NCJ Number
199708
Date Published
January 2004
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This longitudinal study examined experiences with interpersonal
violence in childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood for a sample of college women.
Abstract
Childhood and adolescent data were retrospective; data collected
across the four collegiate years were prospective. The study
focused on physical violence against women among acquaintances,
paralleling existing research on experiences with sexual coercion
(Humphrey and White, 2000). The co-occurrence of sexual and physical assault and the relationship between experiences of sexual and physical violence as a victim were also addressed. Specific goals of the research where to examine whether and how the characteristics of the victim and the environment
(situational/contextual effects) individually and in combination
affected the risk of physical victimization during adolescence
and young adulthood; the study also considered how these factors
evolved from one developmental stage to the next, so as to
predict the onset of victimization and the occurrence of revictimization. Two incoming classes of women (1990 and 1991)
were surveyed regarding a variety of social experiences. Approximately 83 percent of the 1990 class (n=825) and 84 percent
of the 1991 class (n=744) provided usable surveys. Three incoming
freshmen classes of men (1990, 1991, and 1992) were also surveyed
on a range of social experiences (n=835). A classic longitudinal
design was used and replicated over two cohorts (those born in
1972 and 1973), with participants assessed first at 18 years old,
and again at 19, 20, 21, and 22 years old. Fully 88 percent of
the women reported having experienced at least one incident of
physical or sexual victimization between adolescence and their
fourth year of college. Only 12 percent of the women indicated no
incidents of physical or sexual victimization between age 14 and
the end of the fourth year of college. The proportion of women
who experienced any physical victimization (77.8 percent) and any
sexual victimization (79.2 percent) was nearly identical. Young
women were at greatest risk for physical dating violence in high
school. For young women who were not victimized in high school,
the risk of first victimization in college was low. Analyses
further indicated that the co-occurrence of physical and sexual
victimization was common. Childhood victimization increased
women's risk for high school victimization, and different types
of childhood victimization placed women at risk for different
types of dating violence. Although young adults who experienced
childhood victimization were, generally, at greater risk for
dating-violence victimization in high school, those who had been
victimized as children but were not victimized in high school
were no more likely than those not abused as children to
experience physical or sexual victimization in college. An
increased number of sex partners was associated with all types of
victimization. Women who had experienced covictimization and
those who had been only sexually victimized during adolescence
had the greatest number of sex partners during adolescence,
followed by those who had been only physically assaulted. These
patterns were maintained during the college years. Alcohol use
was highest for women who experienced covictimization in
adolescence and the first year of college, and women with no
history of victimization reported the lowest rates of alcohol
use. Implications are drawn for future research and for
practitioners. 1 exhibit and 11 references
Date Published: January 1, 2004