Vulnerability in Victims of Interpersonal Crime - A Study of Stress and Sex Differences as Risk Factors

• NCJ Number: 102409
• Author(s): R A Newhouse
• Date Published: 1985
• Length: 186 pages
• Sale Source: UMI Dissertation Services
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS. United States International University doctoral dissertation

Annotation

Experiencing short-term stress plays a part in increasing some people's chances of becoming a victim of personal crime.

Abstract

However, the person's overall fear level, their internal or external locus of control, and their sex are unrelated to their vulnerability. Study data came from self-administered questionnaires completed by crime victims in California and New Jersey. The 42 respondents completed the questionnaires between the summer of 1982 and the spring of 1984. They represented 18.3 percent of the crime victims receiving questionnaires from victim assistance agencies. For a large number of subjects, stress levels increased from noncrisis to crisis levels before and after the victimization. A small number experienced stress at crisis levels both before and after the incident and during previous years. A few subjects reported no crisis-level stress during any time period. Victims reported low fear in general as well as low fear in areas that victimization might be expected to affect. Similarities between male and female scores suggested that victimization should be considered a human problem rather than a female problem. Geographical differences, recommendations for research, data tables, appendixes presenting the instrument and additional results, and 127 references.