Victoria L. Banyard

The long-term mental health consequences of child sexual abuse: an exploratory study of the impact of multiple traumas in a sample of women.

The current study examined exposure to multiple traumas as mediators of the relationship between childhood sexual abuse and negative adult mental health outcomes. Participants were 174 women interviewed in the third wave of a longitudinal study of the consequences of child sexual abuse. Child sexual abuse victims reported a lifetime history of more exposure to various traumas and higher levels of mental health symptoms. Exposure to traumas in both childhood and adulthood other than child sexual abuse mediated the relationship between child sexual abuse and psychological distress in adulthood. There were also some significant direct effects for child sexual abuse on some outcome measures. Results point to the importance of understanding the interconnected nature of trauma exposure for some survivors.

Consequences of Teen Dating Violence Understanding Intervening Variables in Ecological Context

Increasing attention has been given to the problem of teen dating violence with more research needed on mediating and moderating factors in the relationship between victimization and negative consequences. This article explores mental health and educational consequences of physical and sexual abuse by peers in a convenience sample of adolescents. Dating violence was associated with higher levels of depression, suicidal thoughts, and poorer educational outcomes. The use of alcohol and depression complicated the relationship between victimization and outcomes. Sex differences in patterns of perceived social support as a moderator were also examined with more significant effects for girls.

Measurement and Correlates of Prosocial Bystander Behavior: The Case of Interpersonal Violence

The field of social psychology has long investigated the role of prosocial bystanders in assisting crime victims and helping in emergency situations. This research has usually been experimental and has established important principles about the conditions under which individuals will choose to engage in prosocial bystander behaviors. More recently, interest has grown in applying this work to the important practical problem of preventing interpersonal violence in communities. Yet, to date, there has been little research on the role of bystanders in cases of interpersonal violence. The current study is thus exploratory. Using a sample of 389 undergraduates, the study discusses key issues in the development of measures to investigate these questions and presents preliminary analyses of correlates of bystander behavior in the context of sexual and intimate partner violence.

The impact of childhood sexual abuse and family functioning on four dimensions of women's later parenting

OBJECTIVE While child sexual abuse and its negative effects have been of increasing interest to researchers and practitioners, more empirical focus has been given to measuring mental health consequences rather than other areas of life functioning such as parenting. Furthermore, recent questions have been raised about whether documented negative effects of abuse stem from the abuse itself or the more general negative family environment which often accompanies it. The aim of the current study was to examine the impact of a history of child sexual abuse and more general family relationship quality on the parenting of a sample of low-income mothers. METHOD The current study was a secondary analysis of archived data collected by Zuravin (1996) on 518 low-income mothers. Parenting was assessed using measures such as frequency of worry about child problems, views of self as a parent, and how child discipline problems were handled. RESULTS Child sexual abuse was associated with more negative views of self as a parent and the greater use of physical punishment strategies even after accounting for differences in family-of-origin relationship quality. CONCLUSIONS The findings indicate that sexual abuse may be a risk factor for more negative views of self as a parent beyond differences between abused and nonabused samples in more general assessments of family-of-origin quality. Implications for future research and intervention are discussed.

Community-Based Intervention for Children Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence: An Efficacy Trial.

A community-based intervention program was tested with 181 children ages 6-12 and their mothers exposed to intimate partner violence during the past year. A sequential assignment procedure allocated participants to 3 conditions: child-only intervention, child-plus-mother intervention (CM), and a wait-list comparison. A 2-level hierarchical linear model consisting of repeated observations within individuals and individuals assigned to conditions was used to evaluate the effects of time from baseline to postintervention comparing the 3 conditions and from postintervention to 8-month follow-up for both intervention conditions. Outcomes were individual childrens externalizing and internalizing behavior problems and attitudes about violence. Of the 3 conditions, CM children showed the greatest improvement over time in externalizing problems and attitudes about violence. There were 79% fewer children with clinical range externalizing scores and 77% fewer children with clinical range internalizing scores from baseline to follow-up for CM children.

When can I help? A conceptual framework for the prevention of sexual violence through bystander intervention.

The bystander intervention approach is gaining popularity as a means for engaging communities in sexual assault prevention, especially on college campuses. Many bystander programs are teaching community members how to intervene without first assisting them to identify the full range of opportunities when they can intervene. In this article, the authors review the literature on sexual violence bystander intervention and present a conceptual framework that lays out a continuum of bystander opportunities ranging from reactive situations after an assault has occurred, to situations before an assault has occurred (posing high to low risk to victims), as well as proactive situations where no risk to the victim is present. The implications of this typology are discussed in the context of program development, evaluation, and further research.

Childhood sexual abuse: a gender perspective on context and consequences.

Literature on gender and child sexual abuse (CSA) has highlighted patterns of similarity and difference among survivors and the need for further research. This study relied on gender analysis of 128 women and 69 men, obtained through an examination of childhood hospital records, to further examine gender differences in mental health outcomes among abuse survivors and correlates of mental health outcomes including professional help seeking, family environment, and other trauma exposure. Overall, men and women were similar in the context and consequences of CSA. The role of the characteristics of CSA and contextual variables in explaining variance in mental health for 106 male victims and nonvictims was also examined. Among male participants, number of incidents of sexual abuse, injury at the hands of a caregiver, and exposure to other traumas significantly explained higher levels of an array of mental health symptoms. Implications for future research are discussed.

Childhood Sexual Abuse and Dating Experiences of Undergraduate Women

Child sexual abuse is a prevalent social problem with a variety of negative consequences for adult survivors. Whereas most studies have focused on intrapersonal effects including depressive symptomatology and post-traumatic stress disorder, recent work has begun to call attention to interpersonal results as well. The current study examined the relationship between the experience of childhood sexual abuse and being a victim of psychological aggression, physical violence, or sexual coercion in a dating relationship in the past year. Participants were 219 female college undergraduates. Child sexual abuse was significantly related to having experienced both physical and psychological dating aggression even after controlling for the presence of conflict in the family of origin. Child sexual abuse was not significantly related to sexual coercion or reports of silencing oneself in relationships.

Reducing Sexual Violence on Campus: The Role of Student Leaders as Empowered Bystanders

Sexual violence is a widespread problem for college communities. Students, faculty, and staff are increasingly involved in prevention efforts. To date, however, evaluation of sexual violence prevention programs has shown mixed results. One promising new practice teaches segments of college communities to be engaged, positive bystanders. It aims to both raise awareness about the problem of sexual violence and build skills that individuals can use to end it. The framework is grounded in research about the causes of sexual assault on campuses and factors identified by health behavior theories for changing attitudes and behavior. Evaluation of data using a bystander model is just beginning to appear. The current study presents a brief evaluation of one bystander program conducted with two groups of student leaders on one midsize public university campus in the Northeast. Results show the program to be effective, even among a group of student leaders who have a higher level of general awareness of campus community problems and training in working with students. Implications for programming and future research are discussed.

Interpersonal Violence in Adolescence Ecological Correlates of Self-Reported Perpetration

Although growing attention is being paid to the problem of teen dating violence, to date less is known about perpetrators of victimization. The current article used a subset of 980 adolescents aged 11 to 19 who were surveyed as part of a statewide community service coordinated through Cooperative Extension to survey all youth in target communities about risky health behaviors. The current article examined correlates of perpetration of either physical dating violence or sexual abuse across all levels of the ecological model (individual, family, and community factors). At the bivariate level, individual factors including substance use and low social responsibility, family factors including divorce, low parental monitoring, and low social support, and community variables such as low school attachment and neighborhood monitoring were associated with self-reported perpetration. At the multivariate level, gender and history of victimization were most significant in explaining variance in perpetration.