Sexual Violence of Liberian School Age Students: An Investigation of Perpetration, Gender, and Forms of Abuse.

This study examined the perpetration of sexual violence within the institutional setting of primary schools in Liberia using secondary analysis of data collected from 811 Liberian school aged participants (298 girls and 513 boys). The study looked specifically at the perpetration of: 1) sexual violation, 2) transactional sex, and 3) sexual coercion. Sexual violation was the most common form of sexual violence experienced, followed by sexual coercion, and then transactional sex. Findings showed statistically significant differences in experiences of transactional sex and sexual coercion, with girls more likely to experience both forms of violence. Further, girls were more likely to experience sexual abuse by a teacher and religious figure. Perpetration by teachers, school staff, and religious figures were all linked to transactional sex. Results showed that transactional sex was most highly statistically significantly associated with teachers while perpetration by a religious figure was statistically significantly associated with sexual coercion. Girls had three times of the odds of experiencing transactional sex and coercion. We conclude that there is a need for interventions to prevent sexual abuse from occurring in educational institutions. In particular, there is a need for protective mechanisms addressing the transactional nature of abuse with teachers and school staff.

A randomized controlled trial of a multi-dose bystander intervention program using peer education theater.

This article reports findings from a longitudinal, experimental evaluation of a peer education theater program, Students Challenging Realities and Educating Against Myths (SCREAM) Theater. This study examines the impact of SCREAM Theater on a range of bystander-related outcomes (i.e. bystander intentions, bystander efficacy, perception of friend norms and bystander behaviors) in situations involving sexual violence and whether there was a differential impact of the program by participant sex. First-year college students completed three waves of surveys (pretest, first post-test and second post-test). All participants received one dose of the intervention during summer orientation after the pretest. After the first post-test, participants were randomly assigned to receive two additional doses, or to a control condition, in which they received no additional doses. Students in both one- and three-dose groups reported a number of positive increases. Overall, an intent-to-treat analysis (n = 1390) indicated three doses of the intervention during the first semester of college resulted in better outcomes than the one-time intervention during summer orientation alone. Although both male and female students' scores increased during the study period, female students consistently scored higher than male students on each outcome. The findings suggest that peer education theater holds promise for bystander intervention education on college campuses.

Predicting Bystander Behavior to Prevent Sexual Assault on College Campuses: The Role of Self-Efficacy and Intent.

Bystander intervention has been increasingly applied to prevent sexual violence on college campuses. Its underlying theory assumes unidirectional relationships between variables, predicting that bystander behaviors (i.e., actions taken to intervene in sexual violence situations) will be influenced by bystander intentions (BI; i.e., likelihood to intervene in the future), which in turn will be affected by bystander efficacy (BE; i.e., confidence to intervene). One question for theory is whether a reciprocal relationship exists between BI and BE. We used structural equation modeling (SEM) with longitudinal data to test unidirectional and reciprocal causal relations between BI and BE. Participants (n = 1390) were students at a northeastern US university. Four models were examined using SEM: (1) a baseline model with autoregressive paths; (2) a model with autoregressive effects and BI predicting future BE; (3) a model with autoregressive effects and BE predicting future BI; and, (4) a fully cross-lagged model. Results indicated that reciprocal causality was found to occur between BI and BE. In addition, a final model demonstrated indirect effects of a bystander intervention program on bystander behaviors through both BI and BE at different time points. Implications for theory and practice are described, and directions for future research discussed.

IPV Experiences and Financial Strain Over Time: Insights from the Blinder-Oaxaca Decomposition Analysis.

Financial strain is one hardship faced by female survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) that is often overlooked. This paper examined the relationships between multiple forms of abuse-with a focus on economic abuse-and financial strain. Guided by stress process model, this study tested two hypotheses: (1) economic abuse is associated with financial strain more than other types of IPV; and (2) decreased economic abuse relates to financial strain over time. The study sample consists of 229 female IPV survivors who participated in a longitudinal, randomized controlled study evaluating an economic empowerment curriculum. Results from regression models suggest that physical abuse and economic abuse were significantly and positively associated with the magnitude of financial strain. Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition was used to partition the mean differences of financial strain over time that was mainly attributed to the decrease in economic and physical abuse (78%). Particularly, the decrease of economic abuse contributed to over half (58%) of the decrease in financial strain over time. Advocates should assess survivors' risk of economic abuse, evaluate financial strain, and utilize financial safety planning skills to help survivors build economic security and independence. In addition, policy makers should address issues concerning economic security among female IPV survivors.

Sexual revictimization in adult women: examining factors associated with their childhood and adulthood experiences.

Using data collected from a sample of adult women (n = 234), this study examined the relationship between the experience and disclosure of childhood sexual abuse and subsequent adult sexual violence. Multivariate analyses revealed that physical force during the childhood sexual abuse experience was significant in both children's decisions to disclose as well as in adult revictimization experiences. Furthermore, childhood disclosures were significantly associated with adulthood disclosures about revictimization, but only when there was no action following the childhood disclosure. The implications for enhancing training and education about understanding and responding to children and women's disclosures about sexual violence are discussed.

Improving Quality of Life Among Latina Intimate Partner Violence Survivors Through Economic Empowerment.

This study examined the relationship between (1) quality of life and forms of intimate partner violence (IPV) (i.e., psychological abuse, physical violence, sexual violence, and types of economic abuse), and (2) quality of life and economic empowerment among Latina IPV survivors. The authors used data from the Moving Ahead financial literacy program evaluation (n = 200). Nested random-effects models were conducted. Findings indicated that psychological abuse and economic control were significantly and negatively associated with quality of life. Economic empowerment (i.e., financial knowledge, economic self-efficacy, and economic self-sufficiency) was significantly and positively related to Latinas' quality of life. Financial strain was inversely associated with Latina's quality of life. These findings highlight the importance of identifying strategies for increasing the overall well-being of Latina IPV survivors. Economic empowerment interventions can be an effective mechanism for improving their quality of life. As such, domestic violence organizations should include economic empowerment as part of the services offered to survivors.

Women's Economic Abuse Experiences: Results from the UN Multi-Country Study on Men and Violence in Asia and the Pacific.

Economic abuse is a poorly understood form of intimate partner violence but may have far-reaching implications for the financial health of the survivor. Additionally, very little is known about whether depressive symptoms, education, employment, or attitudes about relations between men and women mediate or moderate the relationship between economic abuse and their financial circumstances. The purpose of this study was to answer these two research questions: (a) Is there a relationship between the experience of economic abuse and food insecurity (as a measure of poverty)? (b) Is the relationship between economic abuse and food insecurity impacted by women's education, women's and men's employment, women's attitudes towards gender relations, or women's depressive symptoms? We used quantitative data from the "UN Multi-Country Study on Men and Violence," analyzing data on 3,105 women aged 18-49 years who were interviewed. Initial logistic regressions were conducted followed by introducing moderators and mediators to the model using path analyses to test the relationship between economic abuse and food insecurity in the household. Significant predictors of food insecurity included several types of abuse and partners' employment, women's own employment, and education. The only type of IPV not associated with food insecurity was physical abuse. Experiences of economic abuse were associated with a 1.69 times greater likelihood of reporting food insecurity which was higher than experiences of psychological or sexual abuse. Additionally, women's experiences of economic abuse over their lifetime were significantly associated with an increase in depressive symptoms which in turn was associated with greater likelihood of experiencing food insecurity. Such relationships warrant attention to economic abuse and depressive symptoms as part of the interventions used when working with survivors. Additional research could also help further our understanding of how these variables interact together and how best to address its impact on survivors.

Exploring Factors Associated with Intimate Partner Violence Survivors' Use of Financial Safety Planning Strategies.

The purpose of this study was to explore financial strategies that intimate partner violence (IPV) survivors undertake when engaging in safety planning and to examine the relationship between these strategies and various survivor characteristics. As part of the cross-sectional study, a total of 425 female survivors of IPV were surveyed. To examine the relationship between financial safety planning strategies and participants' demographic characteristics, abuse experiences, and financial knowledge, binomial logistic regression analyses were conducted. Factors associated with financial safety planning varied by strategy; ethnicity and nativity were often significantly associated. Implications for practice and areas for future research are discussed.

Do You Believe Your Partner is Capable of Killing You? An Examination of Female IPV Survivors' Perceptions of Fatality Risk Indicators.

Advocates in the field of intimate partner violence (IPV) have started to more actively engage survivors around their own perceptions of their lethality risk, as well as assist them in developing strategies for reducing and managing risk related to reassault and intimate partner homicide (IPH). Although research has examined the risk factors most associated with risk and utilized this information in the development and validation of risk assessment tools to be used with survivors, less is known about which indicators survivors most associate with lethality risk. This study aims to fill this gap by examining which risk indicators IPV survivors associate with fatality risk. Classification and regression tree analyses were used to differentiate between women who believed their partners were capable of killing them and those who did not. Data on a sample of 213 survivors of IPV used in this analysis were collected as part of a larger study in which a risk assessment instrument was piloted across four counties within New Jersey in 2016. More than three fourths of participants believed that their abuser was capable of killing them. Alhough the majority of survivors in the study felt as though their abusers were capable of killing them, there was variation in how survivors prioritized risk indicators. Factors associated with fatality risk included: (a) prior homicide threats; (b) whether the abusers had control over survivors' daily activities; (c) abusers' access to a gun; and (d) abusers' drug use. Findings suggest that IPV survivors need targeted intervention strategies around IPH, particularly those at higher perceived risk levels given the presence of risk indicators and their perceptions of lethality threat.

Examining the Relationship Between Economic Abuse and Mental Health Among Latina Intimate Partner Violence Survivors in the United States.

Currently, Latinos constitute the second largest and fastest growing minority group in the United States. Among this population, one in every six Latinas experience intimate partner violence (IPV) in her lifetime. Research has documented significant detrimental effects of physical, sexual, emotional, and psychological IPV on the physical, emotional, and cognitive well-being of various cultural/ethnic groups; however, few studies have focused on economic abuse, which may include tactics of economic control, economic exploitation, and employment sabotage. Research examining economic abuse against racial/ethnic minorities, particularly Latinos, is needed. To address these gaps, baseline data from a larger treatment outcome study were used to examine the associations between economic abuse and the mental health symptoms reported by 245 Latina IPV survivors in the United States. When examining the economic abuse experiences reported by Latinas in this sample, the results indicated that the most commonly reported form of economic abuse was economic control (e.g., restricting access to money and financial information). Multiple regression analyses revealed that economic abuse did not uniquely predict mental health after accounting for other forms of IPV victimization and sociodemographic characteristics. Limitations of this study are discussed, and directions for future research designed to enhance our understanding of economic abuse against various racial/ethnic groups (such as Latinas) are presented.

Administering the U.S. Family Violence Option: The role of stigma in waiver recommendations.

The Family Violence Option (FVO) was designed to help survivors of domestic violence (DV) more easily secure income support in the United States (U.S.), without placing them at risk of further abuse. The objective of this study is to determine whether the decision-making of advocates responsible for determining waiver recommendations under the FVO is influenced by the relationship status of DV survivors. Recursive partitioning was used to analyse data from a sample of 237 survivor risk assessments from four New Jersey counties to determine which women receive waiver recommendations and which do not. Advocates completed risk assessments for the women and were instructed to make recommendations on waivers based on their assessment. Workers' decision-making was examined using classification and regression trees (CART) to determine what case factors made it more or less likely for survivors to be recommended waivers. The CART results were supplemented with logistic regression analyses to ensure validity. For two of three waivers, survivors who reported currently residing with their abuser or who had ended the relationship recently were less likely to receive waiver recommendations than those who had been out of the relationship for a longer period of time (OR = 0.09-0.21), even when accounting for the type and severity of DV and the impacts of the violence on survivors' mental health. The results indicate that DV advocates' decision-making is complicated by factors independent of survivors' case characteristics. This can affect the safety and well-being of women attempting to leave violent relationships by affecting their access to resources.

A global collaboration to study intimate partner violence-related head trauma: The ENIGMA consortium IPV working group.

Intimate partner violence includes psychological aggression, physical violence, sexual violence, and stalking from a current or former intimate partner. Past research suggests that exposure to intimate partner violence can impact cognitive and psychological functioning, as well as neurological outcomes. These seem to be compounded in those who suffer a brain injury as a result of trauma to the head, neck or body due to physical and/or sexual violence. However, our understanding of the neurobehavioral and neurobiological effects of head trauma in this population is limited due to factors including difficulty in accessing/recruiting participants, heterogeneity of samples, and premorbid and comorbid factors that impact outcomes. Thus, the goal of the Enhancing NeuroImaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis (ENIGMA) Consortium Intimate Partner Violence Working Group is to develop a global collaboration that includes researchers, clinicians, and other key community stakeholders. Participation in the working group can include collecting harmonized data, providing data for meta- and mega-analysis across sites, or stakeholder insight on key clinical research questions, promoting safety, participant recruitment and referral to support services. Further, to facilitate the mega-analysis of data across sites within the working group, we provide suggestions for behavioral surveys, cognitive tests, neuroimaging parameters, and genetics that could be used by investigators in the early stages of study design. We anticipate that the harmonization of measures across sites within the working group prior to data collection could increase the statistical power in characterizing how intimate partner violence-related head trauma impacts long-term physical, cognitive, and psychological health.

Economic Abuse as an Invisible Form of Domestic Violence: A Multicountry Review.

The predominant perception of intimate partner violence (IPV) as constituting physical violence can still dominate, particularly in research and media reports, despite research documenting multiple forms of IPV including sexual violence occurring between intimate partners and various forms of psychological and emotional abuse. One frequently hidden or "invisible" form of abuse perpetrated within intimate partner relationships is economic abuse, also referred to as financial abuse in much of the literature. While the links between gendered economic insecurity and economic abuse are emerging, there remains a lack of consistency about definitions within the United States and globally, as there is no agreed upon index with which to measure economic abuse. As such, the purpose of this article is to review and analyze the global literature focused on either economic or financial abuse to determine how it is defined and what measures are used to capture its prevalence and impact. The 46 peer-reviewed articles that met all inclusion criteria for analysis came from a range of countries across six continents. Our review found that there is growing clarity and consistency of terminologies being used in these articles and found some consistency in the use of validated measures. Since this research is in its "infancy," we need to have stronger collaborative efforts to use similar measures and terminology. Part of that collaborative effort is to consider how language and cultural differences may play a part in our understanding of economic abuse.

Developing and Validating the Scale of Economic Self-Efficacy.

Experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) and financial hardship are often intertwined. The dynamics of an abusive relationship may include economic abuse tactics that compromise a survivor's ability to work, pursue education, have access to financial resources, and establish financial skills, knowledge, and security. An increasingly common goal among programs serving IPV survivors is increasing financial empowerment through financial literacy. However, providing financial education alone may not be enough to improve financial behaviors. Psychological factors also play a role when individuals make financial choices. Economic self-efficacy focuses on the individual's perceived ability to perform economic or financial tasks, and may be considered a primary influence on one's ability to improve financial decisions and behaviors. The current study tests the reliability and validity of a Scale of Economic Self-Efficacy with a sample of female survivors of IPV. This study uses a calibration and validation analysis model including full and split-sample exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, assesses for internal consistency, and examines correlation coefficients between economic self-efficacy, economic self-sufficiency, financial strain, and difficulty living with income. Findings indicate that the 10-item, unidimensional Scale of Economic Self-Efficacy demonstrates strong reliability and validity among this sample of IPV survivors. An ability to understand economic self-efficacy could facilitate individualized service approaches and allow practitioners to better support IPV survivors on their journey toward financial empowerment. Given the increase in programs focused on assets, financial empowerment, and economic well-being, the Scale of Economic Self-Efficacy has potential as a very timely and relevant tool in the design, implementation, and evaluation of such programs, and specifically for programs created for IPV survivors.

Women's experiences of violence and seeking help.

Every day, women survive physical or sexual violence. Some survive as a result of services they receive in the aftermath of the abuse. The study presented here explored women's experiences of victimization and their use of and perceptions about the services they received. It is learned that what providers usually prioritize and what the women in this study used-namely emotional, psychological, and legal support-are not what these women identified as the most helpful. Instead, tangible supports, such as food, housing, and financial assistance, were viewed as the most helpful, along with religious or spiritual counseling.

Providing services to trafficking survivors: Understanding practices across the globe.

PURPOSE: Human trafficking is a global issue, with survivors representing all genders, ages, races, ethnicities, religions, and countries. However, little research exists that identifies effective practices in supporting survivors of human trafficking. The research that does exist is Western-centric. To fill this gap in the literature, the goal of this research was to understand practices used throughout the globe with adult human trafficking survivors. METHODS: A qualitative approach was utilized. Providers from 26 countries, across six different continents, were interviewed to allow for a comprehensive and multi-faceted understanding of practices in working with survivors. RESULTS: Participants identified utilizing an empowerment-based, survivor, and human life-centered approach to working with survivors, emphasized the importance of engaging in community level interventions, and highlighted the importance of government recognition of human trafficking. DISCUSSION: Findings provide information from the perspective of advocates on best practices in the field that can be used by agencies to enhance human trafficking programming.

Measuring Economic Abuse in the Lives of Survivors: Revising the Scale of Economic Abuse.

Recent attention has been given by researchers to understanding how abusers use economic abuse strategies. Unfortunately, limited measures are available to accurately understand the prevalence of economic abuse in the lives of survivors. Recently, researchers created the 28-item Scale of Economic Abuse (SEA) but further validation is needed. This article describes the psychometric evaluation of the SEA through confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses using data collected with 120 survivors of abuse. The findings provide evidence for the reliability and validity of the SEA-12 as a shorter instrument to measure economic abuse as a distinct form of abuse.

Supporting youth involved in domestic minor sex trafficking: Divergent perspectives on youth agency.

Domestic-minor sex trafficking (DMST) continues to affect youth in the United States; however, lack of empirical evidence for interventions and the complex sociopolitical discourses surrounding sex trafficking and the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) hamper delivery of effective services to this population. To explore perspectives on best practices with these young people, 20 in-depth interviews were conducted with key stakeholders whose work provides them with a unique vantage point on the needs and experiences of survivors of DMST in New Jersey. Notes from interviews were coded and analyzed for emergent themes. While key stakeholders generally agreed on best practices, there were several important areas of dispute that emerged regarding how best to serve youth involved in DMST, specifically with regard to youth running away from services, models of service provision, and the use of technology by these youth. Findings suggest that professionals from diverse backgrounds may disagree about the extent to which youth involved in DMST possess agency in their decision-making capacities as adolescents. This study explores these areas of dispute, and discusses the implications for the many different professionals and systems that must work together in providing services to this population.

The Abusive Behavior Inventory-Revised.

Measuring experiences of intimate partner violence is critical for researchers and advocates. One measure, the Abusive Behavior Inventory (ABI), has limited testing but is used more frequently by advocates in domestic violence organizations. This article describes the psychometric evaluation of the ABI through confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses among data collected with 457 female survivors of abuse in seven states and Puerto Rico. The findings provide evidence for the reliability of a revised ABI (ABI-R) with three factors: physical violence, psychological abuse, and sexual abuse.

Women from different ethnic groups and their experiences with victimization and seeking help.

For women who experience abuse in childhood or adulthood, the assumptions are that surviving includes seeking help. This article presents an exploratory study on the prevalence of victimization in the lives of Caucasian, African American, and Latina women, if and to whom they disclosed their victimization, and where they turned for services and support. The results indicate Caucasian women turn more to traditional, therapeutic sources compared with African American women, who tend to use tangible supports. However, when controlling for a number of key variables, the ethnic differences disappear. Implications for further research and practice conclude this article.