Stemming from the victims’ rights movement and the restorative justice movement, victims’ compensation is a program established to aid in addressing victims’ rights and needs. Much of the existing research on victims’ compensation programs has been descriptive and comparative in nature. Although newer studies on these programs have examined victims’ compensation and its relationship to other variables, research has not explored the effects of victims’ compensation has on negative outcomes, specifically revictimization. This dissertation will examine the possible link between victims’ compensation applicants’ satisfaction with the criminal justice system and its actors/programs and revictimization. Utilizing survey data from the Voice of the Victim: Statewide Analysis of Victim Compensation research project derived from the victims’ compensation program through the Criminal Justice Coordinating Counsel in the state of Georgia, bivariate and multivariate analyses were conducted regarding victims’ compensation applicants’ satisfaction with victims’ compensation and other entities in the criminal justice system and their relationship to revictimization. The findings suggest that applicants’ satisfaction with the police and victims’ specialists are important in reducing revictimization risk. In addition, being unemployed and drinking alcohol were found to be risk factors for experiencing revictimization among victims’ compensation applicants. Implications for policy and future research will be discussed.

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Research shows that women who have been sexually assaulted once are more likely to be sexually assaulted again (revictimized). Several factors contribute to the likelihood of a woman being revictimized, including social support, personal behavior, and psychological health. This research proposes that a combination of these factors contributes to a woman’s self-perception as a victim or survivor of sexual assault. It is this self-perception that determines revictimization. Twenty women were interviewed to explore the victim or survivor mentality and its relation to revictimization. All women had negative consequences of the assault. Negative consequences lead some women to develop a victim mentality. Some women were able to find positive consequences out of their assault and developed a survivor mentality. Revictimization was linked to negative consequences of the initial victimization and the victim mentality that resulted from the negative consequences. Reasons for non-revictimization were somewhat the opposite of the reasons for revictimization and were linked to positive consequences of the assault and the survivor mentality that resulted from the positive consequences. The overall attitudes and behaviors of a sexual assault victim determines whether she views herself as a victim or survivor which significantly impacts the likelihood of her revictimization.

Sexual revictimization of college women is a relatively new area of study within the field of victimology. Although the link between childhood sexual assault (CSA) and adult revictimization has been examined, many aspects of why college-aged females are revictimized have gained little attention. This Master’s thesis will explore the current literature as well as analyze the possible link between risky behaviors, individual characteristics, and sexual revictimization. Using Jacquelyn W. White and Paige Hall Smith’s (2004) data, A Longitudinal Perspective on Physical and Sexual Intimate Partner Violence Against Women, bivariate analyses were conducted regarding the revictimization of college women. The findings suggest a few differences between single victims and revictims. The findings also suggested that nonvictims and revictims were found to have multiple differences across variables. Suggestions for future research will be discussed.

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Revictimization, defined as victimization occurring at different points in time, has been found repeatedly in college, community, and clinical samples. Attempts to understand this relation have been theoretically and methodologically limited. Theoretically, most studies have considered only individual level characteristics such as personality traits, and methodologically, the variety of definitions and measures used makes comparisons difficult. This study investigated the effect of homelessness, an exosystem factor, as a moderator of the revictimization relation in a sample of 370 underserved women (191 in prison and 179 seeking healthcare at an urban, public hospital). A series of logistic regressions were conducted to predict adult physical and adult sexual victimization using four different definitions of child sexual abuse and one definition of child physical abuse. Main effects for child abuse, regardless of the definition used, incarceration status and homelessness on both adult physical and adult sexual victimization were consistently found. However, homelessness did not moderate the revictimization relation. The high reported rate of adult physical victimization may have prevented finding an interaction effect, as almost 82% of women reported this experience. Findings underscore the multitude of traumas experienced by this population and the need for primary prevention of child abuse and homelessness.

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Both a recent narrative review and a meta-analytic review of prevalence rates, indicates that prior sexual victimization increases risk for future victimization (Messman & Long, 1996, Roodman & Clum, in press). The purpose of this study was to examine two competing models of sexual victimization that examined the path between child abuse and later sexual victimization. Hypothesized mediating variables were negative cognitive schemas, dissociation, risky behaviors, and coping strategies. Structural equation modeling was used to examine two competing models of sexual victimization. A sample of 276 college students taking introductory psychology were participants. They anonymously completed a packet of questionnaires that provided the indicator variables for the path models that were tested. Both models tested received minimal support but many of the proposed pathways in the model were not statistically significant suggesting problems with the models. Due to measurement issues with the manifest indicators of the latent factors, any results should be viewed with caution. It appears as though none of the factors in the model mediate the relationship between early and later victimization. However, both models tested demonstrated significant pathways between the factor for child abuse (comprising physical and sexual abuse) and negative cognitive schemas and for child abuse and dissociation. However, the paths from negative cognitive schemas and dissociation to sexual victimization (comprising both adolescent and adult sexual victimization) were not significant suggesting that, although these factors are influenced by child abuse, they do not mediate revictimization. Risky behaviors, as measured by consensual sex and alcohol consumption, do not appear to be influenced by early abuse, but there was a significant pathway between this factor and sexual victimization suggesting that these risky behaviors are independent risk factors for sexual victimization in adolescence and adulthood. In one model there was a significant pathway between child abuse and sexual victimization which is what would be expected given previous findings that suggest past abuse is the best predictor of future victimization experiences (Roodman & Clum, in press). That the other model did not demonstrate this relationship was surprising. / Ph. D.

Sexual victimization is an act of interpersonal violence that affects the lives of many college women. Such incidents are often characterized by women as traumatic experiences which also result forms of psychological distress, with the most common being posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The relationship between sexual victimization and PTSD is strengthened by revictimization. Although perceived social support has been shown to play a protective role in the sexual victimizationâ ³psychological distress relationship, there is also evidence that the moderating effect of perceived social support diminishes with chronic distress. Therefore, the current study assumed that there would be a changing role of perceived social support, from a moderator to a mediator, in the relationship between sexual victimization and PTSD. Three hundred college females (mean age 19) completed questionnaires related to sexual victimization experiences, perceived social support, and PTSD symptoms in addition to other personality and socio-demographic factors. The hypotheses were not supported. However, as with previous findings, the results showed that sexual victimization significantly predicted PTSD symptom severity. / Master of Science