Mons Bendixen

The Impact of Child Sexual Abuse--A Study of a Random Sample of Norwegian Students.

The long-term impact of child sexual abuse (CSA) has most typically been concentrated on the psychological outcomes. The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between CSA and self-reported complaints including both psychological and psychosomatic problems as well as absenteeism. A random sample of 510 female and 486 male students completed a questionnaire that included questions about CSA. The overall response rate was 75.3%. A symptom scale was constructed by asking the respondents to rate themselves on a three-category scale for 13 items concerning both psychological and somatic health problems. They were also asked to indicate how many days the problem had caused them to be absent from class or work during the year prior to the study. CSA was reported by 116 of the students (11.7%). CSA was associated with a broad range of health problems; including genital pain/infections and headache/abdominal/muscular pain as well as psychological disorders such as anxiety and suicidal ideations. A linear relationship was demonstrated between the severity of CSA and the symptom score, as well as between the severity of CSA and days absent from work. Postpubertal onset of abuse and close relationship with the offender were positively associated with the number of sick-leave days.

Variety and frequency scales of antisocial involvement: Which one is better?

Purpose. The aim of this study was to examine whether a scale including frequency scores of antisocial behaviour is a more sensitive and better measure of antisocial involvement than a variety scale. Methods. Data from a representative sample of 1,292 Norwegian students aged 13 and 14 years was used to compare a 17-item variety scale with two versions of a frequency scale covering the same 17 items. Internal consistency of the scales, stability coefficients (for 1-year and 2-year intervals), and associations with conceptually related variables (e.g. aggression, opposition, alcohol consumption) were examined. Results. Results indicated that using a scale including the (raw) frequencies of antisocial acts committed instead of a variety scale would result in reduced internal consistency, lower stability over time, smaller group differences and weaker associations with conceptually related variables. Similarly, in regression analyses the (raw) frequency scale contributed little to the explained variance in conceptually related variables over and beyond that contributed by the variety scale. Conclusions. Although the results for a log-transformed frequency scale were about as good as for the variety scale, both practical, methodological, and to some extent, conceptual considerations argued against replacing the variety scale with the transformed frequency scale. However, there may be some minor benefits from using an appropriately transformed frequency scale as a supplement to a variety scale, and there are also situations where inclusion of frequency scores in antisocial scales may be essential.

Joining and Leaving Gangs Selection and Facilitation Effects on Self-Reported Antisocial Behaviour in Early Adolescence

Gang membership is repeatedly reported to be one of the strongest predictors of antisocial behaviour. However, whether this association primarily reflects a selection effect or whether it primarily is related to a facilitation of antisocial behaviour within the gang has scarcely been an object of empirical study. This paper examines how antisocial behaviour and gang membership are associated among adolescents across time, using longitudinal data from a representative sample of Norwegian adolescents (N= 1203). Initial cross-group comparisons revealed that gang members were markedly more involved in general antisocial behaviour than non-gang members not only during periods of active gang membership but also during other periods, thereby supporting the theory that there is a selection effect. This effect was smaller for violence than for other forms of antisocial behaviour. Results from longitudinal analyses that compared behavioural changes among gang members and non-gang members during periods when the gang members joined and left a gang demonstrated that active gang affiliation strongly facilitated general antisocial behaviour as well as violent behaviour. Taken together, the results give strong support to the theory that both selection and facilitation processes contribute to the association between gang membership and antisocial involvement.

Exposure to teacher bullying in schools: A study of patients with personality disorders

Background: The aim of this study was to examine the level and affect of exposure to teacher bullying in primary and secondary schools on patients with personality disorders (PD). Method: The study group contained 116 people (18–60 years old); 49 patients diagnosed with PD undergoing psychiatric treatment in 10 different psychiatric outpatient clinics in the Southern and Middle part of Norway, and a control group consisting of 67 people who worked in an institution for somatic/elderly people and an institution for people with drug/alcohol dependency in the Middle part of Norway. All study participants filled out a self-report questionnaire, which included demographic data, one item about whether they have been bullied by one or several teachers, and 28 items regarding subjection to negative acts from teachers based on the Negative Acts Questionnaire -Revised (NAQ-R). Results: Patients diagnosed with PD reported significantly more bullying by teachers in both primary school (OR 7.3; 95% CI 1.9–27.7) and secondary school (OR 5.8; 95% CI 1.1–30.5) than healthy controls. Patients with PD also reported a higher prevalence of negative acts from teachers than healthy controls in both primary and secondary schools, such as differential treatment, ridicule, humiliation, and being ignored or neglected at least once weekly. Conclusion: Our findings indicate a correlation between bullying from teachers, as reported by PD patients, and the development of PD in adulthood. The problem of teacher bullying deserves more attention with regard to this possible correlation between student victimization and the development of PD.

Evidence of systematic bias in sexual over- and underperception of naturally occurring events: a direct replication of Haselton (2003) in a more gender-equal culture.

Error Management Theory (Haselton and Buss, 2000; Haselton and Nettle, 2006) maintains that natural selection has engineered adaptations for judgment under uncertainty to minimize the overall cost of making errors, leading to universal biases in judgments of sexual interest in men and women. This study, using a sample of heterosexual Norwegian students (n = 308), was carried out as a direct replication of Haseltons (2003) original study of naturally occurring events of sexual misperception. The results strongly supported the main hypotheses in the original study, showing that women reported being subject to opposite-sex sexual overperception far more often relative to underperception, and that this difference was small for men. In support of Error Management Theory, and in contrast to Social Role / Structure Theory expectations, the pattern of misperception for women and men was largely invariant across studies and across demographic groups within a culture. The findings suggest that cross-national differences in the level of gender inequality do not influence reports of sexual over- and underperception in women and men. Beyond sex, factors associated with more sexual overperception relative to underperception were being single, young, and having attitudes condoning casual sex.

Attitudes toward rape and attribution of responsibility to rape victims in a Norwegian community sample

There has been a steady increase in the number of rapes reported to the police in Norway during the past two decades. In this paper we examine factors associated with attitudes toward rape (as measured with 11 items from the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale) and attribution of responsibility to rape victims using a community sample of Norwegian women and men. Analyses of 475 returned questionnaires (32.6% response rate) suggest that mens attitudes toward rape were moderately less disapproving than womens, and that men attributed slightly more responsibility to rape victims than did women. Analysis showed that classical sexism was the strongest predictor of attitudes toward rape, followed by acceptance of intimate partner violence toward women and that rape attitudes were the prime predictor of attribution of responsibility to rape victims. Although Scandinavian countries are consistently ranked among the Worlds most gender egalitarian societies, the findings from our study do not differ from those from the North American culture with regard to the strengths of known group differences and attitudinal correlates to rape attitudes and attribution of responsibility. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Revisiting judgment of strategic self-promotion and competitor derogation tactics

Competition for mates is a primary social psychological conflict. One may acquire a mate by promoting oneself by highlighting features that the opposite sex has evolved to desire in mates. One may also attack competitors, in an attempt to reduce their perceived mate value. The effectiveness judgment of 24 separate self-promotion and competitor derogation tactics were studied in two samples of Norwegian undergraduates (n = 270 and n = 350) using a Sex of Actor by Mating Context (short-term and long-term) factorial design. Analyses of covariates (controlling for sociosexuality, sex of participant, and relationship status) replicate the original findings of Schmitt and Buss ((1996) Strategic self-promotion and competitor derogation: Sex and context effects on the perceived effectiveness of mate attraction tactics, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 1185–1204) in one of the world’s most gender-egalitarian culture. This suggests that sexual strategies theory predicts mate acquisition behavior cross-culturally.

Do victimization experiences accentuate reactions to ostracism? An experiment using cyberball

Based on the notion that the history of victimization has an impact on the sensitivity to current victimization situations this study investigated whether victims of bullying show more pronounced responses to single episodes of social exclusion. We examined whether victimization experiences in school are associated with responses to ostracism in a virtual ball tossing game (Cyberball). We compared two groups of students: 26 victims of bullying and 32 students not involved in bully/victim problems (mean age = 12.12). After playing Cyberball, the victimized students in the ostracism condition scored significantly lower on feelings of meaningful existence compared to the ostracized students not involved in bully/victim problems. These results strongly support the idea that previously victimized students are more affected by experiences of social exclusion than students who are not involved in bully/victim problems.

Sexual Regret: Tests of Competing Explanations of Sex Differences

The current study sought to answer three key questions about explaining the emotion of regret in the domain of casual sex: Are sex differences in sexual regret robust or attenuated in a highly egalitarian culture? What proximate psychological variables might explain sex differences in sexual regret? And what accounts for within-sex variation in experiences of sexual regret about casual sex. We conducted a study of 263 Norwegian students (ages 19–37) who reported how much they regretted having either engaged in, or passed up, their most recent casual sexual experience. Sex differences in sexual regret are not attenuated in this sexually egalitarian culture. The study revealed sex differences in worries about pregnancy, STIs, and reputation; however, these predictors did not succeed in accounting for the sex differences in regret engaging in casual sex. Sexual gratification and socio-sexual orientation both predicted the sex differences in casual sex regret. In contrast, only socio-sexual orientation attenuated the sex difference in regret passing up casual sex. Predictors of within-sex variation in casual sexual regret included worry about sexual reputation, experienced gratification during the encounter, and socio-sexual orientation. Discussion focuses on implications for the psychological design features of this relatively neglected emotion.

In search of moderators of sex differences in forced-choice jealousy responses: Effects of 2D:4D digit ratio and relationship infidelity experiences

In this study, we examined how jealousy responses in men and women were affected by 2D:4D digit ratio, a correlate of prenatal testosterone exposure, and actual infidelity experiences using the forced-choice paradigm. Extending the previous literature on responses to infidelity, we examined whether specific types of infidelity and whether active manipulation of memories of actual infidelity experiences affected jealousy responses. We were able to replicate the predicted sex differences in jealousy responses in a sample of heterosexual Norwegian students with committed relationship experiences (N = 480). Further, we found that 2D:4D ratio was negatively associated with sexual jealousy, but as predicted, this effect was fully accounted for by sex of respondent. Men reported more sexual jealousy than women regardless of experiencing actual infidelity and regardless of infidelity type. Actual infidelity experiences produced more pronounced sex-typical differences when memories of these were activated through question order manipulation. Suggestions for future studies on jealousy responses to infidelity experiences are made.