These summaries were written by SVPEP staff and are based on original papers published within the last 2 years. The information available on this web site is provided as a public service and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, the Arizona Department of Health Services, or the University of Arizona. To conduct an individual search or locate older articles use the Search Summary Database which includes over 600 articles related to sexual violence.

Banyard, V. L.  (2008). Measurement and correlates of prosocial bystander behavior: The case of interpersonal violence.  Violence and Victims, 23, 89-97. [Posted July 2008]
 
Key Points:  Gender, relationship to victim, personality and other individual characteristics may affect bystander behaviors in the context of interpersonal violence.

Summary:  The exploratory study examined the effects of gender and specific personality characteristics on bystander attitudes and behaviors.  The study discusses the development of measures of bystander attitudes and behaviors and includes preliminary analyses of the correlates of bystander behaviors among a sample of 389 undergraduate students.  Results were consistent with previous findings in that prosocial behaviors were higher among individuals with greater knowledge of sexual violence.  Those who perceived higher effectiveness as a bystander were more willing to practice prosocial behaviors, and reported a greater number of actual behaviors.     

Limitations:  The behaviors, attitudes, and consequences of bystanders may vary by social context. 

Topics: community attitudes/responses, prevention

Berson, M. (2006). Finding ways to change behaviour. In 2006 NetSafe Symposium - Cybersafety & Security Online (pp. 44-46). NetSafe. [Posted September 2006]

Key Points: Current efforts in internet safety education for children are effective at increasing knowledge, but ineffective in changing behavior.

Summary: This document is part of the published proceedings of an internet safety and security conference held in Wellington, New Zealand, in July of 2006. The document is a transcript of a plenary given by Dr. Michael Berson of the University of South Florida, where he comments on current efforts to provide internet safety education to children and future directions. Evaluated efforts of well-funded internet safety education programs have been able to demonstrate an increase in knowledge, but none have demonstrated a significant change in behavior. Current efforts and legislation promoting traditional criminal justice models of behavior prevention are unlikely to succeed. There is too much emphasis on restricting children's access to pornography. Future efforts must get children to be critical consumers of the vast volumes of information they have access to. The critical question educators should be trying to answer is, "...how do children discern fact from fantasy?"

This document is available online.

Topics: media/internet; prevention

Chisholm, J. F. (2006). Cyberspace violence against girls and adolescent females. Annals of New York Academy of Science, 1087, 74-89. [Posted April 2007]

Key Points: Youth are often not psychologically equipped to protect themselves from bullying and exploitation online. Most adults are not aware of the risks to which young people are exposed through electronic communication.

Summary: This article summarized types of “cyberviolence” (online bullying and other forms of exploitation). The ability to send messages anonymously and instantly through text messaging or email has created a new set of potential benefits and dangers for young people. Online culture evolves rapidly and can vary dramatically by age group. Adults who are not as technologically savvy as youth may not be aware of bullying and other damaging online behavior and thus not able to protect young people from online dangers. Several projects working to prevent or mitigate victimization are presented. The author recommended that research be done to examine the effects of online socializing on adolescent development, and how the Internet continues to change patterns of communication. She also recommended training for mental health practitioners who work with youth to recognize signs of online victimization.

Topics: adolescent/high school; media/internet; prevention

Collier, B., Ghie-Richmond, D., Odette, F., & Pyne, J. (2006). Reducing the risk of sexual abuse for people who use augmentative and alternative communication. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 22, 62-75. [Posted October 2007]

Key Points: People with disabilities who use augmentative and alternative communication expressed needs for information on healthy sexuality and sexual abuse.

Summary: Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) is used by people who have difficulty speaking, and includes signing systems as well as communication devices and tablets. This article describes “Speak Up – Safeguarding People who use Augmentative Communication from Sexual Abuse/Victimization,” a 3-year program to identify and address issues related to intimate relationships, sexuality, and abuse. Most of the 26 participants (14 males, 12 females) requested information on healthy sexuality and disability as well as dealing with sexual abuse. Most reported that they had not received this information from parents, schools, or helping professionals. Other types of abuse were also discussed. Initially, some participants did not recognize abusive experiences in their lives because the behavior was so common that it was not considered unusual. Over the study period, half of participants requested counseling services to address issues of past or on-going abuse. Barriers to education and services were considerable for this population, as most legal and health system professionals have limited understanding of AAC, and many AAC systems did not include vocabulary that would allow people to discuss sex or abuse. To meet the identified needs of the participants, the researchers prepared educational materials for their use (available online) and developed resources and recommendations for families and service providers (available online and appended to the article).

Limitations: This was not a representative study; participants were both self-selected and selected by researchers for their ability to communicate in group settings. The researchers deliberately chose not to ask participants about their experiences of sexual abuse. For these reasons, the information shared by participants should be considered anecdotal.

Topics: disabled; prevention; vulnerability

Fitzgerald, M.M., Danielson, C.K., Saunders, B., & Kilpatrick, D.G. (2007).Youth victimization: Implications for prevention, intervention, and public policy. The Prevention Researcher, 14, 3-7. [Posted August 2007]

Key Points: Policies and practices are needed to minimize the harm of youth victimization by encouraging assessment, targeted prevention, and treatment interventions.  

Summary: The authors review national prevalence rates of youth victimization, including: sexual, emotional or physical abuse; witnessing domestic or community violence; property crime; and excessive punishment. They note gender and race/ethnicity differences in prevalence rates as well as mental health effects. Specific recommendations for assessing risk and resiliency factors as well as screening for victimization in clinical settings are given. The authors discuss the importance of targeted interventions for specific groups, and urge adoption of an ecological model. Finally, the authors discuss how public and organizational policies can help decrease the impact of victimization and increase the availability of supportive services for youth and their families.

Topics: adolescent/high school; effects; medical response; prevalence; prevention; racial/ethnic differences

Hammond, W. R., Whitaker, D. J., Lutzker, J. R., Mercy, J., & Chin, P. M. (2006). Setting a violence prevention agenda at the centers for disease control and prevention. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 11, 112-199.

Summary: This article describes the role of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in violence prevention and its current mission, organizational structure, research priorities and trends, and programs. The CDC applies the public health approach to different areas of violence prevention, including intimate partner violence, sexual violence, child maltreatment, youth violence, and suicide prevention. The Division of Violence Prevention focuses on applied research and technical assistance to community-based organizations. All violence objectives and projects are influenced by the CDC'S values in primary prevention, good science, public education, causal factors, and a vision for non-violent communities.

Topics: prevention

Hines, D.  (2007). Predictors of sexual coercion against women and men:  A multilevel, multinational study of university students.  Archives of Sexual Behavior, 36, 403-422. [Posted July 2008]
 
Key Points:  The type of relationship between partners and societal sexual beliefs predicted forced and verbal sexual coercion for both women and men.  

Summary: This study had several goals: to investigate rates of forced and verbal sexual coercion and sexual revictimization around the world, association between sexual coercion and adversarial sexual beliefs, and association between childhood sexual abuse and current victimization of sexual aggression in both men and women. Information was gathered from the International Dating Violence Study where questionnaires were completed by students in a classroom setting at various universities around the world.  The findings suggest that adversarial beliefs about romantic relationships were associated with sexual coercion for both genders.  The sites with high rates of hostile beliefs about the opposite sex observed a higher number of reports of verbal and forced sexual coercion victimization.    

Limitations: This was a correlation study based on a sample of college/university women and men.

Topics: male-female relations, prevention, prevalence, racial/ethnic differences

Kisiel, C., Blaustein, M., Spinazzola, J., Schmidt, C. S., Zucker, M., & van der Kolk, B. (2006). Evaluation of a theater-based youth violence prevention program for elementary school children. Journal of School Violence, 5, 19-36. [Posted August 2007]

Key Points: Children who participated in the program had better pro-social skills, developed fewer new aggressive behaviors, and scored higher on attention and engagement scales than those who did not participate.

Summary: Four classrooms of fourth-grade students (n=77) participated in Urban Improv (UI), a youth violence prevention program incorporating theater and education. The program consisted of nine weekly sessions, and incorporated experiential learning and discussion. Students in participating classrooms were compared with students in four classrooms that did not participate in UI (controls: n=63). Students and teachers completed pre- and post-program evaluations. Students completed self-report on measures on their social skills, problem behaviors, coping style, and attitudes and beliefs about aggression. Teachers reported on their students’ demonstration of pro-social skills (cooperation, self-control, and assertiveness) and problem behaviors. Though student self-reports did not indicate changes between pre- and post-tests, teacher post-program assessments showed significant positive differences between participants and controls. Participants were found to maintain baseline levels of aggression, while controls’ aggressive behavior increased. Pro-social behaviors increased in the participant group and decreased in the control group. Additionally, students who participated in the program showed an improvement in attention/ engagement behaviors, while non-participants showed a decrease in those behaviors.

Topics: curriculum; prevention

Lee, D.S., Guy, L., Perry, B., Sniffen, C.K., & Mixson, S.A. (2007). Sexual violence prevention. The Prevention Researcher, 14, 15-20. [Posted August 2007]

Key Points: Because sexual violence is a social problem, ending it requires comprehensive community prevention strategies as well as individual education.

Summary: The authors reviewed the feminist theoretical basis for sexual violence prevention programs, which states that cultural norms and unequal gender roles lead inevitably to violence against women. They argue that education efforts that address attitudes about gender roles and seek to build relationship skills can be made more effective by incorporating them into comprehensive and community change models. Several comprehensive programs developed using the Ecological Model and the Spectrum of Prevention model are described. Examples of programs based on community mobilization, changing social norms, and social marketing illustrate community level prevention strategies. The importance of promoting policy changes at local and national levels is emphasized. Finally, the authors call for more funding and research into cultural causes of and responses to sexual violence.

Topics: prevention; theory

Macy, R. J. (2006).  A coping theory framework toward preventing sexual revictimization.  Aggression and Violent Behavior, 12, 177-192. [Posted June 2008].
 
Key Points:  Adaptive, proactive, and resistive-defensive coping strategies may be used to construct a framework for interventions to prevent revictimization.

Summary:  This paper examines three related coping theories; adaptive, proactive, and resistive-defensive and addresses how they may provide a framework to organize women’s coping efforts after sexual victimization in order to decrease the negative aspects of assault and reduce the likelihood of revictimization.  The paper consists of several sections: a summary of research on revictimization, a description of the three types of coping theories, the connections between theories, limitations of the research, and recommendations for future research.

Limitations: There is limited research on the scope of theory. 

Topics: prevention, theory

Mattaini, M. A., & McGuire, M. S. (2006). Behavioral strategies for constructing nonviolent cultures with Youth: A review. Behavior Modification, 30, 184-224.

Summary: This article provides a brief review of the roots of youth violence at a social level. It describes the traits of effective and ineffective programs to address youth violence, and focuses on two types of intervention strategies it considers to be promising and potentially effective. The first type is universal skill training with youth, for which the article provides an analysis of several programs using universal skill training. Each program description offers and a summary of its strengths and weaknesses. Such programmatic analysis is also provided for the second intervention type, which is the use of universal ecological based strategies in interventions. Such interventions are designed to change cultural practice in cultural networks.

Topics: adolescent/high school; prevention; theory

Reed, E., Silverman, J. G., Raj, A., Rothman, E. F., Decker, M. R., Gottlieb, B. R., et al. (in press). Social and environmental contexts of adolescent and young adult male perpetrators of intimate partner violence: A qualitative study.  American Journal of Men’s Health. [Posted 2008]  
                                                     
Key Points: Social and environmental life contexts and their interaction should be considered when addressing male perpetration of intimate partner violence (IPV). 

Summary: This was a qualitative study that examined family, peer, school, and community contexts among male urban youth in New England who were perpetrators of IPV.  Interviews were conducted with 25 young men from five school and community-based IPV intervention programs for male perpetrators.  Themes that emerged from the interviews included; disruptive home environments, lack of positive male role models, peers who used substances, gang involvement, supporting behaviors of sexual mistreatment of females, lack of educational support, and impact of exposure to violence and/or fear of violence in their communities.

Limitations: The qualitative findings only reflect the individual experiences of a small group of young men enrolled in IPV perpetration programs. 

Topics: perpetration, prevention, treatment

Wolak, J., Finkelhor, D., Mitchell, K. J., & Ybarra, M. L. (2008). Online "predators" and their victims: Myths, realities, and implications for prevention and treatment. American Psychologist, 63, 111-128. [Posted April 2008]

Key Points: Prevention efforts based on myths about online sexual abuse are likely to be ineffective.

Summary: This article summarizes current research on online sexual victimization and compares it to media accounts. The authors identify the known characteristics of online crimes, victims, and offenders, using data from the nationally representative Youth Internet Safety Surveys (YISS) and the National Juvenile Online Victimization Study (N-JOV). The YISS studies surveyed Internet users aged 10-17, and the N-JOV study collected information from law enforcement agencies on Internet-related sex crimes with underage victims. The authors note that only 5% of crimes from the N-JOV study involved the use of force, and none involved children under the age of 12. They suggest that the emotional immaturity and strong sexual feelings of young adolescents may lead them to develop romantic attachments to people they meet online. The authors point out that traditional therapeutic treatment that emphasizes recovery from abuse may not be appropriate for youth who do not identify as victims, and that new models need to be developed. They recommend that prevention efforts with adolescents be targeted, age-appropriate, and include frank discussions of sexuality and the hazards of relationships with older people. Finally, they caution that the dynamic and evolving sphere of electronic communication, including text messaging and new online technologies, make continuing research into monitoring online environments essential to prevent victimization.

Topics: adolescent/high school; media/internet; myths/stereotypes; perpetration; prevention; risk; treatment

Young, A., Young, A. & Fullwood, H. (2007). Adolescent online victimization. The Prevention Researcher, 14, 8-9. [Posted April 2007]

Key Points: As Internet use becomes more common, the number of youth exposed to online sexual solicitation, sexual material, and harassment (sexual or bullying) has increased.

Summary: In a review of three recent studies, the authors estimated national prevalence of online victimization of youth at 13% for sexual solicitation; 34% for exposure to unwanted sexual material; and 9% for any type of harassment. The majority of incidents was not distressing and was not reported to adults. Risk factors for online victimization included older age (youth 14-17 were at higher risk than younger children) and gender (girls were more likely to experience sexual solicitation or harassment than boys). In one study, 60% of youth gave out personal information in an online questionnaire or form. About 45% gave that information to someone they had met online. Possible prevention strategies include frank discussion by adults about Internet victimization so that youth are better equipped to avoid it and deal with it if it happens. The authors recommended making youth aware of the possible consequences of sharing personal information online. Adults can also prepare youth to take action if they are victimized: removing themselves from the situation; changing screen name; and reporting the incident to prevent others from being victimized.

Topics: adolescent/high school; harassment; media/ internet; prevalence; prevention; risk

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Updated 09/19/08