Characteristics and Prevalence of Lifetime Sexual Victimization Among a Sample of Men and Women with Intellectual Disabilities

This study examines the prevalence and characteristics of sexual victimization experiences suffered by people with intellectual disabilities (ID). The sample consisted of 260 adults with an ID diagnosis (154 men and 106 women), ranging in age from 20 to 71 years (M = 41.69, SD = 12.05). The results showed that 35% of the sample had been sexually victimized at some point in their life. Being a woman, being declared legally incapable, and having comorbid mental health diagnoses were the most relevant characteristics of sexual victims with ID. Fondling was the most reported victimization, and rape showed the greatest gender differences, with a higher risk for women with ID of being raped compared to their male counterparts (odds ratio = 4.28, p < .05). The offender was generally a known male adult, and the percentage of incidents reported to the authorities was very low (7.4%). The psychological consequences of abuse were general distress, anxiety, and depressive symptomatology. Intervention and prevention programs targeting this population, as well as the training of professionals and caregivers, are essential to deal with sexual victimization and to protect and ensure the quality of life of people with ID.

Examination of a New Brief Screener to Measure Trauma Symptoms and Violence Exposure Among Young Children

The purpose of this study was to create a reliable, quick and easy to administer screening measure of violence exposure and trauma for children from infancy through age 7. In a sample of 6,676 children, caregivers completing a 22-item screener reported nearly one out of five youth had been exposed as witness or victim to at least one kind of violence. For trauma, caregivers reported that their children had trouble going to sleep at least sometimes (15.83%), had cried or had a tantrum to exhaustion (15.61%) and had difficulty concentrating or focusing (15.55%). Analyses showed reliable internal consistency for violence exposure (.74) and trauma (.85) scales. Factor analyses revealed a single trauma factor and two violence exposure factors, witnessing and victimization. These data provide support for a brief screening measure for trauma and violence exposure in children from birth through age seven that can be administered by minimally trained staff in public systems and community-based agencies who can then refer children and families to necessary assessment and treatment services.

Peritraumatic reactions in relation to trauma exposure and symptoms of posttraumatic stress in high school students

Background: Exposure to traumatic events is clearly associated with a diversity of subsequent mental health problems, with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as the most prevalent disorder. Epidemiologically, trauma exposure rates are more prevalent than PTSD, indicating that most trauma victims do not develop PTSD. More knowledge is needed to understand the development of the different posttraumatic pathways including the significance of pretraumatic, peritraumatic and posttraumatic risk factors. Objective: To study peritraumatic reactions in relation to trauma exposure and symptoms of posttraumatic stress and to enhance our understanding of peritraumatic reactions as mediators between trauma and later symptomatology. Method: The study was composed of a representative community sample of 5332 second year high school students (mean age 17.3 years) who completed the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire (SAQ/JVQ), Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSCC) and answered questions about peritraumatic reactions. Mediation effects of peritraumatic reactions on the trauma exposure relationship to symptoms was tested using the PROCESS macro for SPSS. Results: Traumatic events are common (84.1%) and are accompanied in three-quarters of the students with at least one form of peritraumatic reaction. Peritraumatic reactions, especially peritraumatic dissociative reactions, mediate the relationship between trauma exposure and symptoms, and gender moderates the effect of peritraumatic dissociation. This moderating effect was found to be larger for boys than for girls, indicating gender differences in response to trauma. Conclusions: The results indicate the need to screen for peritraumatic reactions as early as possible after a traumatic event in order to identify those at risk for PTSD.

Victimization, polyvictimization, and health in Swedish adolescents

The main objective of this article was to study the relationship between the different areas of victimization (eg, sexual victimization) and psychological symptoms, taking into account the full range of victimization domains. The final aim was to contribute further evidence regarding the bias that studies that focus on just one area of victimization may be introduced into our psychological knowledge. The sample included 5,960 second-year high school students in Sweden with a mean age of 17.3 years (range =16–20 years, standard deviation =0.652), of which 49.6% were females and 50.4% males. The Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire and the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children were used to assess victimization and psychological problems separately. The results show that a majority of adolescents have been victimized, females reported more total events and more sexual victimization and childhood maltreatment, and males were more often victims of conventional crime. The majority of victimization domains as well as the sheer number of events (polyvictimization [PV]) proved to be harmful to adolescent health, affecting females more than males. PV explained part of the health effect and had an impact on its own and in relation to each domain. This suggests the possibility that PV to a large degree explains trauma symptoms. In order to understand the psychological effects of trauma, clinicians and researchers should take into account the whole range of possible types of victimization.

The Prevalence of Potentially Victimizing Events, Poly-Victimization, and Its Association to Sociodemographic Factors: A Swedish Youth Survey

Studying the extent to which children are exposed to victimizing events is important to fully understand the effect of such exposure in shaping them as adults. The aim of this study was to use self-report by adolescents to measure the prevalence of victimizing events and of poly-victimization. A representative sample of 5,960 students (aged 17) from high schools in Sweden was given the self-administrated version of the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire (JVQ) along with questions concerning gender, birthplace, parents' birthplace and employment, residence, educational program, and municipality size. The results show that 84.1% (83.0% young men and 85.2% young women) of the students had experienced victimization during their lifetime, and 10.3% were categorized as poly-victims (8.1% young men and 12.5% young women; OR = 1.62, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [1.35, 1.94]). Adolescents living with both parents were at lower risk of any form of victimization for both genders, while females were at higher risk of maltreatment, peer victimization, and, most significantly, sexual victimization. In conclusion, the vast majority of young people have been victimized during their lifetime. A greater awareness of the impact of these victimizing events on children and adolescents is important as a basis for providing a safer milieu and establishing better interventions, especially for those that have been victimized on multiple occasions. The high-exposure group was determined by using ≥10 events as a cutoff. Findings on this group corresponded with findings in other international studies regarding distribution, elevated risk for females, and the possibility of limiting the effects of victimization by modifying living conditions.