Traditional and cyber bullying have been identified as universal problematic issues facing adolescents, and research is needed to understand correlates associated with these phenomena. Structural equation modeling analyses examined associations between attachment to parents, traditional and cyber bullying or victimization, and mental health outcomes among 257 high school students (Average age 15.9 years). Key patterns emerged, including associations between maternal attachment and mental health outcomes; victimization and mental health concerns; and bullying and victimization in both traditional and cyber contexts. The role of attachment to mothers and fathers varied by context. Findings extend the literature by identifying risk factors in adolescence associated with bullying and victimization, as well as suggesting appropriate prevention and intervention strategies to increase adolescent well-being.

As an MFA candidate at the Florida Atlantic University, I began in figurative painting and ended with abstract ink and pencil drawings in my thesis work. In between was a progression of artistic experimentation in theme, technique and medium to explore issues of female identity and childhood sexual abuse. From a girl trapped in a dark fairytale to a pregnant woman followed by a pedophile to a new mother frustrated that her own ambitions have been usurped, the final transformation of female identity into fierce protector came after confronting memories of child abuse. Using India ink and pencil drawings, my thesis work recreates scenes of a struggle between the same attacker and a powerful mother. She spins her own hair into a delicate, but powerful, barrier that keeps her daughter safe. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.F.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014.. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) has been the subject of much recent controversy as a result of Rind, Tromovitch and Bauserman's (1998) meta-analytic examination of CSA, which found a weak relationship between CSA and self-reported psychopathology in college samples. There have been few studies of CSA which look beyond self-report. The present study is an exploration of the relationships between CSA, quantitative electroencephalographic (QEEG), neuropsychological, and psychological measurements in 24 high-functioning, unmedicated CSA adults who were matched for age, gender, and handedness with a group of adults without CSA (NCSA). The objectives of this study were to: 1) examine EEG abnormalities associated with CSA, 2) investigate QEEG cortical coherence in the groups using neuroelectric Eigen image (NEI) connectivity indices (Hudspeth, 1999), 3) integrate personality differences associated with CSA with EEG differences, and 4) better understand left versus right hemisphere functioning in CSA using intelligence testing. An examination of QEEG cortical coherence revealed moderate to large effect sizes indicating patterns of decreased connectivity between brain regions on the right frontally in the delta band, and frontally and centro-temporally on the right in the alpha band, and posteriorly in the alpha and beta bands, as well as in the cross-correlation; increased connectivity between brain regions was evidenced centrally across the motor strip and on the left temporally in the delta band, which differentiated the groups. Large effect sizes obtained on measures of personality were related to poorer adjustment for CSA adults in comparison to NCSA adults. In contrast to prior findings with clinical groups (Black, Hudspeth, Townsend, & Bodenhamer-Davis, 2002; Ito et al., 1993), hypotheses related to QEEG cortical coherence (left hemisphere alpha hypercoherence and right hemisphere theta hypocoherence), EEG abnormalities, and IQ (Verbal less than Performance) were not supported. Walker's (2003) theoretical modular coherence model was utilized to integrate coherence and personality variables and provide treatment options.

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of participants' abused or nonabused status as it interacted with their age and gender in producing different patterns of Hand Test responses as a function of the age or gender of the card. Participants, 61 young adults (M age = 23) and 60 older adults (M age = 73), were presented with the original Hand Test cards, as well as four alternate versions (e.g., young male, young female, older male, and older female). Expected effects varying by age, gender, and abuse status were not found. Results indicated main effects for participant abuse status, which were largely consistent with previous Hand Test research. Significant interaction effects were also found for participant age by participant abuse status (p < .05), as well as participant age by participant gender by participant abuse status (p < .05). An interaction effect was also found for Hand Test version by participant abuse status (p < .05), Hand Test version by participant age by participant abuse status (p < .05), as well as Hand Test version by participant gender by participant abuse status (p < .05). These results suggest that the alternate forms of the cards may pull for certain responses among abused participants that would not have been identified otherwise via the standard version of the Hand Test, clinical interviews, or other projective and self-report measures of personality. Overall, the variations in Hand Test stimuli interact with participants' abuse status, and warrant the use of alternate versions of the Hand Test as a viable projective measure.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The issue of rape in South Africa has been widely documented and debated in the form of academic, legal, governmental and media reports. The statistics that inform us both of the incidence of rape and the number of women who report rape to the police have been vehemently contested. Secondary victimization of rape survivors by police, medical and legal officials, has been reported internationally in studies conducted in the United Kingdom, the United States and South Africa. The present study explored 16 women’s experiences of reporting rape to the police in historically disadvantaged communities. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were aimed at eliciting information about the nature of their experiences with the police and how their complaints were responded to and dealt with by police personnel. Six categories and 18 themes emerged out of a grounded theory analysis performed on the data. All of the participants were reportedly dissatisfied with the manner in which they were treated or the way in which their cases were handled by the South African Police Service (SAPS). The results implied the existence of rape myths in police official’s attitudes towards rape survivors, and the need to create awareness around the rights of rape survivors who report rape to the police, as well as to educate police officers with regards to the sensitivity of the issue of rape. Keywords: rape myths; secondary victimization; police; survivors; criminal justice system; feminism; gender relations; rape in South Africa. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die onderwerp van verkragting in Suid-Afrika is deuglik debateer en dokumenteer deur middel van akademiese, wetlike, regeering en media verslagte. Die statistieke wat ons in kennis stel van die aantal insidente van verkragtings en die aantal vrouens wat verkragting reporteer is gedurig in ‘n vurige en teenstrydige toestand. Sekondêre viktimisering van verkragting oorlewendes deur die polisie, mediese en wetlike amptenare, is geraporteer op internasionale vlak in studies wat gedoen is in die Verenigde Koningkryk, die Verenigde State en Suid-Afrika. Hierdie studie dek die ervarings van 16 vrouens, vanuit historiese agtergeblewe gemeenskappe, se raportering van verkragting aan die polisie. Kwalitatiewe semi-gestruktureerde onderhoude is gemik daarop om inligting tot die lig te bring oor die natuur van hul ervaringe met die polisie, hoe daar op hul aanklagte reaggeer is en hoe die polisie dit hanteer het. Ses katogorieë en 18 temas was die resultaat vanuit ‘n gegronde teorie analisie wat gedoen is op die data. Al die vrouens was ongelukkig met die manier waarop hul beweerde behandeling, of oor hul sake hanteer was deur die Suid-Afrikaanse Polisie Diens (SAPD). Die resultate het gewys op die bestaan van verkragtingsmites in polisie amptenare se houding teenoor die verkragting oorlewendes, en die behoefte om ‘n bewustheid te skep oor die regte van verkraging oorlewendes wat verkragting raporteer aan die polisie, as ook om polisie offisiere te onderrig ten opsigte van sensitiwiteit teenoor die saak van verkragting. Sleutelwoorde: verkragtingsmites; sekondêre viktimisasie; polisie; oorlewendes; kriminele justisie sisteem; feminisme; geslagsverhoudings; verkragting in Suid- Afrika.

Transportation-related collisions are ubiquitous and often traumatic. Identifying post-collision psychological distress and the characteristics of the collision survivor that lead to distress are vital to the development of early and appropriate interventions. The goals of this study were: 1) to use a questionnaire as opposed to a typical diagnostic interview, 2) to confirm that psychological distress is present in currently hospitalized transportation-related collision survivors, 3) to confirm that different types of distress co-occur, 4) to determine if distress is more likely to occur in those who have had prior distress, and 5) to explore the relationship between symptoms of distress and perception of control by self, others, and God/Higher Power of past, present, and future collision-related events. Subjects were 100 English speaking adult inpatients, 16 years and older, who were less than 3 weeks post-injury, and receiving some rehabilitation. Participants completed a questionnaire which included the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and Davidson Trauma Scale (DTS) as well as questions regarding demographics, details of the collision/injury, alcohol/drug use, pain, past and present stressors, social support, and perceptions of life change. Information about head injury and collision-concurrent alcohol and/or drug use was collected from the patient's medical chart. Compared to other traumatic experiences (e.g., physical/sexual abuse, war combat), transportation-related collisions share the characteristics of being sudden, unexpected, relatively brief in duration, and potentially lethal. Prior studies used diagnostic interviews to identify psychological distress in post hospitalized collision survivors. This study used questionnaire-based depression, anxiety, and trauma symptom inventories in a currently hospitalized sample and included head injured patients. As hypothesized there was a significant correlation between the CES-D total score and the BAI total score [Hypothesis 1], the DTS total score [Hypothesis 2], and collision concurrent alcohol and/or drug use (as indicated by medical chart records or score on the CAGE) [Hypothesis 3]. Further, there was a significant correlation between the patient's self-reported history of depression, anxiety, or stress reaction and CES-D, BAI, and DTS total scores, respectively [Hypothesis 4]. Also as hypothesized, perceived personal control of the past "events that caused the collision" was significantly correlated with the CES-D total score [Hypothesis 5] while perceived control of the present "life in general right now" was negatively correlated to the CES-D total score [Hypothesis 6]. Contrary to hypothesis, perceived control of the present "recovery process right now" was not correlated to the CES-D total score [Hypothesis 6] nor was perceived control of the future "preventing a collision like this from happening...again" [Hypothesis 7]. Perception of control by "others" of the present "recovery process right now" was negatively correlated to the CES-D total score. Results support the theory that perceived personal control of past traumatic events increases the likelihood of psychological distress. Some evidence of post traumatic growth was found.

A sample (N = 428) of university students was introduced to a stranger that fit the public persona of either John Wayne Gacy or Ted Bundy in a vignette. The meetings between students and strangers in vignettes were similar to those in which serial killers might entrap victims. In addition to varying criminal type (Gacy or Bundy), the race and gender of the strangers were also varied in the 2 x 2 x 2 experiment. Differences among subjects in their ratings of personality traits of the strangers and how subjects expected to behave toward these persons were examined by ANOVA. Focus group discussions provided further insights about how individuals size up and react to "respectable" strangers who fit the public personas of well-known serial killers. Results suggested that young adults in the 1990s are highly vulnerable to victimization by serial murderers. / Department of Sociology

D.Litt. et Phil. / A plethora of research has been conducted on victims of township violence, detention and political unrest, but there is no research on car hijack victims or the prevalence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which could result from this crime. The implications of this lack of research are important because people are confronted by trauma on a daily basis but there are few guidelines for providing treatment. Hijackings are a somewhat recent phenomenon unlike other traumas such as wars and natural disasters, but the effects of hijacking are no less severe. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) always requires an initiating event which is assumed to be traumatic. The context in which car hijackings occur in South Africa can be considered to meet the criteria for what constitutes a traumatic event, which could possibly lead to the development of PTSD (Myerson, 1995). Not all crime victims who need professional assistance will enter therapy. This is often due to the victim's self-perception of weakness, feelings of embarrassment, or the perception that others will not understand their experience. A group-based intervention offers the advantages of reducing isolation, providing comfort and support, and eliminating feelings of stigma. For this reason it was important to analyse the nature of PTSD and how to intervene to aid the recovery from PTSD, in the South African context. The literature points to the recovery from PTSD as being contingent upon the psychotherapeutic input that the traumatised individual receives. This research focused on the development of a group-based cognitive behaviour intervention programme for victims who developed Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of car hijackings. Cognitive behavioural therapy is the only treatment modality that is supported by objective measures of success (Peterson, Prout & Schwartz, 1991) and has been found to be one of the most effective treatments (Kaplan & Sadock, 1993). In order to test the hypotheses, the Beck's Depression Inventory was used to measure the level of depression, the Spielburger's Stai Anxiety scale was used to measure the level of anxiety, and the CAPS and PCL were used to determine whether Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder existed in the individuals who participated in the study and the intensity and frequency of the symptoms.

Differences in college student's psychological well-being, extrapunitiveness, and intropunitiveness were related to the presence or absence of maltreatment during childhood years, and its acknowledgement by the student. Subjects were 56 male and 85 female undergraduate students at the University of North Texas. Subjects were given structural scale v.3 of the California Psychological Inventory (CPI), the Extrapunitive (E), and Intropunitive (I) indices of the Hostility-Direction of Hostility Questionnaire (HDHQ), and the Physical Punishment scale (PP-scale) of the Assessing Environments Questionnaire (AEIII). Results indicate no significant differences in psychological well-being, extrapunitiveness, or intropunitiveness, which would be explained by the presence of maltreatment or its acknowledgement.

Research indicates that victims of childhood abuse are at increased risk for transmitting violence in adulthood-a phenomenon known as the intergenerational transmission of abuse (ITA). Adult survivors of childhood victimization (i.e., child abuse or witnessed parental violence) are at increased risk for becoming abusive parents, perpetrators of intimate partner violence, and victims of intimate partner violence. The current study examined the latter form of ITA, in which a survivor of childhood victimization is re-victimized in adulthood by intimate partner violence. Attachment theory has been used to explain the ITA by positing that abuse is transmitted across generations via insecure attachment. The purpose of this study was to use structural equation modeling to test the attachment theory of ITA by examining the role of childhood and adult attachment in predicting re-victimization and symptoms of distress in adulthood. In the hypothesized model, childhood victimization by one's parents was hypothesized to predict adult intimate partner violence victimization through insecure attachment relationships in childhood (with one's parents) and adulthood (with one's partner). Furthermore, adult romantic attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance were hypothesized to predict different symptoms of distress. Self-report measures from 59 adult woman seeking services for intimate partner victimization at a domestic violence clinic were analyzed using a partial least squares path analysis. Results supported a reduced model in which insecure attachments in childhood and adulthood significantly predicted the ITA, but only through father-child attachment and not mother-child attachment. In addition, adult romantic attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance predicted different symptoms of distress. Results supported the attachment theory of the ITA and highlighted the importance of examining outcomes of adult attachment anxiety and avoidance separately. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.