Intimate Partner Violence in El Salvador: A Relationship Between Femicide Attempts and Barriers to Help-Seeking.

Research has examined the relationship between femicides, understood as the killing of any woman, and intimate partner violence (IPV). Additionally, women have been found to seek out formal help when they deem their experiences to be severe, yet many reasons prevent them from doing so; hindering our ability to interrupt the cycle of violence and further victimization. Using the Salvadoran 2017 Violence Against Women National Survey, this study examines the relationships between femicide attempts, IPV, and formal help-seeking. We find a significant positive relationship between experiencing a femicide attempt and IPV, and specific reasons for not seeking formal help.

The Impact of Child Polyvictimization and Cultural Factors on Lifetime Intimate Partner Violence Among Salvadoran Women.

This study examined the impact of child abuse on intimate partner violence (IPV) among a representative sample of 3,296 women using the Violence Against Women National Survey data from El Salvador. We found that child physical, sexual, and psychological abuse were independently associated with IPV, and experiencing child polyvictimization, along with having a controlling husband increased the risk of IPV victimization. To prevent child abuse (poly)victimization and IPV, and its negative consequences in El Salvador, implementing programs that focus on group training for women and men, as well as, community mobilizations that involve multiple stakeholders with multiple approaches would be beneficial.

Understanding of Factors Associated with Reporting to the Police, Helping Seeking, and Adopting in Self-protection among Stalking Victims: A Latent Class Analysis.

Victims of stalking use multiple help-seeking behaviors including reporting their experiences to the police, obtaining a restraining order, blocking communication, and relying on informal social networks like friends, family, or therapists. The goal of this study is to, first, identify distinct subgroups of stalking victims based on their help-seeking behaviors. Next, we identify the direct effect of sex, victim-offender relationship, and offense severity on class membership. Finally, we include negative emotions as a mediating effect. Using the 2016 National Crime Victimization Survey's Supplemental Victimization Survey data, latent class analysis was utilized to identify class membership among 1,459 stalking victims. The results indicate three groups: passive help-seekers, informal help-seekers, and active help-seekers. We found that females are more likely to be assigned to the active or informal group and these two groups appear to experience more severe stalking behaviors compared to the passive group. Specifically, victims were less likely to ask for help actively and ask family, friends, and non-professional people for help for whom stalking took place by other/unable to identify individuals. Victims whose stalkers had a criminal record, whose stalkers threatened themselves or others, as well as who suffered stalking lasting for months and the most often were more likely to ask for help actively and ask family, friends, and non-professional people for help. The significance of victims' perceptions of severity of both groups is only partially mediated by negative emotions.

Las víctimas del acoso utilizan diversos comportamientos de búsqueda de ayuda, como denunciar los hechos a la policía, conseguir una orden de alejamiento, bloquear la comunicación o confiar en las redes sociales informales como amigos, familia o terapeutas. El objetivo del estudio es en primer lugar reconocer distintos subgrupos de víctimas de acoso en función de sus comportamientos de búsqueda de ayuda. A continuación observamos el efecto directo en la pertenencia al grupo del sexo, la relación víctima-agresor y la gravedad del delito. Por último, abordamos el efecto mediador de las emociones negativas. Utilizando los datos de la encuesta suplementaria de victimización de la Encuesta Nacional de Delitos de Victimización de 2016 nos servimos del análisis de clases latentes para analizar la afiliación de clase en 1,459 víctimas de acoso. Los resultados muestran tres grupos: buscadores de ayuda pasivos, informales y activos. Resultó que es más probable que las mujeres sean asignadas al grupo activo o informal y que estos dos grupos parecen experimentar comportamientos de acoso más graves en comparación con el grupo pasivo. En concreto era menos probable que las víctimas pidieran ayuda activamente y a la familia, amigos y personas no profesionales que habían sufrido acoso por parte de otras personas incapaces de identificar. Era más probable que las víctimas cuyos acosadores tenían antecedentes penales y les habían acosado a ellos o a otras personas y cuyo acoso había durado meses y más a menudo pidieran ayuda activa y también a la familia, amigos y personas no profesionales. La importancia de cómo percibían la gravedad ambos grupos solo estaba mediatizada en parte por las emociones negativas.

Understanding of Factors Associated with Reporting to the Police, Helping Seeking, and Adopting in Self-protection among Stalking Victims: A Latent Class Analysis / [Conocer los factores asociados a las denuncias a la policía, la búsqueda de ayuda y la adopción de autoprotección en las víctimas de acoso: un análisis de clases latentes]

Victims of stalking use multiple help-seeking behaviors including reporting their experiences to the police, obtaining a restraining order, blocking communication, and relying on informal social networks like friends, family, or therapists. The goal of this study is to, first, identify distinct subgroups of stalking victims based on their help-seeking behaviors. Next, we identify the direct effect of sex, victim-offender relationship, and offense severity on class membership. Finally, we include negative emotions as a mediating effect. Using the 2016 National Crime Victimization Survey’s Supplemental Victimization Survey data, latent class analysis was utilized to identify class membership among 1,459 stalking victims. The results indicate three groups: passive help-seekers, informal help-seekers, and active help-seekers. We found that females are more likely to be assigned to the active or informal group and these two groups appear to experience more severe stalking behaviors compared to the passive group. Specifically, victims were less likely to ask for help actively and ask family, friends, and non-professional people for help for whom stalking took place by other/unable to identify individuals. Victims whose stalkers had a criminal record, whose stalkers threatened themselves or others, as well as who suffered stalking lasting for months and the most often were more likely to ask for help actively and ask family, friends, and non-professional people for help. The significance of victims’ perceptions of severity of both groups is only partially mediated by negative emotions.(AU)

Las víctimas del acoso utilizan diversos comportamientos de búsqueda de ayuda, como denunciar los hechos a la policía, conseguir una orden de alejamiento, bloquear la comunicación o confiar en las redes sociales informales como amigos, familia o terapeutas. El objetivo del estudio es en primer lugar reconocer distintos subgrupos de víctimas de acoso en función de sus comportamientos de búsqueda de ayuda. A continuación observamos el efecto directo en la pertenencia al grupo del sexo, la relación víctima-agresor y la gravedad del delito. Por último, abordamos el efecto mediador de las emociones negativas. Utilizando los datos de la encuesta suplementaria de victimización de la Encuesta Nacional de Delitos de Victimización de 2016 nos servimos del análisis de clases latentes para analizar la afiliación de clase en 1,459 víctimas de acoso. Los resultados muestran tres grupos: buscadores de ayuda pasivos, informales y activos. Resultó que es más probable que las mujeres sean asignadas al grupo activo o informal y que estos dos grupos parecen experimentar comportamientos de acoso más graves en comparación con el grupo pasivo. En concreto era menos probable que las víctimas pidieran ayuda activamente y a la familia, amigos y personas no profesionales que habían sufrido acoso por parte de otras personas incapaces de identificar. Era más probable que las víctimas cuyos acosadores tenían antecedentes penales y les habían acosado a ellos o a otras personas y cuyo acoso había durado meses y más a menudo pidieran ayuda activa y también a la familia, amigos y personas no profesionales. La importancia de cómo percibían la gravedad ambos grupos solo estaba mediatizada en parte por las emociones negativas.(AU)

The Effects of Polyvictimization by Intimate Partners on Suicidality Among Salvadoran Women.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) victims tend to suffer from various mental health issues. Mental health issues, including suicidal thoughts and attempts caused by IPV victimization, might be more severe among women in El Salvador, where violence against women is prevalent overall. Although polyvictimization, which is defined as experiencing more than one type of violence by one or multiple partners, is associated with more severe mental health consequences than victimization by just a single form of violence due to accumulative trauma, not enough attention has been paid to this phenomenon among Salvadoran women. Thus, guided by trauma theory, this study aimed to examine the impact of polyvictimization from different types of violence (i.e., physical, sexual, emotional, and economic) on suicidal thoughts and attempts among Salvadoran women using the 2017 Violence Against Women National Survey. A nationally representative sample of 3,074 Salvadoran women aged 15 years or older and who had experienced an intimate relationship in their lifetime, recruited through a multistage random sampling design, was analyzed in this study using logistic regression analyses. We found that psychological and economic violence, along with physical and sexual violence, had statistically significant associations with suicidal thoughts and attempts, and polyvictimization increased suicidal thoughts and attempts. Based on this study's findings, we recommend effective research and practice or intervention implementation for addressing IPV and associated mental health problems among Salvadoran women.

Examining Technology-Facilitated Intimate Partner Violence: A Systematic Review of Journal Articles.

As intimate partner violence in a cyber world is increasing, scholars have started to pay attention to this phenomenon. This study aims to provide a systematic review of empirical studies in the technology-facilitated intimate partner violence (TFIPV) field. We analyzed 31 studies that examined direct TFIPV perpetration and/or victimization experiences identified from four of the largest databases (i.e., Web of Science, PsyInfo, PubMed, and SCOPUS). We found that most studies recruited adolescents or young adults (i.e., college students) and used a very diverse range of terminologies that describe similar phenomena but are not based on validated instruments. We discuss the implications of our findings and suggestions that can enhance the field's rigor and guide future research.

Combating IPV With Community Leaders in Honduras: An Evaluation of an IPV Training Program Among Teachers and Health Professionals.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) among women in Latin America, including Honduras, is serious. To help IPV victims, a community-based educational program has been implemented. This study aims to examine the impact of IPV training among teachers and health care professionals (n = 160) on increases in IPV knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy when dealing with IPV victims using a pretest and posttest design. We found that the treatment group who received IPV training showed significantly lower justification for IPV, higher gender equality attitudes, and higher IPV knowledge as well as higher confidence levels in identifying IPV victims and safety planning for victims. We concluded that the IPV training program using the community-based approaches has the potential to help IPV victims in Honduras. More efforts should be made to increase the educational opportunities the community members can receive.

Factors Associated With Willingness To Report Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) to Police in South Korea.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious social problem in South Korea, but the IPV reporting rate to the police is not high enough. To reduce violence and further victimization, it is important for IPV (potential) victims to report to police. Thus, this study aimed to examine the factors associated with willingness to report IPV to police if they experience it using the 2013 Korean National Domestic Violence Survey data. A representative sample of 5,000 Korean participants, of whom 1,668 were males and 3,332 were females, were recruited using a stratified multistage sampling design. We found that the willingness to report IPV to the police was statistically significant when the participants were young, had strong knowledge of IPV-related laws, had lower levels of acceptance of violence, had lower levels of conservative gender role values, and when the seriousness of violence was higher for both male and female participants. However, having children and having experienced child abuse only affected women's willingness to report IPV to the police. Based on this study's findings, we then discussed policy implications to prevent further victimization, focusing on factors that are associated with willingness to report violence to the police.

Children's behavior problems, caregivers' trauma history, and membership in latent physical abuse trajectory classes: An approach of latent class growth analysis to dating violence victimization.

BACKGROUND: Child abuse is a serious social problem in the USA as many children suffer from child abuse and its negative consequences are severe. To prevent future victimization, it is essential to understand unique patterns of child abuse trajectories over time and the factors associated with their victimization. OBJECTIVE: The primary goal of this study was to identify individual differences in developmental trajectories of alleged physical abuse between the ages of 2 and 12. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: The sample included all children drawn from Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN), which is a consortium of five study sites (South, East, Midwest, Northwest, and Southwest). METHODS: Using the high-risk sample with Child Protective Service record reviews prior to age 4, significant variability in trajectory class membership was observed in the unconditional Latent Class Growth Analysis. RESULTS: Three trajectory classes were obtained from the data: Early Onset, Late Peak and Non-Victims. The findings showed that children who had an attention problem at age 4 were more likely to become members of both the Early Onset and Late Peak groups, relative to Non-victims. Also, membership in the Late Peak group was predicted by caregivers' childhood physical abuse, supporting for the cycle of physical abuse across generations. Finally, children in the Late Peak group were at the highest risk of being physically, psychologically, and sexually abused in a dating relationship at age 14. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that children's internal and external behavior problems and caregivers' childhood physical abuse are predictive of child abuse trajectory class membership. Parental education programs that increase their knowledge about children with special needs and intervention programs targeting caregivers with a history of physical abuse would be beneficial to prevent child abuse (re)victimization.

Assessment of Research on Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Among Sexual Minorities in the United States.

Although sexual minority couples experience intimate partner violence (IPV) similar to or higher than heterosexual couples, not much attention has been given to LGBTQ couples. Using content analysis, this integrative review seeks to examine the state of scholarly literature regarding IPV among LGBTQ+ communities in the United States. For studies to be eligible for inclusion in this review, studies were required to focus on LGBTQ+ populations within the United States, published in English, involved violence between intimate partners, were the result of peer-reviewed, original research, and were published between years 2008 and 2018. Using SocIndex as the search database, a total of 46 peer-reviewed journal articles met the inclusion criteria. This study found that most studies employed quantitative research designs aiming to examine the statistical relationship between IPV and other variables by using surveys. Demographic information of the participants was mostly used as predictors of IPV, whereas health-related risky behaviors were mostly used as outcomes variables that were associated with IPV. Theoretical frameworks, methodology, and policy suggestions used in each study were examined in depth. A discussion of future studies and policy implications follows the findings of this study.

Religion, Religious Heterogeneity, and Intimate Partner Violence Among Korean Immigrant Women.

This study examined the role of religious affiliations and frequency of religious service attendance-such as church, Bible studies, and temples-as well as religious heterogeneity between couples on intimate partner violence (IPV) among Korean immigrant women in the United States. Through a case-control design, this study compared 64 Korean immigrant IPV victims with 63 Korean immigrant non-IPV victims. This study's findings reveal that for Korean immigrant women, a high frequency of religious service attendance was associated with higher IPV victimization, while their partners' high religious service attendance was associated with lower IPV victimization. When women's partners were religious compared with when they were not religious, they were less likely to perpetrate IPV even when the partners' alcohol consumption frequency increased. Also, when there was a gap between couples regarding frequency of religious attendance, IPV victimization increased. This discussion concludes by suggesting some policy implications based on these findings.

Fighting Against Intimate Partner Violence With Hairstylists: A Pilot Study of Korean Immigrants in New York City.

This study aims to explore the potential role of hairstylists in helping intimate partner violence (IPV) victims in the Korean immigrant communities using a cross-sectional survey design that includes open- and close-ended survey questions. In all, 47 Korean hair salon stylists were surveyed on their experience with their clients related to IPV. The findings of this study reveal that a high percentage of clients disclosed their and their friends' IPV victimization to the hair salon stylists. Some of the hair salon stylists' characteristics, such as years of working and the length of residence in the United States, were statistically associated with IPV disclosure among their clients. Most hair salon stylists were willing to help their clients in general, but they were not well-prepared to help IPV victims due to a lack of resources and knowledge. We conclude that hair salons have a great potential to increase IPV-related knowledge in immigrant communities (including the Korean community) and help IPV victims pending appropriate training aimed at improving their knowledge and competencies regarding IPV identification and intervention.

Understanding Intimate Partner Violence in the Asian Communities in America: A Systematic Review.

The goal of this study is to provide a systematic review of empirically based journal articles published between 2006 and 2016 that address intimate partner violence (IPV) among Asian communities in the United States. We analyzed 57 peer-reviewed journal articles published in English. Most studies employed quantitative research designs that were cross-sectional in nature and focused on examining the statistical relationships between variables. Sociodemographic variables were the most frequently used variables to predict IPV, while health outcome variables were the most frequently used variables caused by IPV. Theoretical frameworks, methodology, and policy implications used in other studied were discussed in depth. Based on the findings of our study, we recommended future research avenues that can fill the gap in scholarly journal articles investigating the Asian communities.

The impact of perceived childhood victimization and patriarchal gender ideology on intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization among Korean immigrant women in the USA.

Childhood victimization experiences are common among intimate partner violence (IPV) victims. This study examines the link between childhood physical and sexual victimization experiences and adulthood IPV among Korean immigrant women in the USA. As Korean immigrants often use physical punishment to discipline their children, and reporting sexual abuse is discouraged due to stigmatization in this community, cultural factors (e.g. patriarchal values) related to childhood victimization and IPV were also examined. Survey data from Korean immigrant women in the USA were collected. Using a case-control design, we compared 64 Korean immigrant women who have experienced IPV in the past year with 63 Korean immigrant women who have never experienced IPV in their lifetime. The findings of this study reveal that IPV victims, compared with non-victims, experienced higher childhood victimization rates. Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that childhood victimization and patriarchal gender ideology strongly predict IPV victimization among Korean immigrants. However, patriarchal values did not moderate the relationship between childhood victimization and IPV. To prevent IPV among Korean immigrant population, we need to make special efforts to prevent childhood abuse and change ingrained cultural attitudes about child physical and sexual abuse among immigrant communities through culturally sensitive programs.