Thesis (M.S.)--University of Delaware, 2005. / Principal faculty advisor: Ruth E. Fleury-Steiner, Dept. of Individual & Family Studies. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 85-91). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2009. / Title from title screen (site viewed January 5, 2010). PDF text: v, 187 p. : ill. ; 807 K. UMI publication number: AAT 3360289. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche formats.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 85-91). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.(H.P.))--University of Queensland, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 173-183).

The maltreatment of children is unarguably an important social concern, the negative effects of which have been well-documented in the literature over the past two decades. Research on the etiology of maltreatment, however, has yielded few strong conclusions regarding the characteristics of abusive parents. There is much disagreement with respect to the personality or psychological attributes of those parents who maltreat their children (Belsky, 1993), and the question of how those characteristics are differentially associated with the subtypes of abuse has not been adequately addressed. Furthermore, although the extant literature has consistently agreed that maltreatment contributes to poor psychological outcomes for adolescents it is less clear how these outcomes differ depending upon the type and severity of maltreatment (Trickett & McBride-Chang, 1995). The current study sought to identify those personality attributes that are both predictors and effects of abuse. Scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory- 2nd edition (MMPI-2) were examined to determine personality variables associated with perpetration of each of four major classifications of abuse. Further, scales from the MMPI-Adolescent version (MMPI-A) were utilized to determine those personality variables in adolescents that may be affected by each of those four categories. This study hypothesized that clear patterns would emerge in which certain personality variables are predictive of the type of abuse that parents engage in, and each type of abuse is predictive of the manifestation of certain personality characteristics in adolescents. The effects of gender were also analyzed. Structural Equation Modeling was used to analyze the MMPI-2 and MMPI-A data and abuse histories of 100 pairs of offending parents and maltreated adolescents. Results indicated significant direct effects of parent personality on abuse subtype, abuse subtype on adolescent personality, parent personality on adolescent personality, and one significant mediation effect of parent personality on adolescent personality through abuse subtype. Additionally, gender was found to significantly affect the engagement in and experience of abuse, and one significant interaction of gender and abuse subtype on adolescent personality was discovered. Results are of practical importance in designing abuse intervention and prevention programs and inform the current understanding of the intergenerational transmission of abuse. / text

Children are among the most vulnerable to violence. A global problem, child victimization has been extensively studied in the context of public health research. As negative consequences of victimization are demonstrated, estimation of its prevalence and identification of its risk factors are two major concerns of researchers. Intimate partner violence (IPV), a worldwide prevalent family problem in itself, is directly or indirectly demonstrated in association with risk of different child victimizations. However, majority of previous studies on child victimization were fragmented into clusters that center on specific forms of victimization, primarily those involving conventional crime, maltreatment, peer and sibling abuse, sexual violence, and witnessing of violence. Efforts for assessing complete pattern of victimization in children emerged only in recent years. Nevertheless, this initial development that has clear research gaps is far from being enough. In such a context, the present study was conducted, in a comprehensive perspective, to uncover pattern and prevalence, and to identify risk factors of child victimization in the Chinese context. IPV was particularly examined on its relationship with child victimization. The ecological theory and family systems theory were integrated to build the conceptual research framework, a family-based ecological model comprising levels of individual, family, community, and social culture. This study adopts a quantitative approach. Questionnaire survey was successfully conducted among 953 parents of children aged 0-17 years old in Wuhan, China. The respondents were identified through a four-stage stratified sampling method. For the sake of ethical consideration and research requirement, child victimization cases were reported by the parents. The Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire (JVQ) was employed for measuring child victimization. Approximately one in two children was reported having victimization. Of these victims, the proportion of those who suffered from two or more types of victimization was as high as half; children whose parents reported IPV accounted for one-third. Through multiple logistic regression analyses, the hypothesis that prior victimization can increase the risk of other victimizations was confirmed. A series of factors in the ecological model, including IPV, were identified to have association with child victimization. All the ecological factors were further examined using a structured multiphase logistic regression analysis. The results of two regression models were compared. The factors identified to be associated with the risk of child victimization involve all four levels of the ecological model. The finding suggests that occurrence of child victimization and IPV are associated and share common risk factors in the family-based ecological system. The findings emphasize the necessity of a comprehensive screening for child victimization, and highlight cooperation between services for partners and for children. The implications also include the application of family-based ecological perspective in research, and the formulation of family-based systematic prevention policies on child victimization and related family problems. In general, the reexamination of the ecological theory with emphasis on family in this study promotes the theoretical indigenization in China. The research findings contribute to the scientific database on child victimization and provide valuable implications for policies and practice of child protection. / published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Despite high prevalence rates for rape in South Africa, little focus has been placed on the rape of children, and even less on the secondary victimization of child rape survivors. Such secondary victimization may manifest in two forms, namely, negative attitudes and behaviours and the non-provision of essential services. This study aimed to explore secondary victimization in child rape as a result of the non-provision of counselling and social work services, to a sample of 200 child rape survivors, who presented for medico-legal assessment at a state hospital in the North Durban area (KwaZulu Natal, South Africa). Data analysis revealed that only 48.5% of the sample did in fact receive such services. In the majority of cases (20%), services were only provided between 2-7 days after the child had presented for medical evaluation. In addition, the study found that in most cases, service provision was limited to a single intake interview. Service provision was found to be less likely in cases where respondents resided in homesteads (informal or ‘traditional’ housing) that had no street address, or where the child presented at the study hospital outside of normal working hours. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for secondary victimization and secondary prevention programming. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

Domestic abuse embodies many forms including physical, emotional, sexual, financial, and spiritual abuse (Statistics Canada, 2011a). This study explored the experience of rural Alberta women who have left domestic abuse, as research on domestic abuse tends to be focused on urban settings. The "rural and small town" (du Plessis, Beshiri, Bollman, & Celmenson, 2001, p. 1) definition was utilized in this study: an area outside of census metropolitan areas (CMAs) and census agglomerations (CAs). CMAs have population of 100,000 or more with a core of 50,000, and CAs have a core population of 10,000 plus (du Plessis et al., 2001, p. 1). Participants included both rural women who have left abusive relationships as well as service providers who offer resources to rural women fleeing abuse. Three women told their stories of leaving domestic abuse and five service providers took part in interviews. Using a narrative approach, I gained insight into the women's experiences while offering participants the opportunity to have their stories heard. Through content analysis numerous themes emerged from the interviews. There were four themes that were found to be common to urban and rural women and six themes that were unique to or exacerbated by the rural context. The themes associated with the rural context included (a) Under a Microscope, (b) It Didn't End There, (c) Lack of Resources, (d) Squashing My Spirit, (e) From Numb to Empowered, and (f) Reaching Out. Narratives have also been included to represent each woman's story. / xii, 201 leaves ; 29 cm