The present study examines the distress symptomatology and family functioning in female undergraduate students who had been sexually victimized in childhood and revictimized in adulthood. This group was contrasted with a child sexual abuse group, peer sexual abuse group, and a no sexual trauma group. Findings indicated that the revictimized group reported the most severe forms of sexual assault relative to other victimized groups. The victimized groups were all significantly more distressed than the nonabused control group with the revictimized group reporting significantly more PTSD symptomatology than other victimization groups. The victimization groups differed significantly from the nonabused group on dimensions of family functioning, but they did not differ significantly from each other. Multiple stepwise regression analysis indicated that conflict and control were significant predictors of distress in the victimization group. Cohesion was a significant predictor of distress in the nonabused group. The clinical implications of the findings are discussed.

A structural equation model based on social cognitive theory was used to predict relationship violence from young adolescents' knowledge, self-efficacy, attitudes, and alternative conflict strategies (n = 143 male and 147 female grade 7-9 students). A direct causal effect was supported for violence-tolerant attitudes and psychologically aggressive (escalation/blame) strategies on physical violence against dating partners and friends. Knowledge and self-efficacy contributed to using reasoning-based strategies, but this reduced violence only in boys' friendships. Knowledge reduced violence-tolerant attitudes, thus reducing escalation/ blame and physical violence. Attitudes toward male and female dating violence (ATMDV and ATFDV) were indicators of general attitudes toward violence among non-dating students but ATFDV affected physical violence and ATMDV affected psychological aggression for both dating boys and girls.

This study investigated the relationship between coping strategies and distress symptomatology in survivors of sexual revictimization. Coping strategies were assessed with the revised Ways of Coping Scale (Aldwin & Revenson, 1987). Distress symptoms included global distress, depression, anxiety, and somatization. Subjects were 44 survivors of sexual victimization in both childhood and adulthood; 54 survivors of a single incident of sexual victimization in childhood; and 256 nonvictimized individuals. All were drawn from a subject pool of female undergraduate students. Multivariate analysis of variance revealed significant differences between groups on reported symptomatology and coping strategies. Victimized groups reported more distress than did the nonvictimized group. The multiple victimization group indicated greater use of coping strategies than did the nonvictimized group, and both victimized groups reported greater use of the escapism strategy than did the nonvictimized group. Multiple backward regression analysis found that coping strategies were predictive of distress symptomatology in all three groups, with escapism as the most potent predictor of distress for each group. Coping strategies were the most powerful predictors of distress in the multiply victimized group. The results of this study provide strong support for the importance of addressing coping strategies in clinical intervention of distress, particularly with survivors of multiple sexual victimization.

This study highlights the need for increasing trauma treatment for women with intellectual/developmental disabilities, and emphasizes the need for accessible intervention to facilitate coping, trauma processing and community integration.

The purpose of this study was to identify variables that differentially affect parent-adolescent separation in subjects from separated vs subjects from intact families. The subjects were 318 introductory psychology students at the University of Manitoba who had already left home. They were given the Moving Out questionnaire as well as Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control Scale. Contrary to our hypotheses, subjects from separated families did not experience more conflict when leaving home than subjects from intact families, and the type and amount of divorce-related conflict was not related to higher emotional separation or locus of control scores. However, it was found that as divorce-related conflict became more openly expressed, feelings of personal control increased and feelings about leaving home became more positive. Emotional separation scores were significantly higher for all males and for subjects from separated families. Also, females had a greater sense of external control than males.