Gender Differences in the Association of Intimate Partner Violence and Relationship Values among College Students

Although research has indicated that cognitions and situational factors play a role in relationship satisfaction and aggression, few studies have investigated the association between intimate partner violence (IPV) and relationship values. We addressed this gap by measuring college students’ perpetration of and victimization by four types of IPV; namely, physical violence, sexual violence, threats, and psychological aggression over the past year. One-way ANOVAs and multiple regression analyses were used to measure the association between IPV and the endorsement of relationship values. The results suggest that past IPV perpetration and victimization correlated with the current endorsement of relationship values for males more than females. In general, male perpetrators rated relationship values such as security, investment, others’ approval, and daily conflict as less important than non-perpetrators. Although male victimization explained significant variance in security, investment, and others’ approval, the results were somewhat mixed as to whether victimization related to higher or lower ratings of relationship values, with the majority of the results suggesting an inverse correlation between relationship value endorsement and IPV experience. Future research can investigate mediating factors in the relationship between IPV and relationship value endorsement, as well as look at how IPV and relationship values influence decisions concerning relationship maintenance.     

Parents Will Be Parents: Conceptualizing and Measuring Nonoffending Parent and Other Caregiver Support Following Disclosure of Sexual Abuse

A gap exists in the literature with regard to the theoretical conceptualization of nonoffending parental and other caregiver (NOC) support of sexually abused children. Measures need to be developed that appropriately capture this construct. The purpose of this article is to present a qualitative study that asked 17 NOCs in different ways how they supported their sexually abused children after the disclosure of the sexual abuse. The multiple different types of support were coded and, using grounded theory, the structure of NOC support emerged from the data. The final structure of NOC support had 8 dimensions, including basic needs, safety and protection, decision making, active parenting, instrumental support, availability, sensitivity to child, and affirmation.     

Consequences of Child and Adult Sexual and Physical Trauma among Deaf Adults

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the consequences of sexual and physical trauma among a sample of deaf adults. Thirty-two men and 45 women completed the Life Event Checklist (LEC), the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS), the Trauma Symptom Inventory (TSI), the Somatoform Dissociation Questionnaire–20 (SDQ–20) and a sociodemographic questionnaire. In this sample, 40.6% of the male participants and 53.3% of the female participants had experienced some type of sexual trauma during their lifetimes. Physical trauma was reported by 75% of males and 71.1% of female participants. For those who had experienced childhood sexual trauma, the odds ratio of revictimization in adulthood was 6.69. Sexual trauma also rarely occurred by itself. Two thirds of all participants with sexual trauma histories also reported some type of physical abuse. Participants with sexual trauma histories displayed significantly more symptoms of PTSD and depression than people without such trauma history. Physical and sexual abuse represent significant problems in the deaf community. The authors include a call for the development of targeted intervention attempts to prevent further victimization in deaf child and adolescent populations.     

The religiosity-psychoticism relationship and the two factors of social desirability: A response to Michael W. Eysenck (1999)

This paper is based upon an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) which investigated the experiences of twelve people who had been sexually abused by Roman Catholic priests or religious. The premise of the research was based upon a perceived assumption that distinct forms of sexual traumatology generate unique trauma characteristics not accounted for within the existing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) conceptual frameworks (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems ((DSM-IVTR 2000;) ICD-10 R, 2007). Recent developments in psychodiagnostics to support the relevance of religious concerns where incorporated into the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-IV edition (1994) which allowed a range of “religious” and “spiritual” problems to be explicitly identified as a focus for specific clinical attention. However, these appear quite vague in accounting for the range of trauma experiences experienced by this participant group. Evidence arose which indicated the majority of the research participants considered “God” to have been integral within the abuse, manipulated by design or default by the cleric or religious perpetrator. These idiosyncratic trauma characteristic created significant anxiety and distress in areas such as theological belief, crisis of faith, and fears surrounding the participant's own mortality. The IPA research identified six distinct, themed differences of which four will be discussed in more detail for the purpose of this paper. It will consider the attributes of these themes in relation to Roman Catholicism, celibacy and Canon law, and further question the sufficiency of the DSM-IV “V” Codes in accounting for the myriad of symptoms survivors of sexual abuse perpetrated by Roman Catholic Priests and Religious actually describe.     

Religiosity of young adults: does childhood maltreatment make a difference?

Previous research on the association between maltreatment in childhood and later religious beliefs and behaviours suggests that maltreatment may have either negative or positive influences on religiosity. However, methodological limitations of previous studies may limit their generalisability. The present study attempted to address these limitations. We examined associations between childhood physical, sexual, and emotional abuse and several dimensions of adult religiosity in a large sample of college students (N = 763). Associations between child maltreatment and religiosity were weak (rs ≤ 0.09). After controlling for possible demographic confounds, the only significant association was between childhood emotional abuse and religious questing.     

Afterword: some reflections on implicit religion and ordinary theology

This brief piece relates Edward Bailey's concept of implicit religion, together with some themes from the papers published in this special issue, to Astley's concept of ordinary theology. In particular, it attends to their different, but overlapping, focal concerns and their shared emphasis on a spiritual core of personal meaningfulness.     

You don't have to go to church to be a good Christian: the implicit religion of the cathedral carol service congregation

The notion that you don't have to go to church to be a good Christian is accepted as an indicator of the form of implicit religiosity espoused by those who (in Bailey's analysis) say that they “believe in Christianity.” The present paper builds on the findings of a recently published survey of rural Anglican churchgoers celebrating harvest which suggested that de-institutionalised implicit religion may be superseding commitment to conventional explicit religious attendance. The responses of 1081 people who attended Christmas carol services in two English cathedrals in 2009 and 2010 are analysed. The findings of the previous paper that implicit religiosity is more prevalent among younger people and among those who attend church less frequently are replicated. Evidence is also found that women are more inclined to this view than men and that those who have a loose historical connection through baptism are more likely to endorse it than those with either no historical connections or stronger ones. Suggestions are made for further research.     

Researching Child Sexual Abuse in South Africa: Complexities in the Field

This study reports on my fieldwork experiences applying qualitative research strategies to study child sexual abuse in South Africa. It considers the challenges associated with, at three stages of data collection: ethical clearance, recruitment and data collection, followed by possible solutions. The study also considers the challenges from ethical and epistemological perspectives. I used a reflective self-study to analyse my experiences. My experiences revealed the following challenges: ethical process due to reasons not linked to the content of the research process would cause delays to the field-work. In addition, the use of [formal institutions] welfare institutions as sole research sites would result in a homogenous sample that does not permit comparison of experiences among the abuse cases. The costs to the researcher in terms of emotional and physical investment can be significant.     

Maternal Response to Father-Daughter Incest: Experiences of Mothers Following Disclosure

This study explored the impact of the disclosure of sexual abuse of the daughter by the father or father figure on the mother. Data were collected from seven mothers aged between 31 and 48 years whose daughters had a history of sexual abuse by the biological father, stepfather or live-in boyfriend. The children's ages ranged between 5 and 11 years with disclosure having taken place in the last two years before data collection. Data were collected using an interview schedule. The results obtained from the thematic content analysis indicate that the mothers were traumatized by the disclosure of the sexual abuse. The most prevalent symptoms were anger, anxiety, guilty, depression, insomnia, headache and fatigue. It is recommended that mothers be provided with psychological intervention in order to assist them deal with the trauma associated with the disclosure of the father-daughter incest.     

Humble persons are more helpful than less humble persons: Evidence from three studies

Connections between humility and other prosocial qualities led us to develop a humility–helpfulness hypothesis. In three studies, humble persons were more helpful than less humble persons. In Study 1, participants (n?=?117) completed self-report measures of humility, the Big Five, and helpfulness. In Study 2, participants (n?=?90) completed an implicit measure of humility and were presented with an unexpected opportunity to help someone in need. In Study 3, participants (n?=?103) completed self-report and implicit measures of humility and were presented a similar helping opportunity. Humility and helpfulness correlated positively when personality and impression management were controlled. Humble participants helped more than did less humble participants even when agreeableness and desirable responding were statistically controlled. Further, implicit humility uniquely predicted helping behavior in an altruistic motivation condition.