Classroom training in sexual victimization awareness and prevention skills: An extension of the Red Flag/Green Flag people program

This study is an extension of a previous evaluation of a program (Red Flag/Green Flag) in which children, parents, and teachers were exposed to a workbook and film designed to teach personal safety strategies for preventing sexual victimization or encouraging adult assistance through disclosure of such incidents. In the current investigation, only children and their teachers received this didactic training program. Children and teachers from neighboring schools were assigned to a Training or Control group. Self-reports from children, teachers, and parents, as well as guidance counselor incident reports, were obtained to evaluate outcome. Results indicated greater gains in general knowledge and prevention skills at post-training and 6-month follow-up for trained than control children. Some improvements were made by trained teachers and parents of trained children. Child reports of personal experiences and guidance counselor incident reports were in accord with the assistance component of the program. However, the pattern of reports across sources is difficult to interpret. The findings are discussed in light of salient issues regarding the content of training, child disclosure, and methodology.     

Feminism and the academy

R.D. Klein and D.L. Steinberg (eds) Radical Voices. A Decade of Feminist Resistance from Women's Studies International Forum’ (Pergamon Press) Oxford, 1989. M. Paludi and G.A. Steuernagel (eds) Foundations for a Feminist Restructuring of the Academic Disciplines (Haworth Press), New York, 1990. L. Stanley (ed) Feminist Praxis. Research, Theory and Epistemology in Feminist Sociology (Routledge), London, 1990.     

Witnessing spouse abuse and experiencing physical abuse: A “double whammy”?

Child witnesses to parental violence, both abused (N =40) and nonabused (N =44), who were temporarily residing in a battered women's shelter were compared with children from a similar economic background (N =66) on measures of anxiety, depression, and behavior problems. Mothers of the three groups of children (comparison, witness, abused/witness) across the age range from 4 to 12 years completed a behavior problem inventory; the youngsters responded to paper-and-pencil self-report measures. Results indicated that the abused/witness children were manifesting significantly more distress on the behavior problem measure than the comparison youngsters, with the witness children showing a moderate amount and the comparison children the least. However, these patterns were mediated by the age of the child. Implications of these differential findings are discussed.     

Perceived control and emotional status in abusive college student relationships: an exploration of gender differences

The authors assessed perceived control, dysphoria, hopelessness, self-esteem, and optimism in 280 college students involved in abusive and nonabusive relationships. Women reported higher levels of dysphoria and lower levels of self-esteem and optimism than men. Women in abusive relationships reported more psychological symptoms than men in abusive relationships. After controlling for gender differences in emotional status, participants in abusive relationships showed more psychological symptoms than those in nonabusive relationships. Women showed lower perceived control of relationship conflicts than men. Men experiencing high levels of abuse reported higher perceived control of relationship conflict than females experiencing low levels of abuse. Perceived control was affected more by gender than emotional status, abuse level, and gender-affected emotional status. The authors discuss the results in terms of their implications for future investigations of emotional reactions to abuse.     

Working women making it work: intimate partner violence, employment, and workplace support

Partner violence may have significant consequences on women's employment, yet limited information is available about how women cope on the job with perpetrators' tactics and the consequences of her coping methods on employment status. This article investigates whether there is an association between workplace disclosure of victimization and current employment status; and whether there is an association between receiving workplace support and current employment status among women who disclosed victimization circumstances to someone at work. Using a sample of partner victimized women who were employed within the past year (N = 485), cross-tabulation and ANOVA procedures were conducted to examine the differences between currently employed and unemployed women. Binary logistic regressions were conducted to examine whether disclosure and receiving workplace support were significantly associated with current employment. Results indicate that disclosure and workplace support are associated with employment. Implications for clinical practice, workplace policies, and future research are discussed.     

The effect of childhood trauma on later psychological adjustment

This study examined whether adult attachment and cognitive distortion mediate the relationship between childhood trauma and psychological adjustment. The participants were 219 students (40 men and 117 women) enrolled in a university degree. Participants completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, which assessed retrospective accounts of childhood trauma; the Relationships Scales Questionnaire, which measured two dimensions of adult attachment (model-of-self and model-of-other); the Cognitive Distortions Scale, which measured internal attributions and perceptions of controllability; and the Trauma Symptom Inventory, which assessed posttraumatic symptoms and was used in this study to measure psychological adjustment. Results supported the hypothesis that model-of-self and cognitive distortion are related constructs. The influence of model-of-self on psychological adjustment however was only via its effect on cognitive processes. In other words, a negative model-of-self influenced cognitive distortion, which in turn influenced the expression of symptoms in adults reporting a history of childhood trauma. The implications for therapy were considered.