Lois J. Veronen

Criminal Victimization: Lifetime Prevalence, Reporting to Police, and Psychological Impact:

A sample of 391 adult females were interviewed about lifetime criminal victimization experiences, crime reporting, and psychological impact. In total, 75% of the sample (n = 295) had been victimized by crime, and 41.4% of all crimes were reported to the police. Reporting rates differed by crime type. Burglary had the highest reporting rate (82.4%); and sexual assault the lowest (7.1%). Of all crime victims, 27.8% subsequently developed posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Major implications are the following: Prevalence rates are extremely high and reporting rates are low. The prevalence of PTSD indicates that crime has both an immediate and long-term psychological impact. Suggestions for improved victim services are discussed.

Victim and crime factors associated with the development of crime-related post-traumatic stress disorder

This study examined the relationships between the development of Crime-Related Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CR-PTSD) and selected victim and crime characteristics. The sample consisted of 391 adult female residents of Charleston County, South Carolina, of whom 294 were crime victims assessed for CR-PTSD. Comparisons of CR-PTSD positive (n=82) and CR-PTSD negative (n=212) groups found significant differences on the variables of current age, years since most recent crime, experiencing a completed rape, perceiving a life threat during a crime, and sustaining physical injury during a crime. No differences existed on other assessed victim or crime variables. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis found that life threat, physical injury, and completed rape each made significant individual contributions to explaining CR-PTSD. Hierarchical discriminant function analysis correctly classified 80.6% of the respondents. Rape, life threat, and physical injury had a synergistic effect on CR-PTSD in that victims whose crime history included all three elements were 8.5 times more likely to have developed CR-PTSD than those with none of the three elements. Rape was associated with CR-PTSD after controlling for the effects of violence and dangerousness, suggesting that rape has other elements important to the development of CR-PTSD.

Child Sexual Assault as a Risk Factor for Mental Disorders Among Women: A Community Survey

A community sample of 391 adult women was screened for a history of sexual assault during childhood and assessed for lifetime and current mental disorders using a structured victimization history interview and the Diagnostic Interview Schedule. One third of the women had been victims of rape, molestation, or sexual assault not involving physical contact prior to the age of 18 years. Child rape victims were more likely than nonvictims to have ever met DSM-III diagnostic criteria for a major depressive episode, agoraphobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, social phobia, and sexual disorders. Molestation victims were overrepresented on major depressive episode, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and sexual disorders. Noncontact child sexual assault was not a significant risk factor for any disorder. Child rape and molestation victims were more likely than victims of noncontact assault to have had crime-related posttraumatic stress disorder. Mental disorder lifetime prevalence risk ratios for child rape and molestation victims versus nonvictims ranged from 1.5 for major depressive episode to 6.7 for obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The aftermath of rape: recent empirical findings

In a longitudinal study of the effects of rape on a womans subsequent psychological functioning, objective measures of mood state and psychological distress were obtained at four intervals from 46 recent rape victims and 35 nonvictims. Initial response to rape was characterized by intense generalized distress. Three months and six months later, this distress had diminished, leaving a residual of fear and anxiety problems that were clearly rape-related. Implications for treatment are discussed.

Current Psychological Functioning of Child Sexual Assault Survivors A Community Study

We interviewed a community sample of 391 women to obtain a thorough history of lifetime victimization experiences, including experiences such as childhood and adult sexual assault, aggravated assault, robbery, and burglary. In order to assess current psychological functioning, participants were administered the Derogatis Symptom Checklist-90 Revised, the Modified Fear Survey, and the Impact of Event scale. Results indicated that childhood sexual abuse victims could be distinguished from nonvictims by a pattern of elevated anxiety, heightened interpersonal sensitivity, increased anger problems, more paranoid ideation, and increased obsessive-compulsive symptoms. The age at which the sexual assault took place was found to be related to current adult functioning, with women assaulted in adolescence displaying more elevations in hostility, interpersonal sensitivity, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, anxiety, and paranoid ideation than nonvictims. Women sexually abused in early childhood displayed only elevated anxiety symptoms as adults, although they also revealed significantly more psychological symptoms on a global mental health measure than did nonvictims. In addition, revictimization was found to be strongly related to increased symptomatology.

Stress Management for Rape Victims

Our major objective in this chapter is to describe stress management procedures we have developed to be used with rape victims. We will discuss issues involved in the definition of rape, in the estimation of its incidence, and in the investigation of rape-related problems. We will briefly describe the Sexual Assault Research Project and review our findings and those of others regarding the aftermath of rape. Having substantiated our contention that rape is a stressful event that produces substantial, long-lasting problems for many of its victims, we will review other treatment procedures for rape-induced problems, describe our stress inoculation procedure, present assessment data on victims requesting treatment, discuss preliminary results regarding treatment efficacy, and provide information about the use of stress inoculation training with a victim. The chapter will conclude with some observations and speculations about general treatment issues.

Assessment of the aftermath of rape: Changing patterns of fear

In order to test a social learning theory model which states that fear and anxiety responses are classically conditioned by a terror-inducing rape experience, 46 recent rape victims and 35 nonvictims matched for age, race, and neighborhood of residence were assessed with the 120-item Modified Fear Survey at four postrape intervals: (1) 6–10 days, (2) 1 month, (3) 3 months, and (4) 6 months. Victims were significantly more fearful than nonvictims, and victim fears declined somewhat over time but remained at high levels at the 6-month postrape period. Content analysis of highly feared situations revealed that most fears were rape related in that they were rape cues, rape-precipitated concerns, and/or cues signaling vulnerability to subsequent attack. Patterns of fear appeared to change such that attack vulnerability cues were most feared.

Self-Reported Fears of Rape Victims A Preliminary Investigation

To test the hypothesis that rape victim fears are classically conditioned (i.e., present during or subsequent to the assault), 20 rape victims and 12 nonvictims completed a Modified Fear Survey which contained standard items from the Wolpe and Lang fear survey as well as items originating from victim reports of fearful situations. The survey was scored for rape fears and total fears. No difference was found between groups on mean rape fears or total fears. However, a significantly greater variance of rape fear scores was observed for victims. Subsequent analyses of items rated as extremely fear-provoking revealed differences between victims and nonvictims. Items and situations rated as most disturbing for rape victims support the hypothesis that victims are significantly disturbed by rape-related situations and associations. Content analysis of highly ranked items suggests that the violent, rather than sexual, aspects of the assaults are most fear-engendering.

Psychological Sequelae to Rape

The scientific study of the effects of rape is in its infancy, as is the development and evaluation of intervention strategies for rape-related problems. This state of affairs poses certain problems for the writer charged with the task of reviewing virtually nonexistent treatment research and venturing evaluative judgments on the relative merits of behavioral versus more traditional approaches. Therefore, this chapter will of necessity be speculative in nature.