Gender-based violence and suicidal ideation among Indian women from slums: An examination of direct and indirect effects of depression, anxiety, and PTSD symptoms.

OBJECTIVE: India accounts for 36.6% of suicide-related deaths among women worldwide. One social determinant of suicide in India is gender-based violence (GBV), and it disproportionately affects women from poorer socioeconomic classes. Although Indian women from slums are at high risk of GBV, the direct and indirect relationships between types of GBV and suicidal ideation (SI) for Indian women remain unexplored. This study examined: (a) the direct associations between types of GBV and SI and (b) indirect associations between GBV and risk for SI through depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. METHOD: Trauma-exposed Indian women were recruited (N = 112); 98 completed a trauma screen, PHQ-9, GAD-7, and PCL-5 in Hindi. Traumatic events were categorized as GBV overlapping with Criterion A trauma (CA-GBV), emotional/economic GBV without Criterion A (E-GBV), and Criterion A without GBV (CA). The relation between trauma types and SI was examined through the indirect role of depression, anxiety, and PTSD symptoms. RESULTS: Logistic regression analyses revealed that CA-GBV was associated with higher odds of SI than other trauma types. This relationship was explained through the indirect role of depression symptom severity after accounting for other trauma types, anxiety, and PTSD symptoms. CONCLUSION: Results align with research showing that CA-GBV is particularly pernicious and affects SI. While anxiety and PTSD symptoms are related to CA-GBV, results suggest the relative importance of depression severity in the relation between CA-GBV and SI. Screening for SI among GBV survivors and treating depression symptoms may reduce the risk of suicide. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Through the Eyes of a Child: Witnessing Childhood Trauma Is as Impactful as Experiencing Trauma for Polyvictimized Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse.

In this retrospective study of 244 adult survivors of child sexual abuse (CSA), their experiences of childhood polyvictimization were analyzed as to their cumulative effect on trauma symptoms, education, and income levels. The data were gathered by anonymously sampling adult survivors of CSA from websites that were specific to this population (such as online peer support groups). Their experiences of victimization were examined as to Cumulative Polyvictimization, Witnessing Traumas (such as witnessing intimate partner violence), and Experiencing Traumas (such as child physical abuse). The majority of the sample (87%) experienced polyvictimization in childhood (in combination with CSA), with the largest part of the sample (83%) experiencing emotional abuse by someone close to them, and the smallest part of the sample (22%) experiencing child physical abuse by someone with whom they were not close. The results of the linear regressions showed that both experiencing and witnessing trauma were significantly associated with trauma symptoms for CSA survivors. These results suggest that both types of victimization (experiencing and witnessing) need to be treated as direct traumas, and a more holistic approach toward survivors of CSA is needed toward assessment and treatment.