NCJ Number
226863
Journal
Child Maltreatment Volume: 14 Issue: 2 Dated: May 2009 Pages: 127-147
Date Published
May 2009
Length
21 pages
Annotation
Results are presented from two studies which examined the relationships among polyvictimization (high levels of victimization), six categories of childhood victimization, and current psychological symptomatology in college females.
Abstract
Results of the studies indicated that exposure to multiple types of childhood victimization was common. Regression analyses revealed that polyvictimization accounted for a significant proportion of variability in scores for psychological distress beyond that accounted for by any victimization category alone. The six categories separately accounted for little to no variability beyond that accounted for by polyvictimization. Polyvictimization accounted for a significant proportion of variability in scores for psychological distress beyond that already accounted for through the simultaneous entry of all six categories of victimization. The results suggest the contentions that to more fully understand children’s experience with violence, clinicians and researchers should study several categories of childhood victimization. This article reports results from two studies using multiple regression analyses to examine the relative contributions of polyvictimization and six aggregate categories of childhood victimization (property crime, physical crime, physical assault, peer/sibling, witnessed/indirect, sexual, and child maltreatment) in predicting psychological distress in a sample of college women, and whether polyvictimization contributed significant unique variance, beyond that accounted for by the combination of all six categories of victimization. Tables and references