Parental Psychological Abuse and Control in the Personal and the Social Domains: Comparison of U.S. and Japanese Samples

The study cross-nationally examined to what degree parental psychological abuse (rejection, isolation, and emotional neglect) would be associated with control of adolescents' personal domain as opposed to prudential-conventional domain. Participants (ages 14–18) included 170 Americans, 125 Japanese from Akita Prefecture, and 320 from Tokyo. With all samples, abuse was linked to overcontrol. However, the link was domain specific, pertaining only to the personal domain (e.g., hairstyle) and not prudential (e.g., use of alcohol) or conventional (e.g., table manners) domains. Psychological abuse also predicted adolescents' desire of parental authority in different domains among cultures. U.S. adolescents, linked to abuse, desired more freedom within the overlap issues, whereas Akita adolescents desired greater parental authority for the personal. Tokyo adolescents' autonomous expression was in the middle between the U.S. and Akita samples. This study suggests control of the personal is a component of psychological abuse. Cultural effect on autonomous expression linked to abuse is discussed.     

Secret-Keeping Behaviors in Black and White Children as a Function of Interviewer Race,Racial Identity,and Risk for Abuse

Summary

The tendency for children to keep the secret of child abuse is an important practical impediment to adequate research, prevention, assessment, and treatment. While some studies have established that children will readily keep adult secrets, few have investigated the predictors of ease of disclosure. In this research, race of the interviewer requesting the secret strongly affected disclosure, with Black children particularly showing an unwillingness to disclose a negative secret to a different race interviewer. Children at high risk for sexual abuse (as assessed by the Finkelhor checklist) also were more likely to keep the secret.     

Disinhibition as a Mechanism in Sexual Victimization: A Prospective Study

Disinhibition was examined as a mechanism in revictimization using a prospective research design. Of the sample of 211 young adult women, 43.1% reported prior sexual victimization (birth to the time of our initial assessment) and 32.2% reported sexual assault during the 6-month follow-up. The findings suggest that disinhibition was a partial mediator. Prior sexual victimization was associated with increased disinhibition as well as increased future sexual assault. Greater disinhibition was associated with increased future sexual assault. Once disinhibition was accounted for, the original relationship between prior and future sexual assault was reduced. Disinhibition partially explained revictimization and these behaviors might serve as possible targets of change in sexual victimization prevention work.     

Relationships among Dispositional Attributional Style,Trauma-Specific Attributions,and PTSD Symptoms

The learned helplessness model and its various revisions suggest that causal attributions influence responses to events. This study examined relationships among the 3-factor symptom clusters of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) represented in the 4th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM–IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) and the individual dimensions of dispositional attributional style and trauma-specific attributions (i.e., internal–external, stable–unstable, global–specific). Relationships among attributions and clusters of PTSD symptoms represented by the 4-factor dysphoria model were also examined. Trauma-specific attributions were most predictive of PTSD symptoms, with higher associations for avoidance and numbing symptoms compared to arousal symptoms in the three-factor model and higher associations for dysphoria symptoms compared to arousal and avoidance symptoms in the four-factor dysphoria model. Results suggest that cognitive vulnerabilities could underlie the comorbidity between PTSD and depression and might represent a high-impact target for treatment.     

Testing Target Congruence Theory on Emotional Abuse Victimization Experienced by Heterosexual and LGBQ College Students

Criminological theories traditionally used to explain crime and deviance have now been applied to explain physical intimate partner violence (IPV) experienced by heterosexual and LGBQ victims. Notably missing, however, are studies that test theories that explain why individuals may become victims of emotional abuse by sexual orientation. To this end, we applied target congruence theory to examine the influence of target vulnerability, gratifiability, and antagonism on emotional abuse experienced by college students. Data obtained from two public universities (Heterosexuals=366, LGBQ=113) showed partial support for the theory, with target vulnerability consistently predicting emotional abuse victimization regardless of sexual orientation.     

Understanding Sexual Revictimization of Women Through Metaphors: A Qualitative Research

The aim of this study was to contribute to the phenomenological understanding of revictimization through metaphors used by women when describing their revictimization experiences. Data were collected through in-depth semistructured interviews with 9 women regarding their repeated sexual victimization. Content analysis focused on metaphors used by the women when describing revictimization. Analysis of the metaphors revealed vulnerability in relation to the self and to interpersonal relationships. The metaphors relating to the self are portrayed through images of imprisonment, homelessness, contamination, and disability. Interpersonal relationships are described through the image of boundaries. These metaphors reflect duality: the profound need for security and the perception of boundaries as limiting and confining. Metaphors can be useful as a heuristic instrument for understanding women’s experience of the duality and the contradictions in coping with revictimization, and for intervention.     

Depressive and Anxious Symptomatology Moderate the Relationship Between Childhood Emotional Abuse Severity and Attentional Bias on the Modified Stroop Task

Research has demonstrated that the impact of childhood abuse often outlasts the initial abuse experiences, paving the way for a myriad of psychological difficulties in adulthood. Attentional bias might serve as a pathway from childhood abuse to negative outcomes associated with such experiences. The primary aim of the study was to investigate the impact of childhood emotional abuse (CEA) experiences on the presence of attentional bias in a sample of college women by comparing performance on a modified Stroop task between CEA survivors (n = 28) and a nonabused control group (n = 31). Results suggest that for CEA survivors, psychological symptoms moderated the relationship between CEA severity and attentional bias to specific word types. Results underscore the importance in continued exploration of the relationship among childhood emotional abuse, attentional bias, and concurrent psychopathology. Results also suggest that modification of attentional biases, via cognitive bias modification procedures, could help mitigate the impact of childhood abuse experiences on psychological well-being in adult survivors.     

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for PTSD: The Role of Complex PTSD on Treatment Outcome

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) represents an often chronic and debilitating mental illness resulting from exposure to trauma. Although the most compelling evidence for the treatment of PTSD is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), many patients experience residual functional impairment, or relapse, suggesting that this approach does not work for all cases of PTSD. Repeated severe trauma, particularly during development, might increase the risk for a more intricate clinical profile, called complex PTSD (CPTSD), which might contribute to poorer treatment response. The following provides a comprehensive summary of the evidence examining whether CPTSD symptomatology is related to poorer treatment outcome of CBT, reviews the literature on the treatment of CPTSD, and offers insights into current issues and future directions of the construct.     

The Link Between Psychological Abuse Victimization and Physical Health in College Students

Victims of intimate partner violence have a wide array of mental and physical health symptoms. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between psychological abuse victimization and physical health symptoms among college students. Male and female college students completed a Web-based survey to assess victimization of different forms of psychological abuse, a variety of physical health symptoms, and current academic stressors. Results found that psychological abuse victimization in the form of dominance and intimidation provided incremental predictive power above and beyond that of academic stressors in determining physical health symptoms regarding the stomach and chest, muscles and skeleton, and nervous system. Future investigation of the role of intimate partner psychological victimization on physical health issues in college students is warranted.     

The Rise of the Conscious Feminine

SUMMARY

The rise of the conscious feminine in the world is welcome and overdue. However, the change in the balance of power between men and women in relationship is presenting the need to develop a better understanding of the archetypal characteristics of the masculine and feminine as well as the differences between men and women. This article explores some of the developmental differences, the maintenance of mutuality and learning connecting skills.