Why Are Single Parents More Often Threatened with Violence? A Question of Ecological Vulnerability?

• NCJ Number: 194549
• Journal: International Review of Victimology Volume: 8 Issue: 2 Dated: 2001 Pages: 183-198
• Author(s): Suzanna Wikstrom; Per-Olof H. Wikstrom
• Date Published: 2001
• Length: 16 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

This article presents a study of the increased victimization by threats of violence experienced among Swedish single parent families as opposed to other Swedish family types.

Abstract

This study is an investigation of the factors that contribute to increased levels of victimization through threats of violence for single parents families. In the 1978 and 1988/1989 Swedish national victim surveys data suggested the increased vulnerability of single parent families to threats of violence emerged. The authors further investigated this trend and collected data through interviews with 1,498 randomly selected subjects over the age of 20 who lived in 8 suburban Stockholm neighborhoods. Three related factors that might contribute to the increased victimization through threats of violence were considered: the subject’s risky relationships, the subject’s involvement in risky life-styles, and environmental risk. The factor with the strongest correlation to the increased risk of single-parent victimization was environmental risk or area of residence. 8 tables, 18 references