Mandy M. Rabenhorst

Do trauma symptoms mediate the relationship between childhood physical abuse and adult child abuse risk

OBJECTIVE Although the intergenerational transmission of family violence has been well documented, the mechanisms responsible for this effect have not been fully determined. The present study examined whether trauma symptoms mediate the relationship between a childhood history of child physical abuse (CPA) and adult CPA risk, and whether any such mediation was similar for women and men. METHOD Female and male US Navy (USN) recruits (N=5,394) and college students (N=716) completed self-report measures of their history of child abuse (i.e., CPA and child sexual abuse [CSA]), exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV), current trauma symptoms, and adult CPA risk. RESULTS As expected, there was a strong association between a childhood history of CPA and adult CPA risk. This association was significant even after controlling for demographic variables and childhood exposure to other forms of violence (CSA and IPV), and the strength of the relationship did not vary depending on demographics or exposure to other forms of violence. However, the association between a history of CPA and adult risk of CPA was stronger for individuals high in defensive avoidance compared to those low in defensive avoidance. The association between a history of CPA and adult CPA risk was largely, although not entirely, mediated by psychological trauma symptoms. Mediation was observed for both women and men in both the USN and college samples. CONCLUSIONS Trauma symptoms associated with a history of CPA accounted for a substantial part of the relationship between a history of CPA and adult CPA risk in both women and men. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS To the extent that trauma symptoms are a mechanism by which the intergenerational transmission of child abuse occurs, intervening to reduce trauma symptoms in CPA victims has the potential of reducing their risk of continuing the cycle of violence.

Reactions to Trauma Research Among Women Recently Exposed to a Campus Shooting

Subjective and objective reactions to writing and reading a narrative of their experiences after having been recently exposed to a campus shooting were examined in 58 women. Posttraumatic stress, depression, anxiety symptoms, and physical exposure to the shooting were considered in relation to laboratory indices. The latter used a multimethod approach to index distress; these included subjective (self-report) and objective (heart rate, skin conductance, and cortisol) components. Consistent with prior research, reports of symptoms were significantly positively correlated with subjective distress (r ranged from .35 to .45), but only posttraumatic stress symptoms uniquely predicted subjective distress in regression analyses (partial r = .33). Objective distress, however, was not significantly related to any participant measure. Finally, a clear majority (85%) of participants reported they would participate in the study again. Points of convergence and divergence with prior studies are discussed.

Child Maltreatment Among U.S. Air Force Parents Deployed in Support of Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom

This study examined child maltreatment perpetration among 99,697 active-duty U.S. Air Force parents who completed a combat deployment. Using the deploying parent as the unit of analysis, we analyzed whether child maltreatment rates increased postdeployement relative to predeployment. These analyses extend previous research that used aggregate data and extend our previous work that used data from the same period but used the victim as the unit of analysis and included only deploying parents who engaged in child maltreatment. In this study, 2% (n = 1,746) of deploying parents perpetrated child maltreatment during the study period. Although no overall differences were found in child maltreatment rates postdeployment compared to predeployment, several maltreatment-related characteristics qualified this finding. Rates for emotional abuse and mild maltreatment were lower following deployment, whereas child maltreatment rates for severe maltreatment were higher following deployment. The finding that rates of severe child maltreatment, including incidents involving alcohol use, were higher postdeployment suggests a need for additional support services for parents following their return from combat deployment, with a focus on returning parents who have an alcohol use problem.

Substantiation of spouse and child maltreatment reports as a function of referral source and maltreatment type

Substantiation rates for alleged incidents of spouse (N = 33,787) and child (N = 31,986) maltreatment reported to the U.S. Air Force (AF) Family Advocacy Program between 2000 and 2007 were examined. For spouse maltreatment, physical abuse and multiple forms of maltreatment were most likely to be substantiated and neglect was least likely to be substantiated. For child maltreatment, emotional abuse was most likely to be substantiated and physical abuse was least likely to be substantiated. Substantiation rates were higher for referrals by military professionals than for referrals by civilian professionals or nonprofessionals; considerable variation in substantiation rates within each of these categories also was observed. Overall, AF substantiation rates were higher for spouse than for child maltreatment, and substantiation rates for child maltreatment were higher in the AF than in the general U.S. population. Substantiation rates have declined over time in both the AF and the United States.

Sexual assault survivors' reactions to a thought suppression paradigm.

Trauma survivors may experience harm from participating in research on sensitive topics. The current study assessed reactions of sexual assault survivors with and without symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) immediately following an experimental thought suppression task and at a 2- to 4-week follow-up period, by asking open-ended questions regarding thoughts about the experiment, feelings following the experiment, and willingness to participate in similar experiments. At both time periods, most participants reported neutral/positive thoughts (e.g., “interesting”) and feelings (e.g., “fine, good”) and indicated that they would participate in a similar study. Findings suggest that the majority of sexual assault survivors were not harmed in the short- or long-term by participation in a thought suppression paradigm in which the target of suppression/expression was their own trauma.

Suspected Child and Spouse Maltreatment Referral Sources: Who Reports Child and Spouse Maltreatment to the Air Force Family Advocacy Program?

The present study describes the sources of Air Force (AF) Family Advocacy Program referrals (N = 42,389) for child and spouse maltreatment between 2000 and 2004. Sources of referrals were stable over time, with military sources accounting for the majority of both child and spouse referrals. Most (85%) of spouse maltreatment referrals came from AF law enforcement, medical and psychological staff, command, and victim self-referrals. For child maltreatment, most referrals (71%) were from law enforcement, medical and psychological staff, command, social services, and friends or relatives. Differences in the sources of referrals across different types of maltreatment were greater for child than for spouse maltreatment. Comparison of the sources of child maltreatment referrals in the AF and U.S. samples revealed substantial similarity. However, self-referrals by the victim or offender were more common in the Air Force, whereas referrals by friends and relatives or by school or child care staff were more common in the U.S. sample.

Characteristics Associated With Incidents of Family Maltreatment Among United States Air Force Families

From 2002 until 2007, the United States Air Force (USAF) revised the process of determining whether incidents of suspected family maltreatment met the criteria for maltreatment. In this study, all reported child maltreatment and partner abuse incidents in the USAF from January 2008 to July 2011 were examined to determine the extent to which characteristics of victims, offenders, and incidents affected whether incidents were determined to have met criteria for maltreatment. For both child maltreatment and partner abuse, alleged incidents in which offenders used substances and more severe incidents were more likely to have met maltreatment criteria than alleged incidents that did not involve offender substance use and less severe incidents. However, characteristics of the persons involved (e.g., age, gender, military status) were generally unassociated with an incident meeting criteria. Consistent with the goals of the criteria revisions, these results suggest that the current USAF criteria are associated with incident characteristics and not with demographic characteristics of the persons involved in the incident.

Spouse abuse among United States Air Force personnel who deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom.

The authors examined spouse abuse perpetration among all married U.S. Air Force personnel who deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom. Using Poisson and conditional Poisson regression, they compared rates of spouse abuse perpetration predeployment and postdeployment in the population of married U.S. Air Force personnel who had a combat-related deployment between October 1, 2001 and October 31, 2008 (N = 156,296). Just over 2% (n = 3,524) of deployers perpetrated at least one substantiated incident of spouse physical or emotional abuse within the 308,197,653 days at risk for abuse during the study period. Male deployers perpetrated spouse abuse at approximately twice the rate of female deployers. Regarding changes in rates of spouse abuse perpetration postdeployment versus predeployment among all deployers, the authors found no differences overall; however, several deployer and incident-related characteristics moderated this effect. Rates of emotional abuse, mild abuse, and abuse not involving alcohol were significantly lower postdeployment, whereas rates of moderate/severe abuse and abuse involving alcohol were significantly higher postdeployment. Although the majority of U.S. Air Force deployers did not perpetrate any substantiated incidents of spouse abuse, there was variability in the impact of deployment on spouse abuse rates before versus after deployment. The finding that rates of moderate/severe spouse abuse incidents involving alcohol were higher postdeployment suggests a need for focused prevention/intervention efforts.

Gender and Military Contextual Risk Factors for Intimate Partner Aggression

This study explored individual and military risk factors for intimate partner aggression (IPA) perpetration among Navy personnel in their second year of service. We found some evidence that job stress was related to higher perpetration among men. Contrary to expectations, ship duty was related to lower perpetration rates, even though it involves more military operational stress and more frequent deployments than does shore duty. Premilitary alcohol problems were a stronger risk factor for men than for women, whereas premilitary patterns of aggressive behavior were a stronger risk factor for women. Recommendations for future research and public health interventions are discussed.

What difference does a day make? Examining temporal variations in partner maltreatment.

Routine activities (RA) theory posits that changes in peoples typical daily activities covary with increases or decreases in criminal behaviors, including, but not limited to, partner maltreatment. Using a large clinical database, we examined temporal variations among 24,460 incidents of confirmed partner maltreatment across an 11-year period within the U.S. Air Force (USAF). Specifically, we created regression models that predicted the number of partner maltreatment incidents per day. In addition to several control variables, we coded temporal variables for days of the week, month, year, and several significant days (e.g., holidays, Super Bowl Sunday), which allowed us to examine the independent influence of these variables on partner maltreatment prevalence. While accounting for the influence of all other study variables, we observed significant increases in partner maltreatment for weekend days, New Years Day, Independence Day, and Super Bowl Sunday. Similar results were found for partner maltreatment incidents involving offender alcohol/drug use. Furthermore, the proportion of incidents involving offender alcohol/drug use increased on New Years Day and Independence Day. Consistent with RA theory and data from civilian samples, the current results indicate that certain days are associated with increased incidents of partner maltreatment within the USAF. These findings should be used to inform future preventive efforts.