Journal of Interpersonal Violence

Domestic violence persists as a significant social challenge affecting a considerable number of women globally. Some scholars have ascribed the inclination toward domestic violence to a "cycle of violence" spanning generations, while others have pointed out structural inequalities. Feminist researchers contend that a comprehensive understanding necessitates exploration within the social and institutional realms of gender inequality. While each of these perspectives contributes significantly to comprehending domestic violence, individually, they might not unveil the complete causal narrative...

The Internet offers an alternative context in which personal experiences with sexual violence can be shared. It has been suggested that victims experience lower barriers to disclosing their stories in a digital environment due to an online disinhibition effect and mainly anonymity. However, little is known about the lived experiences of victims who have shared their experiences online regarding these disinhibiting affordances of the Internet. Twenty-three interviews with victims were conducted to understand the digital affordances involved in the online disclosure of sexual victimization...

In the current study, we surveyed forensic interviewers ( N  = 137) on their note-taking practices, perceptions of note-taking, and note-taking training. Many forensic interviewers surveyed (81%) reported that they take notes during forensic interviews. Of those, the most common reason for note-taking was to assist with remembering what the interviewee reported during the interview (89%) and to guide the formulation of follow-up questions (87%). Note-taking style was also reported upon, with most respondents indicating that they write down keywords that may be used again in the interview (78%), as well as short utterances or sentences related to the presenting narrative (61%)...

The stigma associated with sexual victimization (SV) can add to the psychological burden on survivors. We compared experiences of SV and SV stigma by survivor gender and sexuality and evaluated the relevance of public and internalized sources of this stigma to their psychological functioning. An online survey containing measures of SV type (sexual harassment and assault), public SV stigma, internalized SV stigma (self-blame, self-shame, anticipated-shame), and psychological functioning (depression, anxiety, stress, and post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD] symptomatology) was completed by 877 women and 211 men aged 18 to 66 years ( M  = 30...

The study of firearm violence in Mexico has primarily focused on homicides and trafficking. Less attention has been given to understanding how firearms affect other crimes and facilitate criminal activity beyond drug markets. By analyzing two questions, this study explores the role of firearms in extortions perpetrated in Mexico from 2012 to 2021. Questions are: What is the likelihood of reporting extortions to the police if offenders exhibited firearms? What is the likelihood of compliance with demands when offenders are armed with firearms? We obtained data from Mexico's National Crime Victimization Surveys and analyzed 2,619 extortions reported from 2012 to 2021...

Economic factors, such as economic reliance on male partners, and economic stressors such as household income or employment loss, play an important role in the risk of intimate partner violence (IPV) within romantic partnerships. To investigate these relationships, we used survey data from IPUMS Performance Monitoring for Action that were collected in 2020 and 2021. We assessed the relationship between several economic factors-(1) women's economic reliance on their partners, (2) household income loss, and (3) respondent's employment status over the past year-and experience of IPV in the past year in Burkina Faso ( N  = 2,646) and Kenya ( N  = 3,416)...

Although socioeconomic inequality has been identified as a significant factor for violence against women, the connection between these two variables has not been widely recognized and addressed in many countries. This study aims to quantify the degree of socioeconomic inequalities in intimate partner violence (IPV) in Vietnam and investigate the contribution of each determinant factor that contributes to the observed inequality. We utilized the Vietnamese National Survey on Domestic Violence against Women ( N = 4,019) for the analysis...

Black pregnant and postpartum individuals are at risk for intimate partner violence (IPV), and those with a history of childhood maltreatment and IPV are even more likely to be re-victimized during pregnancy. However, it is unknown if specific types of child maltreatment predict later IPV with and without a weapon better than others. The current study sought to (i) document the prevalence of childhood maltreatment and IPV and (ii) examine the relations among types of childhood maltreatment and later IPV with and without a weapon within a sample of Black individuals seeking prenatal care at a large public hospital in the southeastern United States...

Despite its prevalence, intimate partner sexual violence (IPSV) remains a concealed and poorly understood form of violence against women. Although it is associated with numerous detrimental effects on mental health, very little is known about the subjective meaning of IPSV for survivors. This study addresses this gap by exploring IPSV from the perspective of female survivors within the context of their relationship with a male partner, using interpretative phenomenological analysis. This study seeks to provide a detailed examination of the personal experience of IPSV and to illuminate its meaning from a personal standpoint...

Violence against women (VAW) is a significant public health and human rights issue, with an estimated 736 million women globally experiencing VAW. Consistent evidence demonstrates that substance use is associated with VAW and that participation in substance use treatment programs is associated with reduction in substance use-related violence. While evidence demonstrates the ability to address VAW through substance use treatment programs, less attention has been paid to geographic access to substance use programs...

Sexual assault (SA) victimization is a prevalent issue both in the U.S. and globally. Although SA victimization is usually perpetrated by a single-perpetrator, multiple-perpetrator sexual assaults (MPSAs) also occur. Unfortunately, there is less literature concerning MPSAs, including the well-being of survivors' post-assault. One factor that has been shown to be important in the well-being of SA survivors' post-assault are the social reactions survivors receive from others following disclosure. The current study sought to compare social reactions received by MPSA survivors to the social reactions received by single-perpetrator sexual assault (SPSA) survivors in a community sample of adult female SA survivors ( N  = 1,863)...

Victimization of college students is widespread, and it is not uncommon for students to disclose these experiences to faculty. Given that how faculty respond to disclosures may have implications for students' psychosocial and academic outcomes, it is key to know more about disclosures to help faculty prepare a supportive response. This study used data from an online survey of members of two U.S.-based professional scholarly associations for criminal justice and criminology ( N  = 637) to look at the nature of student disclosure of victimization and which faculty are more likely to receive such disclosures...

COVID-19 pandemic caused several lockdowns in most countries, enclosing together perpetrators and victims of intimate partner violence (IPV). Our study investigates psychological mechanisms associated with IPV. We supposed that stress provoked by the pandemic, as well as adhering to authoritarian beliefs will be a predictor of IPV. Using an online questionnaire, 1,659 individuals indicated whether they had been victim or witnessed IPV at home and filled a perceived stress scale, anxiety, depression, and aggressiveness scales...

While population-based research confirms that women with disabilities abused by their intimate partners experience significant mental health issues, few studies compare this in intimate partner violence (IPV)-specific samples of women with or without disabilities and none analyze possible impacts based on disability type. This secondary mixed methods analysis examined 660 Canadian women (50.6% Indigenous, 43.1% White, and 6.1% visible minority) with respect to whether they reported having a disability that impacted their employability or daily living (291 or 44% yes; 369 or 56% said no)...

Persons experiencing homelessness represent one of the principal manifestations of the phenomenon of social exclusion, with homeless women constituting a group in a particularly vulnerable situation. The article analyzed the experience of violence in childhood and adolescence, and its implications in terms of violence experienced as an adult, in a sample of women experiencing homelessness in Madrid (Spain) ( n  = 138). All participants were of legal age and had spent the night before the interview in a shelter or other facility for the homeless, on the street, in public spaces or in places not suitable for sleeping...

Although prior research has established a relationship between neighborhood structure and intimate partner violence (IPV), much of this literature focuses on serious IPV, despite the fact that less serious forms of IPV comprise the majority of IPV instances. Further, women are far more likely to experience all types of IPV victimization relative to men, especially simple assault, yet the relative importance of neighborhood structure across gradations of IPV and victim sex is relatively unexplored. We use data from Los Angeles, CA, and disaggregate IPV assaults across victim sex to examine whether neighborhood factors have differential effects on simple and aggravated IPV...

Following a traumatic event such as intimate partner violence (IPV), survivors often experience stress related to the violence. These high levels of stress related to IPV can be associated with the daily activities of survivors and their relationships with their children, such as maternal-child bonding. The purpose of the current study is to explore the relationship between daily activities, daily stress levels, parenting self-efficacy and behaviors, and maternal-child bonding among survivors living in an IPV shelter using an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) methodology...

"Filial harm" refers to harms experienced by a parent and caused by their child, with increasing umbrella terminology developing to capture all forms of harm despite differing experiences and contexts. In this paper, based on a Glaserian Grounded Theory study underpinned by participatory research principles, this work utilized diaries and interactive interviews with 34 parents and arts-based workshops with 21 children to develop a new terminology and approach to child and adolescent-to-parent violence and abuse when harm does not have a clear intent...

Sexual harassment inflicted by adolescents on their peers is a major public health issue, but its prevalence across childhood is not known. We provide the first nationally representative data on the prevalence of peer sexual harassment across childhood, using cross-sectional data from the Australian Child Maltreatment Study (ACMS). The ACMS surveyed 8,503 people aged 16 and over about their experiences of child maltreatment and associated health outcomes. The prevalence of peer sexual harassment was assessed using the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire (JVQ)-R2 Adapted Version (ACMS), with survey data weighted to reflect characteristics of the Australian population...

Research has shown that experiencing a sexual assault results in significant and lasting effects in many psychosocial domains. However, most studies on the impact of sexual assault examine university samples or the immediate aftermath of the assault, not taking into account the longer-term complexities and contexts of life for many victims. The current study seeks to evaluate the role of lifetime sexual assault history on several psychosocial outcomes in adults who are in intimate relationships that have included both intimate partner violence (IPV) and alcohol use disorder...