Tricia H. Witte

Risk Recognition and Intimate Partner Violence

The objective of this study was to determine whether female victims of physical forms of intimate partner violence (IPV) displayed deficits in risk recognition, or the ability to detect danger, in physically violent dating encounters. A total of 182 women watched a video depicting a psychologically and physically aggressive encounter between heterosexual dating partners and made repeated judgments about the interaction. Results from this study provided evidence for the validation of this methodology and found that history of physical forms of IPV was associated with risk recognition ability, such that victims of IPV were less likely to recognize the danger involved in the video vignette compared to nonvictims. Results showed important implications for IPV prevention programs.

Narcissism and Anger: An Exploration of Underlying Correlates:

Many have posited that narcissistic individuals are sensitive to insults and prone to react to such criticism with anger and hostility. Given that such anger is provoked by criticism from others, it was hypothesized that narcissistic traits which relate to perceived position of authority or superiority and an inflated sense of entitlement would make it easier for someone to perceive a remark as threatening and feel angry. It was hypothesized that these aspects of narcissism, as measured by the subscales of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory by Raskin and Hall would correlate differentially with anger, as measured by the Novaco Anger Scale in a sample of undergraduate men. Results partially confirmed the hypothesis and indicated that scores on Entitlement and Authority were positively associated with anger scores; however, superiority was not. The results imply that specific narcissistic traits such as a perceived position of authority and an inflated sense of entitlement, but not necessarily the global diagnosis of Narcissistic Personality Disorder, might be important to investigate as correlates of anger.

Silencing the self and feminist identity development

The present study investigated the relation between Jacks 1991 concept of “silencing the self” and Downing and Roushs 1985 stage model of feminist identity development among college women. Analysis indicated that passively accepting womens oppression and adhering to traditional gender roles in interpersonal relationships (Passive Acceptance) was related to silencing the self. These results have important implications for silencing the self and womens development. Specifically, these findings may encourage many young women to acknowledge womens oppression and question the traditional gender roles that promote submission and thereby decrease the potential risk for self-silencing.

Social Norms for Intimate Partner Violence in Situations Involving Victim Infidelity

The present study investigated perceived descriptive norms (i.e., perceived prevalence) for male-to-female intimate partner violence (IPV) following victim infidelity (i.e., girlfriend had sex with another man). While watching a video-taped vignette of a young, dating couple in an argument that escalated to male-to-female violence, male participants were asked various questions to assess perceived descriptive norms at several time points during the escalating argument. Half of the participants were told that the victim in the video was unfaithful. Results suggested that while participants did believe that it was much more common for their male friends and for typical male students to aggress against unfaithful girlfriends compared to faithful girlfriends, these differences were less pronounced as the aggression intensified. When testing whether perceived norms for IPV were related to participants’ purported risk of engaging in IPV, a clear pattern appeared: For the no-infidelity condition, IPV perceived norms for male friends and perceived norms for typical male students were each significantly related to participants’ likelihood of engaging in IPV, such that the higher the estimated norm, the higher the participants’ risk. However, for the infidelity condition, only perceived norms for male friends were related to the risk of engaging in IPV. Findings have important implications for social norms–based intervention and prevention programs for IPV on college campuses.

Advance directives among elderly veterans

The goal of this study was to identify various sociodemographic and clinical variables related to the completion of advance directives among 281 elderly male veterans recruited from the acute medical inpatient unit of a Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Results found the rates of advance directives to be higher among elderly male veterans compared to other populations (44% had either a durable power of attorney or a living will, 34.2% had a living will, and 35.2% had a durable power of attorney). In addition, individuals who completed an advance directive were significantly more likely to be Caucasian than non-Caucasian. Other than race, there were other important factors including religiosity, desire for life-saving treatment, social support, and depressive symptoms that were related to the completion of advance directives among elderly veterans. Such factors seem consistent with the research literature on nonveteran populations.

Social norms for sexual violence perpetration in college

Purpose Sexual violence (SV) is a pervasive public health issue on college campuses. While much research has been conducted to determine factors contributing to SV, little work focuses on the role of perceived social norms. The purpose of this paper is to examine college students’ perceived descriptive norms for SV perpetration (i.e. prevalence estimates for SV). Design/methodology/approach Using a cross-sectional survey, male and female college students from a large public institution in the Southeastern USA were instructed to estimate the prevalence of SV for “typical students” of their same gender on campus. Findings When compared to actual prevalence rates of SV perpetrated by females and males, both perpetrators and non-perpetrators overestimated the prevalence of SV among same-sex peers, but perpetrators made even higher estimates compared to those made by non-perpetrators for some sexually aggressive acts. Results demonstrate strong and consistent normative misperceptions surrounding SV perpetration. Research limitations/implications Findings lend support for testing social norms-based prevention programs for SV on college campuses. Originality/value This study is one of the first investigations into perceived social norms surrounding SV; perceived social norms may be an influential factor contributing to SV.

Perceived social norms for intimate partner violence in proximal and distal groups

This study investigated students’ perceived descriptive social norms for intimate partner violence (IPV) among proximal and distal groups at college. Male and female college students estimated the prevalence rates for IPV among same-sex friends (proximal group) and same-sex “typical students” (distal group). In separate regression equations for men and women, perceived estimates of IPV rates for same-sex friends, but not estimates for same-sex typical students, were positively related with the participants’ own IPV behaviors. Findings have important implications for IPV prevention and intervention programs for college students.

Depression and Intimate Partner Violence Among African American Women Living in Impoverished Inner-City Neighborhoods:

Mental health correlates of intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization including negative physical and mental health outcomes are well documented. However, certain subgroups of African American women, such as those living in impoverished, urban communities, are underrepresented in most studies and may experience IPV at higher rates. Furthermore, the circumstances of this women including poverty makes them at risk to IPV and its consequences. The present study estimated the prevalence of IPV victimization and its association with depression in a sample of low-income African American women participating in the Mobile Youth and Poverty Study. Participants in this study were caregivers of adolescents living in extremely impoverished conditions and were part of the Mobile Youth Survey, a community-based, longitudinal, multiple cohort survey conducted between the years 1998 and 2011. Data for the current study were collected between the years 2001 and 2010. The dependent variable was depressive symptoms as measured by the Center for Epidemiological Studies–Depression Scale (CES-D). The independent variable was IPV measured using a subsample of items from the Conflict Tactics Scale. Nearly three quarters (73.6%, n = 489) of the sample experienced some form of IPV and 49.1% (n = 326) had a CES-D depression score of 16 or greater indicating mild to severe depression symptoms. The highest proportion of women who met the CES-D criteria for depression were those experiencing the most severe IPV irrespective of category (i.e., physical, psychological, or combined). Logistic regression analyses showed that women reporting the most severe abuse, irrespective of category, were significantly more likely to meet the CES-D criteria for depression. In addition, low education and receipt of economic assistance were significantly associated with depressive symptoms. The combination of poor economic conditions and IPV may predispose African American women living in impoverished, urban communities to mental health outcomes such as depression.