On the Overlap of Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Intimate Partner Violence: An Exploratory Examination of Trauma-Related Shame

Every year, millions of people experience intimate partner violence (IPV) and commercial sexual exploitation (CSE), with researchers increasingly discussing the overlap between these two forms of interpersonal violence. However, researchers have not yet used quantitative methods to examine the link between IPV and CSE or to explore potential mechanisms underlying the overlap, including child maltreatment risk factors and psychological mechanisms. One potential mechanism is trauma-related shame, a symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder commonly experienced by both victims of CSE and IPV. The current study explores trauma-related shame, childhood maltreatment, and IPV and their associations with CSE using a sample of 174 primarily Black women. Binomial logistic regression is used to analyze the impact of IPV, child abuse and neglect, and trauma-related shame on CSE. Results indicate that IPV and trauma-related shame are both significant predictors of CSE. Implications for future research and the incorporation of shame in trauma-related treatment are discussed.

"Say Her Name": Symbolic Racism and Officer Valuing Predict White Americans' Reactions to the Fatal Police Shooting of a Black Woman

A report entitled Say Her Name: Resisting Police Brutality against Black Women underscores the paucity of research examining police violence toward Black women. This study focused on how valuing a White police officer and symbolic racism moderate reactions when the officer fatally shoots a Black or White woman during a traffic stop. At high levels of officer valuing, symbolic racism was positively associated with perceptions the victim presented a threat to the officer, but negatively associated with support for punishing the officer and perceived victim compliance; these associations were stronger when the victim was Black relative to White. At low officer valuing levels, there was no variability in the link between symbolic racism and the outcome variables as a function of victim race. Implications for bias in judicial outcomes for the victim and officer are discussed.

Centering Our Voices: Experiences of Violence Among Homeless African American Women

Women experiencing homelessness who are also survivors of violence require uniquely tailored programs to accommodate complex needs. To understand how violence shaped the lives of formerly homeless African American women, an instrumental case study design and community-based participatory research approach was utilized in this qualitative study. Focus group interviews with graduates (N = 40) from a long-term transitional housing program were conducted. Using thematic analysis, identified themes included: cycles of violence, violence in the community, relationships with children, and coping with violence. These themes illustrated survivors' growth through supportive programming and highlighted services dedicated to empowering women who have experienced violence.

A Latent Class Approach to Understanding Associations between Sports Participation, Substance Use, Dismissive Attitudes, and Sexual Violence Perpetration among High School Athletes

Sexual violence (SV) among adolescents continues to be a major public health concern with numerous consequences. Research, predominantly with male collegiate samples, has suggested an association between sports participation and SV perpetration, and has included other important risk factors such as substance use and attitudes. However, more research is needed in this area among adolescents. The current study uses latent class analysis (LCA) to examine data- driven classes of high school student athletes (N = 665) engaged in three risk factor areas for SV: sport contact level, likelihood of substance use, and attitudes dismissive of SV. Once classes were enumerated and fit separately for male and female samples, pairwise comparisons were conducted on scores on two forms of SV (perpetration of sexual harassment and unwanted sexual contact) as a function of class membership. A 5-class solution was retained for both males and females. In the female sample, regarding SV-harassment, those most likely to perpetrate sexual harassment were those characterized by high likelihood of use of cigarettes, marijuana, alcohol, vape products, and those who played any type of sport. Too few females endorsed perpetration of unwanted sexual contact for pairwise comparisons to be conducted. For males, the classes most likely to perpetrate both forms of SV were those who were likely to endorse high likelihood to use of cigarettes, marijuana, alcohol, vape products, endorse attitudes dismissive of SV, and play any type of sport but especially high contact sports. These findings implicate high school athletic spaces as important venues for sexual violence prevention efforts.

Giving Voice to Silence: Empowerment and Disempowerment in the Developmental Shift from Trauma 'Victim' to 'Survivor-Advocate'

In the past several years, a public conversation in the United States about interpersonal violence has flourished, sustained by the work of advocates who are themselves survivors. This surge in public sharing of trauma stories is a rhetorical form of resistance to ideologies in mainstream American culture that impose silence on survivors (e.g., the "just world" belief). However, the developmental progression from trauma 'victim' to empowered public 'survivor/advocate' accommodates to dominant American cultural preferences that stories of adversity have a redemptive story line. In a redemptive story, negative experiences are followed by something positive (e.g., personal growth, lessons learned, strength gained). In this paper, we draw from theory and the sparse relevant literature across multiple disciplines to conceptualize when and for whom the redemptive storying of trauma (or, redemptive master narrative) is available, advantageous, and systemically encouraged. Among the proposed advantages of redemptive storying are its psychological health benefits; potential to empower self and others; promotion of meaning-making, mission, and communal solidarity; and the larger social/political changes that can emerge from giving voice to silenced experiences. Proposed challenges to redemptive storying include layers of societal oppression and marginalization that shape the redemption stories of many survivor-advocates; ongoing connection to or dependence on relationships and communities that enable abuse; and the reality of historical trauma and other forms of intergenerational trauma, which complicate the linear, individualistic story of redemption. With this theory-driven framework, we wish to promote compassion for survivors, along with interdisciplinary, inclusive, and intersectional research in this understudied area.

Building Nehemiah's Wall: The North Minneapolis Faith Community's Role in the Prevention of Intimate Partner Violence

African American women who are victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) often rely on faith when exposed to IPV; however, the role of the faith community in the lives of IPV victims is less clear. This study uses a community-based approach to examine the role of the faith community in addressing IPV in heterosexual relationships in North Minneapolis where rates of poverty and IPV among African Americans are disproportionately high compared to other cities in Minnesota. Five focus group discussions (FGDs) were held with 34 lay and secular leaders of mixed genders in the North Minneapolis community. FGDs were evaluated using a grounded theory method of analysis. Discussions revealed that some faith leaders effectively identified IPV as a community issue and intervened but that many remained silent or were not well trained to address the issue safely. Faith-based solutions were identified to address IPV in the African American community and included the faith community speaking openly about IPV, developing programs for unmarried and adolescent couples, and coordinating services with secular IPV support organizations.

Sexual Orientation, Race, and Trauma as Predictors of Sexual Assault Recovery

Sexual minorities and racial minorities experience greater negative impact following sexual assault. We examined recovery from sexual assault among women who identified as heterosexual and bisexual across racial groups. A community sample of women (N = 905) completed three yearly surveys about sexual victimization, recovery outcomes, race group, and sexual minority status. Bisexual women and Black women reported greater recovery problems. However, Black women improved more quickly on depression symptoms than non-Black women. Finally, repeated adult victimization uniquely undermined survivors' recovery, even when controlling for child sexual abuse. Sexual minority and race status variables and their intersections with revictimization play roles in recovery and should be considered in treatment protocols for sexual assault survivors.

In Her Own Words: Women Describe Their Use of Force Resulting in Court-Ordered Intervention

Although researchers and practitioners have established that men and women use force in their intimate heterosexual relationships for very different reasons, there is a dearth of information regarding the events that surrounds women's arrests and subsequent court orders to anti-violence intervention programming. This information is fundamental to improving Criminal Legal System (CLS) and community-partner understanding of and response to intimate partner violence (IPV). The authors meet this need by analyzing 208 women's descriptions of their arrests and subsequent court order to intervention programs for using force. From these, the authors frame nine categorical descriptions of women's actions. The descriptions and categories highlight areas for CLS and community-partners' growing understanding of this complex issue.

Considering the Interplay of Cultural Context and Service Provision in Intimate Partner Violence

This qualitative study explored how the cultural context of intimate partner violence affected accessibility to mainstream services for one immigrant group: Haitian women. Analysis of the data revealed two major themes. First, the nature and context of intimate partner violence in the Haitian immigrant community contribute to Haitian women’s reluctance to seek services as well as their overall vulnerability to intimate partner violence. Second, mainstream services are largely inaccessible to Haitian women. The authors conclude with suggestions for overcoming cultural barriers through education, increasing cultural competency of mainstream services, and creating alternative community-based services.

Race of Interviewer Effect on Disclosures of Suicidal Low-Income African American Women

Few studies have investigated the impact of interviewer race on the results gleaned through psychological assessment. African American and European American clinical evaluators conducted face-to-face interviews with 161 low-income African American women seeking services at an inner-city hospital following a suicide attempt. Participants were administered measures related to various current life stressors, including the Survey for Recent Life Events, which assesses various forms of daily hassles, and the Index of Spouse Abuse, which taps both physical and nonphysical intimate partner violence (IPV). Multivariate analyses of variance revealed a significant difference on the participants’ reports of daily hassles and IPV to African Americanand European American evaluators. With regard to overall life stress, African American women reported higher levels of total life stress, time pressure stress, social acceptability stress, and social victimization to African American than in European American–led interviews. They also endorsed higher levels of both physical and nonphysical IPV to interviewers of the same race as themselves as compared with interviewers from a different racial background. There were no group differences in terms of work stress, sociocultural differences, and finances. The findings underscore the saliency of interviewer race as a source of nonrandom measurement error capable of influencing statistical results. Implications of ignoring race of interviewer effects in analysis are explored and suggestions are offered in terms of culturally responsive assessment processes.

Struggling to survive: sexual assault, poverty, and mental health outcomes of African American women

A substantial body of research documents the mental health consequences of sexual assault including, but not limited to, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, substance use, and suicidality. Far less attention has been given to the mental health effects of sexual assault for ethnic minority women or women living in poverty. Given African American women's increased risk for sexual assault and increased risk for persistent poverty, the current study explores the relationship between income and mental health effects within a sample of 413 African American sexual assault survivors. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that after controlling for childhood sexual abuse there were positive relationships between poverty and mental health outcomes of depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and illicit drug use. There was no significant relationship between poverty and suicidal ideation. Counseling and research implications are discussed.

From the margins to the center: ethnic minority women and the mental health effects of sexual assault

The trauma of sexual assault is heightened for many women by the interlocking experience of societal traumas such as racism, sexism, and poverty. The mental health effects of sexual assault are mediated by race and ethnicity. The investigators explore the experiences of African American, Asian American, Latina, and Native American female survivors of sexual assault. The sociohistorical context of intergenerational trauma in the lives of ethnic minorities is a part of the context for the contemporary experience of sexualized violence. Racial and ethnic dynamics related to sexual assault prevalence, mental health effects, and disclosure are examined. Literature related to cultural beliefs, community attitudes, and perceived social support in relation to sexualized violence are also reviewed. Finally, practice, research, and policy implications are discussed.

The impact of childhood sexual abuse and other forms of childhood adversity on adulthood parenting

This study investigated the independent impact of child sexual abuse on five dimensions of adulthood parenting after controlling for other forms of childhood adversity in a predominantly African-American sample of mothers receiving public assistance (N = 483). An analysis of data previously collected as part of the Illinois Families Study Child Well-Being Supplement was conducted to address these questions. Data were analyzed using hierarchal multiple regression. Childhood sexual abuse survivors reported significantly lower rates of parental warmth, higher rates of psychological aggression, and more frequent use of corporal punishment than mothers who had not experienced childhood sexual abuse. These effects, however, were nonsignificant when sociodemographic factors and other forms of childhood adversity were considered. Implications for future research are provided.

HIV infection, stressful life events, and intimate relationship power: the moderating role of community resources for black South African women

BACKGROUND

Black women in South Africa are vulnerable with limited power in intimate relationships. This study explored whether stressful life events and/or HIV infection were associated with relationship power and whether the impact was moderated by community resources.

METHOD

One hundred four women living with HIV and 152 women not living with HIV participated in individual interviews.

RESULTS

Undesirable life changes were negatively associated with relationship control. HIV infection and women's knowledge of community resources were associated with mutual decision-making, while frequency of family use of community resources was negatively related to female dominated decisions. Women living with HIV perceived their male partners as less dominant when they perceived their community resources to be more helpful.

CONCLUSIONS

Power in intimate relationships may enhance the quality and length of life for black South African women living with HIV. Knowledge of and perceived helpfulness of community resources are avenues for promoting relationship power.

Addressing the unique needs of African American women in HIV prevention

African American women continue to be disproportionately affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, yet there are few effective HIV prevention interventions that are exclusively tailored to their lives and that address their risk factors. Using an ecological framework, we offer a comprehensive overview of the risk factors that are driving the HIV/AIDS epidemic among African American women and explicate the consequences of ignoring these factors in HIV prevention strategies. We also recommend ways to improve HIV prevention programs by taking into consideration the unique life experiences of adult African American women.

Domestic Violence Survivors

Domestic violence survivors encounter numerous barriers and few supports in pursuit of their vocational goals. There is a dearth of research, however, on the vocational supports and barriers salient for survivors. This study aims (a) to assess the psychometric properties of vocational supports and barriers measures with a racially and geographically diverse sample of survivors, (b) to investigate survivors' abuse experiences and perceived supports and barriers, and (c) to examine the relationships among survivors' abuse experiences and supports and barriers. This study was conducted with 227 women survivors residing in five U.S. geographic regions. Results showed strong construct validity for the supports and barriers measures; participants' abuse experiences were associated with current perceptions of vocational barriers but not anticipation of future barriers; racial differences were found among survivors' perceptions of support and the relationship between perceived support, perceived barriers, and abuse experiences. Research and practice implications are provided.

Violence against women as a public health issue

Violence can be considered "infectious" in rape-prone cultures that celebrate violence and domination. The number of annual injuries and deaths due to violence against women and girls is high enough to demand the type of active interventions and public policies that have been targeted at infectious diseases by public health agencies. In this article, we review data on the physical and mental health effects that violence has on victims of domestic violence, rape, stalking, and sexual harassment. We also focus on the economic costs to the health care system, business and industry, families, and the broader society that accrue as a result of the widespread violence against women and girls. Victims' suffering can never be accounted for by economic data, but those data may be helpful in pushing governments to allocate funds and agencies to take preventive actions.

The development of a theory of women's use of violence in intimate relationships

Reports have appeared in the popular press in recent years concluding that women are just as violent as men. These reports stem from acontextual survey studies comparing prevalence rates of women's and men's physical violence. The authors contend that the above conclusion is simplistic and misleading, and that a theoretical framework that embeds women's violence in the context in which it occurs is sorely needed. This article proposes a model that includes women's violence in the context of their victimization by male partners, motivations for violent behavior and how they cope with relationship problems, experiences of childhood trauma, and outcomes of depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, and substance use. The model is then examined within the context of gender, race, and class. The cultural context of domestic violence for African American and Latina women is reviewed. This literature reinforces the need to place women's violence in a broader sociocultural context.

Violence against women: outcome complexity and implications for assessment and treatment

This article reviews the major forms of violence against women, including sexual assault, intimate-relationship violence, and stalking and outlines the known psychological effects of such victimization. Also discussed are a number of variables that combine to determine the effects of such victimization, including type and characteristics of the assault; victim variables such as demographics, psychological reactions at the time of the trauma, previous victimization history, current or previous psychological difficulties, and general coping style; and sociocultural factors such as poverty, social inequality, and inadequate social support. The implications of this complexity are explored in terms of psychological assessment and the frequent need for multitarget, multimodal treatment approaches.

Moving From Surviving to Thriving: African American Women Recovering From Intimate Male Partner Abuse

In this ethnographic study, a womanist framework was used to investigate the process of recovery from domestic violence. A purposive sample of African American women (N= 21) was interviewed to gain understanding of their recovery process. Survivorship-thriving was the overarching process. Six themes related to survivorship-thriving were identified: (a) Sharing secrets/Shattering silences—sharing information about the abuse with others; (b) Reclaiming the Self—defining oneself separate from abuser and society; (c) Renewing the Spirit—nurturing and restoring the spiritual and emotional self; (d) Self-healing through Forgiveness—forgiving their partners for the abuse and violence; (e) Finding Inspiration in the Future—looking to the future with optimism; and (f) Self-generativity by Engaging in Social Activism—participating in prosocial activities to promote social change. This article presents recovery oriented towards survivorship—thriving as a transformative process overall characterized by resilience and self-generativity. This represents more than just recovery as return to homeostasis or “back to normal.” Implications for survivor-informed practices are included.

The impact of complex trauma and depression on parenting: an exploration of mediating risk and protective factors

The current study examined (a) maternal depression as a mediator between mothers' complex trauma exposure and parenting difficulties and (b) protective factors within a sample of adult survivors of complex child and adult trauma. Participants were a sample of 152 women selected from 174 women interviewed in the third wave of a longitudinal study of a hospital sample of girls. The women in the current study represent a subsample that includes all participants who had given birth to a child. Measures included assessments of women's own trauma history and parenting outcomes. Higher rates of trauma exposure were related to decreased parenting satisfaction, reports of child neglect, use of physical punishment, and a history of protective service reports. These links were partially mediated by the relationship between trauma exposure and increased maternal depression. Exploratory analyses were also conducted to examine protective factors for fewer parenting problems within a further subsample of trauma survivors.