Rethinking ‘Don't Blame the Victim’

SUMMARY

The psychology of victims and the dynamics of victimhood have been largely ignored by scholars and clinicians. While in past years the tendency has been to blame victims, more recently the tide has turned. It is now politically incorrect to explore the role of victims in violent systems, as exploring the psychology of victims has become synonymous with blaming the victim. While shying away from blame, this article will explore the familial and cultural origins of victimhood, victims' characteristics, their relationships with the perpetrators, and it will offer a victim typology. As we move from btame to a more complex understanding of violent systems, the perpetuation of these systems in our culture, and the role victims play in these systems, we provide ourselves with better tools to predict and prevent further victimization.     

Inclusion and Students with Emotional/Behavioral Disorders

Summary

This article presents a point/counterpoint approach to the issue of full inclusion of all students with emotional/behavioral disorders. To set the stage for the discussion that follows, the academic, social, and behavioral characteristics of these students pertinent to classroom performance are reviewed. The pros and cons of these four issues are then presented: (a) appropriateness of the general education curriculum for students with EBD; (b) social acceptance and other social competence issues; (c) mental health interventions and supports in general education settings; and (d) legality of full inclusion. Under the legality issue, case law on full inclusion pertaining to students with EBD is briefly reviewed. The basic premise of the authors who are full inclusion opponents is that a continuum of placements, including full-time placement in general education classrooms, should be preserved so that decisions about appropriate settings can be made on an individual basis. The basic premise of the author who is a full inclusion proponent is that, rather than maintaining two separate systems, we should direct our energies toward correcting the inadequacies of the general education classroom for the benefit of all students, including those with EBD.     

Measuring Change in Depression-Related Interpretation Bias: Development and Validation of a Parallel Ambiguous Scenarios Test

Depressed mood is associated with making negatively biased interpretations of ambiguous everyday events. Experimental modification towards a more optimistic interpretation has become a focus of recent research. However, to date, no measures exist that have been tested with respect to their psychometric properties that justify repeated administration to capture change. We aimed to develop and evaluate a pragmatic assessment instrument, consisting of a 30-item questionnaire (long version) and two 15-item parallel short versions (A and B). Items were generated as ambiguous sentences, reflecting three relevant content areas based on Beck's cognitive triad. The sentences were rated for pleasantness, and this emotional appraisal task indicates the emotional valence of the interpretation. Due to the intention to develop a parallel test version, item-twins were generated. All three versions of the instrument were found to be structurally stable, internally consistent and valid. In line with Beck's cognitive triad in depression, confirmatory factor analyses determined a three-factor solution (i.e. self, experiences and future). Significant correlations were found between all scales and depressive mood. The two short versions represent the same underlying constructs, share identical psychometric properties and possess high parallel-test reliability. This study is the first to evaluate and confirm the factorial validity as well as the parallel-test reliability of an interpretation bias measure. It is suitable to measure bias modification and has therefore great potential for research and clinical practice.     

基于双加工理论解释下信念偏差效应的神经机制

信念偏差效应是指人们已有的知识信念对逻辑推理的影响现象.对此,双加工理论认为这是由于信念偏向系统和逻辑分析系统之间的冲突所导致的.近年来,该理论得到来自认知神经科学证据的有力支持:一方面,基于功能磁共振成像(fMRI)、近红外光谱(NIRS)以及重复性经颅磁刺激(rTMS)等技术的研究从不同角度证实右侧前额皮层与信念偏差抑制有关;另一方面,基于脑电(ERP)的研究表明,晚期正成分和晚期负成分可能参与了不同推理类型下信念偏差效应的认知加工.未来的研究可以从工作记忆、不同加工阶段、推理前提本身可信度、实验分析、实验材料生态学效度以及思维训练等方面对信念偏差效应作进一步探索.     

Parental Hostility and Depression as Predictors of Young Children's Aggression and Conduct Problems

Parental hostility and parental depression are associated with childhood behavior problems, but these have been studied independently in the literature. This study examined the relationships between parental hostility and depression and childhood aggression and conduct problems. Parental hostility was hypothesized to predict children's current and future (two months later) aggression and conduct problems. Participants were primary caregivers of children 0 to 10 years of age. Results indicate that hostility is a better predictor of present and future childhood aggression and conduct problems than depression. Implications of this finding for preventing and treating childhood aggression and conduct problems are discussed.     

Therapeutic Implications of Religious-Related Emotional Abuse

Religion can play a positive role in preventing all types of abuse. Consequently, it is often difficult to believe that religion or a particular manner of religious awareness can also be conducive to the degradation and humiliation of individuals, and that it can be maneuvered to justify abusive behavior. In this article we discuss the emotional repercussions of religious-related abuse in the family, an aspect that is rarely documented in the field of psychotherapy, but has many negative consequences. Religious-oriented emotional abuse is traceable to several levels of human functioning: the individual's internal level of experiencing themselves, the interpersonal and systemic levels, where the individual enters relationships, as well as within the framework of the individual's relationship with God.     

Dating Violence Perpetration: The Predictive Roles of Maternally versus Paternally Perpetrated Childhood Abuse and Subsequent Dating Violence Attitudes and Behaviors

This study investigated both young men's and young women's perpetration of physical, sexual, and psychological forms of dating violence, examining predictors of violence including maternally or paternally perpetrated forms of various types of child maltreatment, as well as attitudes toward dating violence and dating violence victimization. Results of hierarchical linear regressions found that childhood experiences of maternal neglect predicted men's physical perpetration, and childhood sexual abuse predicted women's sexual perpetration and men's psychological perpetration. Further, positive attitudes toward dating violence predicted women's physical, psychological, and sexual perpetration, as well as men's sexual perpetration, and experiences of dating violence victimization were the strongest predictors of most forms of dating violence perpetration, particularly among women. Implications for future research and prevention initiatives are discussed.     

The Universality of Childhood Emotional Abuse: A Meta-Analysis of Worldwide Prevalence

This comprehensive meta-analysis combined prevalence figures of child emotional abuse reported in 29 studies, including 46 independent samples with a total of 7,082,279 participants. The overall estimated prevalence was 3/1,000 for studies using informants and 363/1,000 for studies using self-report measures of child emotional abuse. Procedural factors seem to exert a greater influence on the prevalence of childhood emotional abuse than sample characteristics and definitional issues, without fully explaining the vast variation of prevalence rates reported in individual studies. We conclude that child emotional abuse is a universal problem affecting the lives of millions of children all over the world, which is in sharp contrast with the United Nation's Convention on the Rights of the Child.     

Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones but Words Relate to Adult Physiology? Child Abuse Experience and Women's Sympathetic Nervous System Response while Self-Reporting Trauma

Child abuse predicts a wide range of long-lasting deleterious outcomes, including disruptions in the biological systems central to emotion arousal and regulation. However, little is known about the specific ways in which child abuse affects adulthood sympathetic reactivity and recovery. This study investigated the association between child abuse experience and adult skin conductance level and habituation in 85 at-risk women as they completed a self-report trauma questionnaire. Childhood emotional abuse was independently associated with blunted skin conductance habituation over the course of survey completion after controlling for other abuse subtypes and current trauma symptoms. These results suggest that women emotionally abused as children experience prolonged emotional arousal and poor physiological regulation of emotion in response to reminders of traumatic experiences.     

Identity and Emotional Competence as Mediators of the Relation between Childhood Psychological Maltreatment and Adult Love Relationships

This study tested whether identity formation and emotional competence mediated the relationship between childhood psychological maltreatment and adult attachment styles, and tested the differential long-term effects of psychological abuse and neglect. The sample included 187 undergraduates in romantic relationships. Measures assessed the extent of childhood trauma, family expressiveness, alexithymia, self-esteem, self-concept, and adult attachment style. Results of path analysis showed that emotional competence, but not self-identity, mediated the relationship between psychological maltreatment and adult attachment styles. Self-identity mediated the relationship between psychological maltreatment and emotional competence. Emotional abuse and neglect both were associated with lack of contentment, sense of worthiness and significance, alexithymia, and fearful adult attachment style. Results support the importance of emotional competence for forming adult romantic relationships.