greater number of delinquent acts were more likely to report higher levels of dating violence. Study results highlight the extent of social learning within the lives of homeless young adults, which is evident prior to their leaving home and while they are on the street.     

Patterns in Blame Attributions in Maltreated Youth: Association with Psychopathology and Interpersonal Functioning

This investigation explored patterns of blame attributions in 128 youth, primarily (87%) female, with maltreatment histories. Second, the study also evaluated the relative variance in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity, emotional distress, and interpersonal functioning outcomes, accounted for by age, abuse characteristics, and blame attribution patterns. Cluster analyses revealed distinctive blame profiles: high perpetrator blame, moderate perpetrator blame, high self-blame, high perpetrator/high self-blame, and low perpetrator/low self-blame. Regression analyses yielded significant models, accounting for 15% to 34% of the variance of outcomes. Most notably, youth endorsing a high perpetrator/high self-blame (i.e., compounded blame) attribution pattern reported poorer outcomes as compared to youth presenting with other blame profiles. Maltreatment type and age differences were not demonstrated across clusters. Implications and limitations are discussed.     

Childhood Abuse Types and Physical Health at the Age of 24: Testing Health Risk Behaviors and Psychological Distress as Mediators

This study examines whether adult psychological distress and health risk behaviors mediate the relationship between childhood abuse and physical health in adulthood. A randomly selected population-based sample, with oversampling to include a one-third subgroup of former child protection cases, completed a structured interview. Questions pertained to childhood exposure to abuse, adult psychological distress, physical health, and health risk behaviors. Previous research using this sample had identified three abuse typologies: emotional abuse, sexual abuse, and polyvictimization (physical abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect). All three typologies were significantly associated with poorer self-reported physical health. Psychological distress and health risk behaviors partially mediated the relationship between nonabuse, sexual abuse, polyvictimization, and physical health, and fully mediated the relationship between emotional abuse and physical health. The results of this study indicate that health risk behaviors and symptoms of psychological distress could contribute to some of the long-lasting consequences of childhood abuse on adult physical health.     

An Interactional Perspective on Coping with Intimate Partner Violence: Counterattack,Call for Help,or Give in and Obey Him?

This research reports on an investigation of if and how help-seeking women perceived that they had coped in intimate partner violence situations. Within a cross-sectional design, a representative sample of 157 help-seeking women in Norway was interviewed. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted. Results indicated that exposure to psychological, physical, and sexual intimate partner violence, respectively, did elicit different coping strategies in one and the same woman. There were also significant differences between women who perceived they had effective coping strategies and those who did not. This research suggests that a multivariate design within an interactional perspective could inform and enhance our understanding of coping strategies in intimate partner violence situations as complex, heterogeneous, and dynamic phenomena.     

Unto the Third Generation

Abstract

It is possible to significantly reduce, even eliminate child abuse if we address five obstacles: (1) many mandated reporters fail to comply with the law; (2) most child abuse reports are not investigated; (3) frontline child protection professionals are inadequately trained; (4) we do not address child abuse at the youngest ages; and (5) maltreated children receive an inadequate share of financial resources. Accordingly, we must reform our higher education system to ensure that all child protection professionals have the skills necessary to recognize and respond to abuse. We must provide ongoing training to professionals in the field, have at least one forensic interview-training program in each state, develop prevention programs at the local level, and teach frontline professionals to advocate for children. Finally, we must recruit a second generation that will build on these successes and continue to improve our response until child abuse no longer exists.