Introduction: This study explores students', teachers' and no teaching staff's knowledge about the risk factors of child abuse and their level of awareness in comparison with other professional and educational fields. The study assesses the degree of knowledge about the risk factors related to child characteristics, family, socioeconomic and…

Childhood adversities tend to impact development in a cumulative way. However, extant research on childhood adversities has focused on a variable-centered approach to examine the cumulative effect of adversity. Using Latent Class Analysis (LCA) and adopting a pattern-centered approach, the authors investigate how different youth may experience…

The Childhood Sexual Abuse Stereotypes Scale was developed to assess stereotypes of adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Scale items were derived from two studies that elicited cultural and personal beliefs about, and emotions experienced towards adult childhood sexual abuse survivors among university undergraduates. Two scales, Emotions and…

This study assessed college men's reactions immediately following and 2 months after completing self-report measures of interpersonal violence. Results showed that 4.3% of men experienced immediate negative emotional reactions. Greater immediate negative reactions were related to personal benefits to research participation, anticipation of future…

In an effort to improve understanding of the mechanisms that link early maltreatment to later outcomes, this study investigated the mediation effects of adult attachment processes on the association between childhood emotional abuse and later romantic relationships among heterosexual couples. College students and their dating partners (N = 310;…

The current study examines the utility of self-trauma theory for explaining the long-term impact of childhood psychological abuse on aggression. Specifically, the self-capacities of interpersonal relatedness, identity, and affect regulation are tested as mediators of the impact of psychological abuse on various types of aggression in adulthood.…

In this analysis I reflected how research reflexivity and professional use of self assisted me in completing my phenomenological doctoral study about African American mothers' experiences of sexual mistreatment and how those experiences influence their child rearing practices within an extended family system. I combined research and social work…

Despite their formal dissimilarity, problem behaviors (e.g., substance misuse, binge eating, self-harm) may share a common function. According to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), this shared function is "Experiential Avoidance," the process of avoiding, escaping or otherwise altering unwanted private events (e.g., thoughts, feelings,…

Objective: The present study tests a model linking attachment, childhood sexual abuse (CSA), and adult psychological functioning. It expands on previous work by assessing the degree to which attachment security moderates the relationship between a history of child sexual abuse and trauma-related symptoms in college females. Method: Self-reports of…

The present study examined the psychological sequelae of child sexual abuse (CSA) and the factors that contributed to revictimization in the form of adult sexual assault (ASA) using a survey of 577 female college students. CSA characteristics, maladaptive coping in response to CSA, degree of self-blame at the time of the abuse and currently, and…

This research examines the understudied issue of race/ethnicity in relation to child sexual abuse experiences (CSA) in a cross-sectional convenience sample of 461 female college students completing a survey. Comparisons of students' abuse experiences revealed ethnic differences in sexual abuse prevalence, severity of abuse, the victim-offender…