The Relationship Between Sexual Assault, Intimate Partner Violence, and Eating Disorder Symptomatology Among College Students

This study examined the interrelationship of intimate partner violence (IPV), sexual assault (SA), and eating disorder (ED) symptomatology among a sample of college students (n = 1,580). Students reporting a history of SA were 2.5 times more likely to screen positively for further ED assessment. A history of IPV also increased odds of having a positive ED screener. The model showed that 6% of the variance in ED symptomatology was explained by IPV and SA. Results did not differ based on gender. This study furthers our understanding of the relationship between IPV, SA, and ED to guide future prevention and treatment efforts. Specifically, the use of trauma-informed ED treatment could assist with full ED recovery and other comorbid mental health conditions.

Italian Validation of the Scale of Psychological Abuse in Intimate Partner Violence (EAPA-P)

Psychological and emotional forms of violence often represent a danger alarm and an important risk factor for other forms of intimate partner violence (IPV). Measuring psychological violence raises several issues of conceptualization and definition, which lead to the development of several assessment instruments; among them, the Scale of Psychological Abuse in Intimate Partner Violence (EAPA-P) showed good psychometric proprieties in a Spanish population and is used to identify which strategies are acted out to engage in psychological violence. The aim of the present study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Italian version of EAPA-P among a group of Italian-speaking women (N = 343), thus evaluating its psychometric characteristics. Based on the English translation of the original Spanish version, an 11-item form of the EAPA-P was obtained, validity has been assessed through measures of emotion dysregulation, interpersonal guilt, conflict among partners and depression, anxiety, and stress symptomatology. Moreover, differences among groups were conducted to identify the capacity of the Italian version of EAPA-P to discriminate among women reporting experiencing psychological violence (N = 179), and who don't (N = 150). Results showed an excellent internal validity, good correlations, and a good discriminatory ability of the scale. Strengths, limitations, and practical implications of the study have been discussed according to recent literature.

Intimate partner violence and muscularity-building behavior in latino sexual minority men

Intimate partner violence (IPV) has been associated with increased prevalence of eating disorders. In men, disordered eating is often related to the muscularized ideal. Sexual minority men (SMM; e.g., gay, bisexual, etc.) are at higher risk for eating disorders and Latino SMM may be at particularly high risk; however, IPV and eating pathology has yet to be examined in this population. Therefore, the aim of this study is to elucidate the association between IPV and muscularity-related dissatisfaction and muscularity-oriented behavior in Latino SMM. Participants were 81 Latino SMM. Thirty participants (37% of the sample) met the cutoff score for experiencing IPV in the past month. In bivariate analyses, IPV was associated with muscularity-oriented behavior, but not muscularity-related dissatisfaction. In multivariable analyses, IPV was negatively associated with muscularity-related dissatisfaction with a small effect size and positively associated with muscularity-oriented behavior with a large effect size. It may be that SMM engage in muscle building behavior to increase self-esteem, regulate affect, or better physically protect themselves from their abusive partner. Future research should investigate motivation for muscle building behavior in individuals experiencing IPV.

Prevalence of Depression and Generalized Anxiety Disorder Among Mexican Indigenous Adolescents and Young Adults: Challenges for Healthcare

Providing evidence on mental disorders in indigenous adolescents is critical to achieving universal health coverage (UHC). The prevalence of symptoms of depression and generalized anxiety disorder symptoms were estimated for 2082 adolescents aged 14-20 years in Chiapas, Mexico. Mental disorders were assessed using the 9-item Patient-Health Questionnaire and the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale. Among the adolescents evaluated, 35.8% suffered from depression or generalized anxiety disorder. Of those, 6.1% reported a previous diagnosis. 32.1% of adolescents with both mental disorders reported having attempted suicide. Gender, substance use, adverse living experiences and living conditions were correlated to the presence of depression and/or generalized anxiety disorder. It is mandatory for Mexican health authorities to develop effective instruments aiming to screen and diagnose mental health conditions in adolescents, as well as to provide timely treatment in primary health-care units.

Sexual violence victimisation among university students in Italy: a gendered intersectional quantitative approach

There is rising attention in Italy and Europe to the occurrence, consequences, and factors related to sexual violence. The focus on women as the primary victims of sexual violence has, however, left data collection and research on young men and sexual minorities in the background. Moreover, young people’s experiences of sexual abuse in the context of their relationships with peers are hardly recognised as a policy concern. The ultimate aim of this paper is to disentangle intersectionalities between gender, migration background, sexual orientation, and sexual experience in shaping the risk of experiencing sexual violence among university students in Italy.

We use data from the Sexual and Emotional LiFe of Youths (SELFY) survey carried out in Italy in 2017. Our data confirm that women and foreign-born students are at higher risk of sexual violence. Our data also support previous evidence that bisexual women are at a higher risk of sexual violence victimisation compared with peer students with other sexual orientations. Previous same-sex sexual experience is more relevant than sexual orientation in shaping the risk. The effect is gendered: the risk of sexual violence is lower for women with previous same-sex sexual experience compared with their male peers. The intersection between gender, sexual orientation, and same-sex sexual experience generate specific high-risk profiles whose needs should be targeted by support services.

Evaluation of sexual minority identity as a moderator of the association between intimate partner violence and suicidal ideation and attempts among a national sample of youth

Sexual minority (SM) youth are at high risk for intimate partner violence (IPV) and suicidal ideation/attempts compared to their heterosexual peers. We examined whether SM identity enhanced the relationship between experiences of IPV and suicidal ideation/attempts. Weighted logistic regression models were run using the 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. All main effects were significant; each SM identity and both physical and sexual IPV were significantly associated with suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. The interaction between bisexual identity and physical IPV was significant for suicidal ideation; as physical IPV experiences increased, the difference between bisexual identity and heterosexual youth was non-significant. Findings suggest exploring trauma and suicidal ideation by aggregate groups and increasing support for SM youth in schools and communities.

Variáveis pessoais e contextuais preditoras de perpetração de violência no namoro na adolescência

Estudos prévios indicam que ser vítima de maus-tratos na infância e testemunhar a violência conjugal dos pais são preditores da violência no namoro na adolescência. A influência do grupo de pares, o uso de álcool e ser do sexo feminino igualmente aumentam o risco para a violência no namoro, embora ainda sejam variáveis pouco investigadas. Dessa forma, este estudo transversal descritivo investigou variáveis pessoais e contextuais associadas à perpetração de violência no namoro em 403 adolescentes, de 14 a 19 anos, de escolas públicas e privadas da Região Metropolitana de Porto Alegre, Brasil. Uma análise de regressão logística multivariada indicou que ter sofrido maus-tratos psicológicos na infância aumenta em 5,37 (IC 95 % = 2,30-12,57) a probabilidade de um adolescente ser perpetrador de violência verbal ou emocional no namoro. Demais variáveis preditoras (testemunhar violência parental, influência do grupo de pares, uso de álcool e ser do sexo feminino) não se mostraram significativas. Este estudo reúne evidências de aspectos intergeracionais da violência no namoro e indica a necessidade de programas de prevenção com adolescentes.

Patterns of Perpetration and Perceptions of Teen Dating Violence

Abstract This study investigated patterns of perpetration and perceptions of teen dating violence (TDV) in a sample of 428 adolescents characterized as perpetrators (62.4% female, M=16.73 years of age, SD=1.20) from the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre, state of Rio Grande do Sul (RS), Brazil. There was also a comparison group of 132 non-perpetrators (51.5% female, M=16.54 years of age, SD=1.19). The research instruments were a sociodemographic questionnaire, 15 items about the perception of TDV and the Conflict in Adolescent Dating Relationships Inventory (CADRI). We found a rate of 76.43% for the perpetration of some type of TDV and the most frequent was verbal/emotional violence (91.1%). The data showed that adolescents (perpetrators and non-perpetrators) have difficulty recognizing abusive behaviors, legitimizing the use of violence in their romantic relationships. Considering dating violence is a predictor of adult marital violence, the need to raise awareness of the phenomenon and the possibility of preventing TDV is discussed in this study.

Intersections between polyvictimisation and mental health among adolescents in five urban disadvantaged settings: the role of gender

BACKGROUND

Polyvictimisation (PV) - exposure to violence across multiple contexts - causes considerable morbidity and mortality among adolescents. Despite high levels of violence in urban disadvantaged settings, gender differences in associations between PV and mental health have not been well established.

METHODS

We analysed data from a survey with 2393 adolescents aged 15-19 years, recruited using respondent-driven sampling from urban disadvantaged settings in Baltimore (USA), Delhi (India), Ibadan (Nigeria), Johannesburg (South Africa) and Shanghai (China). PV was defined as exposure to two or more types of violence in the past 12 months with family, peers, in the community, or from intimate partners and non-partner sexual violence. Weighted logistic regression models are presented by gender to evaluate whether PV is associated with posttraumatic stress, depression, suicidal thoughts and perceived health status.

RESULTS

PV was extremely common overall, but ranged widely, from 74.5% of boys and 82.0% of girls in Johannesburg, to 25.8 and 23.9% respectively in Shanghai. Community violence was the predominant violence type, affecting 72.8-93.7% across the sites. More than half of girls (53.7%) and 45.9% of boys had at least one adverse mental health outcome. Compared to those that did not report violence, boys exposed to PV had 11.4 higher odds of having a negative perception of health (95%CI adjusted OR = 2.45-53.2), whilst this figure was 2.58 times in girls (95%CI = 1.62-4.12). Among girls, PV was associated with suicidal thoughts (adjusted OR = 4.68; 95%CI = 2.29-9.54), posttraumatic stress (aOR = 4.53; 95%CI = 2.44-8.41) and depression (aOR = 2.65; 95%CI = 1.25-5.63). Among boys, an association was only detected between PV and depression (aOR = 1.82; 95%CI = 1.00-3.33).

CONCLUSION

The findings demonstrate that PV is common among both sexes in urban disadvantaged settings across the world, and that it is associated with poor mental health outcomes in girls, and with poor health status in both girls and boys. Clearly, prevention interventions are failing to address violence exposure across multiple contexts, but especially within community settings and in Johannesburg. Interventions are needed to identify adolescents exposed to PV and link them to care, with services targeting a range of mental health conditions among girls and perhaps focusing on depression among boys.

Gender, psychopathy factors, and intimate partner violence

The present study sheds light on relationships between distinct psychopathic traits and perpetration of intimate partner violence (IPV) in women versus men. Men and women with recent drug and/or violence histories (N = 250) were assessed for psychopathic traits using the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version and for their and their partner's use of IPV with the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale. The first goal was to examine the moderating role of gender in psychopathy factor relationships to IPV. Although both the interpersonal-affective traits (Factor1) and the impulsive-antisocial traits (Factor 2) of psychopathy were related to higher frequency of IPV perpetration, the relationship between Factor 1 and IPV was stronger in men. Our second goal examined the moderating role of psychopathy traits in the relationship between partner's perpetration of IPV and participant perpetration (mutual violence) in the 2 genders. Relationships between partner- and self-IPV were similar at both low and high levels of Factor 1 in men, although the partner- and self-IPV relationship was significantly stronger among women at low relative to high levels of Factor 1. The relationship between partner- and self-IPV was stronger at high levels of Factor 2 in men, whereas Factor 2 did not moderate mutual violence in women. These results indicate that relationships between psychopathy factors and IPV differ by gender, with psychopathy generally exacerbating IPV perpetration in men and Factor 1 traits playing a unique role in mutual violence in women. These findings add to the literature on female psychopathy and have important implications for future research on gender and IPV. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).