Dating violence (DV) is a widespread social issue that has numerous deleterious repercussions on youths' health. Family and peer risk factors for DV have been widely studied, but with inconsistent methodologies, which complicates global comprehension of the phenomenon. Protective factors, although understudied, constitutes a promising line of research for prevention. To date, there is no comprehensive quantitative review attempting to summarize knowledge on both family and peer factors that increase or decrease the risk for adolescents and emerging adults DV victimization. The current meta-analysis draws on 87 studies with a total sample of 278,712 adolescents and young adults to examine effect sizes of the association between various family and peer correlates of DV victimization. Results suggest small, significant effect sizes for all the family (various forms of child maltreatment, parental support, and parental monitoring) and peer factors (peer victimization, sexual harassment, affiliation with deviant peers, and supportive/prosocial peers) in the prediction of DV. With few exceptions, forms of DV (psychological, physical, and sexual), gender, and age did not moderate the strength of these associations. In addition, no difference was found between the magnitude of family and peer factors' effect sizes, suggesting that these determinants are equally important in predicting DV. The current results provide future directions for examining relations between risk and protective factors for DV and indicate that both peers and family should be part of the development of efficient prevention options.

Romantic attachment is a significant target for the prevention and treatment of violence in intimate relationships involving adolescents or emerging adults. (PsycINFO Database Record

Despite the proliferation of studies documenting outcomes in sexually abused victims, gender differences remain understudied. The bulk of studies have relied on retrospective samples of adults with insufficient representation of male victims to explore gender specificities. This study examined differential outcomes among boy and girl victims of sexual abuse. A predictive model of outcomes including abuse characteristics and sense of guilt as mediators was proposed. Path analysis was conducted with a sample of 447 sexually abused children (319 girls and 128 boys), aged 6 to 12. Being a girl was a predictor of posttraumatic stress symptoms, while being a boy was a predictor of externalizing problems. Being a boy was also associated with more severe abuse, which in turn predicted posttraumatic stress symptoms. Child's gender was not related to perpetrator's relationship to the child or sense of guilt. However, sense of guilt predicted posttraumatic stress symptoms and externalizing problems while perpetrator's relationship to the child predicted externalizing problems. Gender specificities should be further studied among sexually abused children, as boys and girls appear to manifest different outcomes. Sense of guilt should be a target in intervention for sexually abused children, as results highlight its link to heightened negative outcomes.

These findings have implications for the understanding of gender-specific etiologies of borderline personality symptoms and underscore attachment security as an important intervention target. (PsycINFO Database Record

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Childhood cumulative trauma (CCT) refers to an amalgam of childhood maltreatment experiences that can lead to a range of symptoms and problems in adulthood. The current study examined an integrative model of CCT for its relevance to psychosexual adjustment in adult survivors. A total of 620 participants aged 18 years and over completed a questionnaire assessing early life experiences, affect dysregulation, sexual anxiety, and sexual satisfaction. Path analyses confirmed the hypothesis that CCT is associated with affect dysregulation and sexual anxiety that, in turn, predict lower levels of sexual satisfaction. The validity of this mediational model was demonstrated for different operationalizations of CCT. The results suggested that sex therapists, who are likely to encounter CCT survivors in their practice, should consider targeting affect dysregulation in their efforts to decrease sexual anxiety and increase sexual satisfaction.

There is an understudied, meaningful distinction between high frequency of pornography use and the subjective feeling that this behavior is out of control. We examined whether the quality of a couple's relationship and sex life can strengthen or weaken the association between frequency of Internet pornography use and perceived lack of control over this behavior. In a sample of 1,036 participants, results showed that frequency of pornography use was more strongly associated with feeling out of control when relationship and sexual satisfaction were lower. Findings suggest that couple dissatisfaction puts the individual at risk of reporting out-of-control pornography use.

Among personality traits, neuroticism has been shown to be the most significant predictor of dyadic adjustment. Despite some propositions arguing that low, as well as high levels of personality traits are maladaptive tendencies, only the negative linear relationship between neuroticism and couple satisfaction has been addressed in past research. The aim of this study was to examine the nonlinear association between neuroticism and dyadic adjustment for both partners of a clinically distressed sample of couples. The sample included 472 couples seeking couple therapy who completed the NEO-FFI (P. T. Costa & R. R. McCrae, 1992, NEO PI-R professional manual, Odessa, FL, Psychological Assessment Resources) and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (G. B. Spanier, 1976, Measuring dyadic adjustment: New scales for assessing the quality of marriage and similar dyads, Journal of Marriage and the Family, 38, pp. 15-28). Results showed, for actor and partner effects, a significant nonlinear, inverted U-shaped relationship between neuroticism and dyadic adjustment. In particular, both very low levels and high levels of neuroticism were associated with lower dyadic adjustment for both the individual and his or her partner. This finding is in contrast with the traditional negative linear association between neuroticism and dyadic adjustment observed in previous research. Openness and agreeableness also positively predicted self and partner dyadic adjustment. Findings bear important clinical implications for therapists assessing and working with distressed couples.