Aim The aim of this work was to create an increased understanding of gymnasts' experiences and views of emotional abuse in relation to perceived body dissatisfaction. Mainly, the work investigated to what extent active and retired gymnasts considered emotional abuse to be acceptable or not and how often they had experienced emotional abuse themselves. Secondary aims were to investigate whether experiences of emotional abuse from coaches were something related to gymnasts' views of their bodies. Method Gymnasts from various gymnastics disciplines participated in the work. The gymnasts who participated were active or retired gymnasts, over 15 years old and identified as female. 52% of the gymnasts were active and 48% previously active. Vignettes based on the Violence Towards Athletes Questionnaire (VTAQ: Parent et al., 2019) as well as the Body Image State Scale (BISS; Cash et al., 2002) were compiled into a two-part web survey in Microsoft Forms. The responses of the 97 participants were collected and analyzed through a variety of statistical analyses, including Spearman's Rank Correlation Coefficient and the Mann-Whitney U-test. Results The result showed that the gymnasts had experienced emotional abuse to a moderate extent. They also experienced high levels of body dissatisfaction. Positive significant correlations between acceptance and experience of emotional abuse, body dissatisfaction and training amount were found. Gymnasts who experienced higher levels of emotional abuse also reported higher levels of body dissatisfaction. Conclusion A majority of the gymnasts stated that they have experienced emotional abuse at some point in their career. The results indicate that the gymnasts can identify emotionally abusive behaviors and that they do not consider them acceptable. High levels of body dissatisfaction were reported by many gymnasts, which also correlated with more frequent experiences of emotional abuse. / Syfte och frågeställningar Syftet med detta arbete var att skapa en ökad förståelse för gymnasters upplevelser och syn på emotionella övergrepp inom gymnastik i relation till upplevt kroppsmissnöje. Huvudsakligen undersöktes i vilken utsträckning aktiva respektive före detta aktiva gymnaster ansåg emotionella övergrepp vara acceptabla eller inte samt hur ofta de själva hade upplevt emotionella övergrepp. Sekundära syften var att undersöka om upplevelser av emotionella övergrepp ifrån tränare var något som hörde samman med gymnasters syn på sin kropp. Metod Gymnaster inom olika gymnastikdiscipliner tillfrågades delta i arbetet. Gymnasterna som deltog var aktiva eller före detta aktiva gymnaster, över 15 år gamla och identifierade sig som kvinna. 52% av gymnasterna var aktiva och 48% före detta aktiva. Vinjetter baserade på Violence Towards Athletes Questionnaire (VTAQ: Parent et al., 2019) samt Body Image State Scale (BISS; Cash et al., 2002) sammanställdes till en tudelad webbenkät i Microsoft Forms. De 97 deltagarnas svar samlades in och analyserades genom flertalet olika statistiska analyser inklusive Spearmans rangkorrelationskoefficient och Mann-Whitney U-test. Resultat Resultatet visade att gymnasterna hade upplevt emotionella övergrepp i måttlig utsträckning. De upplevde även höga nivåer av kroppsmissnöje. Positiva signifikanta samband mellan acceptans och frekvens av emotionella övergrepp, kroppsmissnöje och träningsmängd upptäcktes. Gymnaster som i högre grad upplevt emotionella övergrepp rapporterade också högre kroppsmissnöje. Slutsats En majoritet av gymnasterna angav att de någon gång hade varit med om emotionella övergrepp. Gymnasterna uppvisade att de kan identifiera emotionella övergreppsbeteenden och ansåg dem inte vara acceptabla. Ett starkt kroppsmissnöje återfanns hos många gymnaster vilket kan höra samman med frekvent upplevelse av emotionella övergrepp.

Thesis advisor: Lisa A. Goodman / The term “gaslighting” has become increasingly ubiquitous in popular media, from self-help literature to political analysis (Carpenter, 2018; Sarkis, 2018; Stern, 2018). It is also beginning to gain traction in the medical and mental health establishment. For instance, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now includes gaslighting under its definition of psychological aggression (Breiding, Basile, Smith, Black, & Mahendra, 2015). However, empirical research on this topic lags behind popular discourse. There is desperate need for definition clarity and empirical evidence of this uniquely epistemic form of harm, otherwise the term gaslighting runs the risk of becoming vague, diffuse, and almost meaninglessness. Gaslighting in intimate partner violence (IPV) is the original and paradigmatic case of gaslighting (Cukor, 1944; Hamilton, 2015). A small handful of recent studies have investigated gaslighting in this context, and more general psychological abuse literature has hinted at it by other names (e.g. Bhatti et al., 2021; Ferraro, 2006; Sweet, 2019; Tolman, 1992). However, the present study represents the first systematic, empirical, psychological investigation of gaslighting in IPV. Study aims were to illuminate the tactics, effects, and long-term implications of gaslighting in IPV, as well as ecological factors that may influence survivor experiences. Fifteen IPV survivors were interviewed about their gaslighting experiences, and data were analyzed using qualitative descriptive methods. Three clusters of findings emerged: Survivors described (1) the gaslighting process, (2) their long-term responses to gaslighting, and (3) the influence of ecological factors on self-trust. This study represents a substantial advancement in the literature on gaslighting in IPV, demonstrating the validity of a new two-part model of gaslighting, describing survivors’ subjective experiences of self-doubt, and illuminating how gaslighting fits into broader patterns of power and control in IPV. It also provides the first account of what survivor resistance to gaslighting might look like, and how other factors in survivors’ lives may hinder or promote resistance. Implications for research and practice are discussed in the context of study limitations. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

This article discusses risk factors for adults who have suffered early childhood trauma, specifically focusing on emotional abuse, and discusses the negative long-term consequences from childhood trauma such as depression, anxiety, stress, and neuroticism personality. This research study predicts that those who report emotional abuse will have higher sores for depression, anxiety, stress, and neuroticism personality compared to those who reported only physical, only sexual, or combined physical and sexual abuse. Using the NEO Five-Factor Inventory, Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale, and Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, 748 college students participated in an on-line survey at a Southeastern university. As predicted, this study found those who reported emotional abuse had higher scores for depression, anxiety, stress, and neuroticism personality compared to those who reported only physical, only sexual, or combined physical and sexual abuse. Studies show emotional abuse may be the most damaging form of maltreatment causing adverse developmental consequences equivalent to, or more severe than, those of other forms of abuse (Hart et al. 1996). Therefore, this article discusses the need for public awareness campaigns to raise public and community awareness and evidenced based treatments that help with the psychological consequences resulting from emotional abuse.

Domestic violence from a male victim's perspective is something that is not discussed in society very much because information is very limited and incidents are often unreported. Research was done on this aspect of domestic violence to see how the types of abuse have had an impact on the victim from a physical and emotional perspective. The secondary data used for this study were from the Violence and Threats of Violence Against Women and Men in the United States, 1994-1996. Eight thousand men were selected to participate in the survey. The question of whether domestic violence is a problem was examined by race. It was determined that there was a relationship between these 2 variables with an actual significance of .000.

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) including experiences of neglect and abuse have been shown to negatively impact the victims’ health outcomes. While the ACE score methodology has been widely accepted as the method for measuring childhood trauma, the severity of the abuse has not been accounted for through research. The aim of this research was to assess the duration and frequency of childhood emotional and physical abuse in addition to prevalence among college aged adults, to bridge this gap in the literature. A modified ACE and health behavior questionnaire was administered online at one university beginning July through December of 2014. A sample of 965 participants aged ≥ 18 were included in this study. Two ACE questions, “did a parent or other adult in the household often or very often swear at you, insult you, put you down, or humiliate you? Or, act in any way that made you afraid that you might be physically hurt?” and “did a parent or other adult in the household often or very often push, grab, slap, or throw something at you? Or ever hit you so hard that you had marks or were injured?” were asked to measure the prevalence of emotional and physical abuse, respectively. Descriptive statistics were completed in SAS for age, race, gender, emotional abuse and physical abuse. Frequencies, proportions and corresponding p-values were reported. The sample distribution included: female (69%), age average 20 years (M = 20.21, SD = 4.07), and white (84.9%). In total 29.01% of the sample reported exposure to childhood emotional or physical abuse and 37.5% reported both experiences. Females reported a higher proportion of emotional abuse and less proportion of physical abuse (27.59% and 12.29%) compared to males (24.50% and 15.44%). However, gender differences were not significant, X2 = 1.01, p>0.05 and X2 = 1.77, p>0.05. Of those reporting abuse, about two thirds of emotional abuse and one third of physical abuse occurred frequently defined as occurring either ‘daily’, ‘at least once a week’ or ‘at least once a month’. Modal frequency was ‘at least once a week’ for both female (30.74%) and male (20.31%). More than half of the abusive experiences (60.3% emotional and 53.9% physical) happened for more than two years. Experiences of childhood emotional and physical abuse are common among this sample of college age adults and the occurrence of one type of abuse is most often accompanied by the occurrence of another. This result is consistent with national research that has been done on adult populations. In cases where abuse occurred for this sample, the experiences were frequent and for an extended period of time. An understanding of the prevalence of childhood physical and emotional abuse among college aged adults and the discussion of its implications should be included in college health and counseling programs. Knowledge of the frequency and duration of abuse is critical in identifying the high risk population and developing personalized and targeted programs addressing their specific needs.

Perrault's Bluebeard tale is a story of domestic abuse: Bluebeard tries to control his wife's movements by prohibiting her from entering a specific room in their chateau and attempts to kill his wife as punishment when she ultimately disobeys him. Bluebeard's violence towards his wife clearly marks him as an abuser. There have been countless other versions of the Bluebeard tale including Elizabeth Gaskell's short story "The Grey Woman." Unlike other versions of the tale that emphasize Bluebeard's physically abusive behavior, Gaskell's version focuses on a more subtle form of abuse: emotional abuse. Emotional abuse has remained an obscure topic within Victorian scholarship, and my paper attempts to address this gap in the literature by exploring the emotionally abusive marriage between Anna Scherer and, her personal Bluebeard, M. de la Tourelle. The term "emotional abuse did not exist during Gaskell's time, and yet, she skillfully portrays an emotionally abusive relationship. M. de la Tourelle isolates Anna from her family, controls her movements within her own home, and unexpectedly rages at her. Anna records the events of her abusive marriage in a letter to her daughter years after the events originally take place. As Anna writes her narrative, she attempts to articulate the abuse she endured. Without access to our 21st-century lexicon of abuse, Anna instead settles on physiognomy as a language that allows her to make sense of her husband's behavior. Physiognomy was a popular pseudoscience at the time, and it teaches that physical characteristics are indicative of personality traits. So, in her writing, Anna analyzes the curve of her husband's mouth, the light in his eyes, and the color of his cheeks all in an attempt to explain the emotional abuse she endured throughout her marriage. Anna also subjects herself to a physiognomic reading as she depicts how drastically her coloring has changed during her brief marriage to M. de la Tourelle. When Anna first married M. de la Tourelle, she had bright, lily-like skin and blonde hair. However, after enduring abuse in her marriage, her hair and skin both turn unnaturally and permanently gray. Anna depicts herself as being forever changed because of her abusive marriage. Gaskell's short story uses physiognomy as a tool to discuss emotional abuse long before the term "emotional abuse" existed. Studying the role physiognomy plays in "The Grey Woman," allows for new insights on how emotional abuse operates within the text. Ultimately, physiognomy provides a way of understanding how Victorian authors may have depicted both abusers and victims.

A Ruminação tem sido um importante campo de investigação para estudar os mecanismos cognitivos e alteração dos estados emocionais associados ao processo do desenvolvimento de condições de saúde mental. A presente dissertação, cujo relatório de pesquisa deriva nessa produção, busca elucidar as relações entre ruminação e disforia de gênero. Dessa forma, a dissertação apresentará dois estudos de delineamento transversal que, no entanto, sofrem adaptações na disposição dos indivíduos da amostra para testar hipóteses específicas. Em ambos os estudos foram recrutadas 39 mulheres transexuais, no período de 2014 a 2015, que atenderam aos critérios do DSM 5 para diagnóstico de Disforia de Gênero (DG). O primeiro estudo teve como objetivo analisar os níveis de ruminação em pacientes com disforia de gênero antes e depois da Cirurgia de Redesignação Sexual (CRS), o que contribui com a literatura que investiga marcadores de desfecho positivo para CRS. O primeiro subgrupo (T0) foi constituído por participantes com diagnósticos confirmados para DG e com, no máximo, um ano de acompanhamento em grupoterapia. O T1, por pacientes que atenderam os pré-requisitos em relação à frequência aos atendimentos dos grupos psicoterapêuticos de, no mínimo, um ano, e no máximo dois anos, sem contra-indicação para realização da CRS. E o T2, constituído por pacientes pós-cirúrgicos em um período superior a seis meses. O segundo estudo teve como objetivo tanto analisar a relação entre abuso emocional na infância e ruminação em mulheres transexuais quanto identificar, entre os indivíduos da amostra, quais ruminam em nível p[baixo] = (33) ≤18 e p[alto] = (67) ≥23. Essa classificação entre dois subtipos do pensamento ruminativo pode elucidar diferenças entre os fatores protetivos e os desfechos nocivos na saúde mental e física dessa população. No primeiro estudo, a ruminação diminuiu entre os pacientes no T2 e os escores em ruminação foram ainda gradualmente menores a cada procedimento realizado nas características sexuais secundárias por pacientes deste grupo. Esse achado contribui para pesquisas do paradigma Research Domain Criteria (RDoC), que almeja demonstrar marcadores psicológicos para condições de saúde mental. Nesse caso, a ruminação parece se mostrar como um marcador importante para o desfecho positivo em pacientes com disforia de gênero pós-CRS. No segundo estudo, nosso principal achado reside na prevalência em até 15 vezes (IC95%: 2,25-99,63) de maior chance para engajamento em ruminação elevada ou comportamento disfórico entre os indivíduos que foram expostos ao abuso emocional, sobretudo, entre aqueles que o vivenciaram no intervalo da tipologia que variou de moderado – grave a grave – extremo se comparado aos indivíduos com gravidade entre mínimo a moderado na escala Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). O abuso emocional está relacionado com engajamento em ruminação, sobretudo, ao subtipo elevada, o que contribui para aumento em comportamentos disfóricos, e ao estar associado à desregulação da emoção, que contribui para os desfechos nocivos na saúde física e mental desta população. / The Rumination has recently become an important field of study to better understand cognitive mechanisms and emotional status associated to the development of mental health conditions. The current work aims to shine a light upon the relation between rumination and gender dysphoria (GD). In this sense, this work presents two cross-sectional studies, each testing two specific hypotheses. Therefore, they have suffered adaptations in the disposition of the sample. In both studies, 39 transexual women, who fulfilled the DSM 5 diagnostic criteria for GD, were recruited within the years of 2014 and 2015. The first study aimed to analyse how much GD patients have rumination processes before and after sex reassignment surgery (SRS), which contributes to the body of literature seeking for positive outcome markers for SRS. The first group (T0) was made of participants who had a confirmed DG diagnostic and participated of group therapy for up to one year (between 0 and 12 months). The second group (T1) was composed by participants who had a confirmed DG diagnostic and attended from one up to two years of group therapy and had no contraindications for SRS. The third group (T2) was comprised of patients who have gone through SRS surgery at least six months prior to the data collection. The second study aimed to analyse the relation between emotional abuse during childhood and rumination in transexual women and to identify, amongst sample individuals, those who ruminate at a low or high levels. This classification into two subsets of ruminative thinking might clarify diferences between protective factors and poor mental and physical health outcomes in this specific population. In the first study, patients of the T2 group ruminate significantly less than their counterparts; moreover, scores of the ruminative thinking process seems to fall gradually with each alteration in the secondary sex characteristics. This finding contributes to the researches of the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) paradigm, which seeks to find physiological markers for mental health conditions. In this case, rumination seems to be an important marker for positive outcomes in post-SRS GD patients. In the second study, the main result is the higher (up to 15 fold) prevalence for likeliness to engane in high level of ruminative thinking or dysphoric behaviour amongst the individuals who were exposed to emotional abuse. Above all, the engagement in ruminative thinking process is even higher amongst those who lived through emotional abuse in the moderated - severe and the severe - extreme categories of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) scale than those in the light - moderate category. Emotional abuse is related to ruminative engagement, specially to the high level subtype of rumination. This contributes to the increase in dysphoric behaviours and to the bad health and mental outcomes in this population, probably associated with emotional dysregulation.

Men who experience abuse in their relationships can undergo emotional hardships, suffer injuries, and can experience various psychological problems. Cultural gender norms create barriers in receiving the appropriate help men need. Large population based studies show that men do in fact experience incidents of physical and emotional abuse yet men are often overlooked in the domestic violence literature. Intimate partner violence (IPV) is an important societal problem that needs to be evaluated and addressed for both genders, even if women are the primary victims of IPV. This report will present research regarding the prevalence of female-perpetrated abuse and discuss implications within the literature. The impact and consequences IPV has on men will be reviewed as well as barriers men face in getting help. New questions will be posed that need addressing and practical implications will be provided for researchers and mental health practitioners. / text

Identifying high-risk areas for child maltreatment to ultimately aid public health agencies for interventions is necessary for protecting children at high risk. Rates of substantiated neglect and physical/emotional abuse in 2000-2002 are computed for the census tracts in the urban area of five counties in Metro Atlanta, Georgia, and analyzed using spatial regression to determine their relationships with twelve risk variables computed from the Vital Records births and the 2000 Census data. After accounting for multicollinearity among risk variables and spatial autocorrelation among observations for neighboring locations, it is found that high percentages of (1) births to non-married mothers, (2) births to mothers who smoked or drank alcohol during pregnancy, (3) unemployed males and females, and (4) single-parent families with children under age six best predict the rates of substantiated neglect, and that high percentage of births to mothers who smoked or drank alcohol during pregnancy best predicts the rates of substantiated physical/emotional abuse.

A Ruminação tem sido um importante campo de investigação para estudar os mecanismos cognitivos e alteração dos estados emocionais associados ao processo do desenvolvimento de condições de saúde mental. A presente dissertação, cujo relatório de pesquisa deriva nessa produção, busca elucidar as relações entre ruminação e disforia de gênero. Dessa forma, a dissertação apresentará dois estudos de delineamento transversal que, no entanto, sofrem adaptações na disposição dos indivíduos da amostra para testar hipóteses específicas. Em ambos os estudos foram recrutadas 39 mulheres transexuais, no período de 2014 a 2015, que atenderam aos critérios do DSM 5 para diagnóstico de Disforia de Gênero (DG). O primeiro estudo teve como objetivo analisar os níveis de ruminação em pacientes com disforia de gênero antes e depois da Cirurgia de Redesignação Sexual (CRS), o que contribui com a literatura que investiga marcadores de desfecho positivo para CRS. O primeiro subgrupo (T0) foi constituído por participantes com diagnósticos confirmados para DG e com, no máximo, um ano de acompanhamento em grupoterapia. O T1, por pacientes que atenderam os pré-requisitos em relação à frequência aos atendimentos dos grupos psicoterapêuticos de, no mínimo, um ano, e no máximo dois anos, sem contra-indicação para realização da CRS. E o T2, constituído por pacientes pós-cirúrgicos em um período superior a seis meses. O segundo estudo teve como objetivo tanto analisar a relação entre abuso emocional na infância e ruminação em mulheres transexuais quanto identificar, entre os indivíduos da amostra, quais ruminam em nível p[baixo] = (33) ≤18 e p[alto] = (67) ≥23. Essa classificação entre dois subtipos do pensamento ruminativo pode elucidar diferenças entre os fatores protetivos e os desfechos nocivos na saúde mental e física dessa população. No primeiro estudo, a ruminação diminuiu entre os pacientes no T2 e os escores em ruminação foram ainda gradualmente menores a cada procedimento realizado nas características sexuais secundárias por pacientes deste grupo. Esse achado contribui para pesquisas do paradigma Research Domain Criteria (RDoC), que almeja demonstrar marcadores psicológicos para condições de saúde mental. Nesse caso, a ruminação parece se mostrar como um marcador importante para o desfecho positivo em pacientes com disforia de gênero pós-CRS. No segundo estudo, nosso principal achado reside na prevalência em até 15 vezes (IC95%: 2,25-99,63) de maior chance para engajamento em ruminação elevada ou comportamento disfórico entre os indivíduos que foram expostos ao abuso emocional, sobretudo, entre aqueles que o vivenciaram no intervalo da tipologia que variou de moderado – grave a grave – extremo se comparado aos indivíduos com gravidade entre mínimo a moderado na escala Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). O abuso emocional está relacionado com engajamento em ruminação, sobretudo, ao subtipo elevada, o que contribui para aumento em comportamentos disfóricos, e ao estar associado à desregulação da emoção, que contribui para os desfechos nocivos na saúde física e mental desta população. / The Rumination has recently become an important field of study to better understand cognitive mechanisms and emotional status associated to the development of mental health conditions. The current work aims to shine a light upon the relation between rumination and gender dysphoria (GD). In this sense, this work presents two cross-sectional studies, each testing two specific hypotheses. Therefore, they have suffered adaptations in the disposition of the sample. In both studies, 39 transexual women, who fulfilled the DSM 5 diagnostic criteria for GD, were recruited within the years of 2014 and 2015. The first study aimed to analyse how much GD patients have rumination processes before and after sex reassignment surgery (SRS), which contributes to the body of literature seeking for positive outcome markers for SRS. The first group (T0) was made of participants who had a confirmed DG diagnostic and participated of group therapy for up to one year (between 0 and 12 months). The second group (T1) was composed by participants who had a confirmed DG diagnostic and attended from one up to two years of group therapy and had no contraindications for SRS. The third group (T2) was comprised of patients who have gone through SRS surgery at least six months prior to the data collection. The second study aimed to analyse the relation between emotional abuse during childhood and rumination in transexual women and to identify, amongst sample individuals, those who ruminate at a low or high levels. This classification into two subsets of ruminative thinking might clarify diferences between protective factors and poor mental and physical health outcomes in this specific population. In the first study, patients of the T2 group ruminate significantly less than their counterparts; moreover, scores of the ruminative thinking process seems to fall gradually with each alteration in the secondary sex characteristics. This finding contributes to the researches of the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) paradigm, which seeks to find physiological markers for mental health conditions. In this case, rumination seems to be an important marker for positive outcomes in post-SRS GD patients. In the second study, the main result is the higher (up to 15 fold) prevalence for likeliness to engane in high level of ruminative thinking or dysphoric behaviour amongst the individuals who were exposed to emotional abuse. Above all, the engagement in ruminative thinking process is even higher amongst those who lived through emotional abuse in the moderated - severe and the severe - extreme categories of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) scale than those in the light - moderate category. Emotional abuse is related to ruminative engagement, specially to the high level subtype of rumination. This contributes to the increase in dysphoric behaviours and to the bad health and mental outcomes in this population, probably associated with emotional dysregulation.