Posttraumatic Growth, Centrality of Event, Trauma Symptoms and Resilience: Profiles of Women Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence

The current study used a person-oriented approach to investigate (a) potential distinctive groups of women survivors of IPV based on their posttraumatic growth (PTG), centrality of event, resilience, and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) patterns, and (b) examine the role of sociodemographic (age, education, work status) and violence related (physical and emotional violence, time since last violence episode, psychological help) factors in distinguishing these groups. The study sample consisted of 421 women survivors of IPV, and latent profile analysis revealed four profiles: “negative impact” (11% of the sample), “positive growth” (46%), “low impact” (18%), and “distressed growth” (25%). Women age, education, received psychological help, frequency of physical and emotional violence, and time since last violence incident significantly distinguished some of the indicated profiles from each other. Findings of this study contribute to the existing literature by identifying different responses to IPV and investigating some of the theoretical assumptions that had not been comprehensively analyzed in the IPV literature. Limitations of the study and implications for future research are discussed

Path to posttraumatic growth: the role of centrality of event, deliberate and intrusive rumination, and self blame in women victims and survivors of intimate partner violence

CC BY 4.0Increased interest in positive changes in the aftermath of traumatic events led researchers to examine assumptions about the process of posttraumatic growth (PTG). However, existing studies often use samples from mixed trauma survivors and investigate separate factors and their associations with growth. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to examine the path from centrality of event to PTG involving intrusive and deliberate rumination and self-blame as a coping strategy in women survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV). The study sample consisted of 200 women with a history of IPV (ages 18–69, M = 44.79, SD = 12.94). Results of the path analysis indicated that higher centrality of event was related to higher levels of intrusive rumination which was positively related to self-blame and deliberate rumination eventually leading to PTG. Indirect effects from centrality of event to PTG through intrusive and deliberate rumination, and from intrusive to deliberate rumination through self-blame were examined. This study gave support to some theoretical assumptions of the process of PTG and pointed out problematic areas of investigation of coping strategies in this process

Perceived maternal disapproval of friends: How mothers shape and respond to child and friend adjustment problems

CC BY 4.0The present study examines relations between adjustment problems and perceptions of maternal disapproval of friends in a sample of Lithuanian public middle-school students. The participants (ages 10 to 14) were 284 children (148 boys, 136 girls) who were involved in 142 stable friendships. Each friend described their own conduct problems, emotional problems, and perceptions of maternal disapproval of friends twice during the same academic year (M = 14.4 weeks apart). Dyadic analyses replicated previous findings in that one friend’s conduct and emotional problems forecast changes in the same problems in the other friend. Greater initial problems also anticipated increases in children’s’ perceptions of disapproval of friends by their own— but not their friend’s—mother, highlighting maternal efforts to manage the relations of troubled children. These efforts met with mix success. On the one hand, maternal disapproval of friends did not result in subsequent declines in adjustment problems among their own children; to the contrary, the conduct problems of boys increased with greater maternal involvement. On the other hand, adjustment problems declined among children whose friends reported higher levels of maternal disapproval, suggesting that maternal friendship management may interfere with the spread of problems between children

Perceived maternal disapproval of friends: How mothers shape and respond to child and friend adjustment problems

The present study examines relations between adjustment problems and perceptions of maternal disapproval of friends in a sample of Lithuanian public middle-school students. The participants (ages 10 to 14) were 284 children (148 boys, 136 girls) who were involved in 142 stable friendships. Each friend described their own conduct problems, emotional problems, and perceptions of maternal disapproval of friends twice during the same academic year (M = 14.4 weeks apart). Dyadic analyses replicated previous findings in that one friend’s conduct and emotional problems forecast changes in the same problems in the other friend. Greater initial problems also anticipated increases in children’s’ perceptions of disapproval of friends by their own—but not their friend’s—mother, highlighting maternal efforts to manage the relations of troubled children. These efforts met with mix success. On the one hand, maternal disapproval of friends did not result in subsequent declines in adjustment problems among their own children; to the contrary, the conduct problems of boys increased with greater maternal involvement. On the other hand, adjustment problems declined among children whose friends reported higher levels of maternal disapproval, suggesting that maternal friendship management may interfere with the spread of problems between children

Associations between emotions and psychophysiological states and confirmation bias in question formulation in ongoing simulated investigative interviews of child sexual abuse

Introduction: In forensic settings interviewers are advised to ask as many open-ended questions as possible. However, even experts may have difficulty following this advice potentially negatively impacting an investigation. Here, we sought to investigate how emotions and psychophysiological parameters are associated with question formulation in real time in an ongoing (simulated) child sexual abuse (CSA) interview. Method: In a experimental study, psychology students (N = 60, Mage = 22.75) conducted two interviews with child avatars, while their emotions (anger, sadness, disgust, surprise and relief), GSR and heart rate (HR) were registered. Results: First, we found that general emotionality related to CSA and perceived realness of the avatars was associated with stronger overall emotional reactions. Second, we found that closed (vs. open) questions were preceded by more facially observable anger, but not disgust, sadness, surprise or relief. Third, closed (vs. open) questions were preceded by higher GSR resistance and lower heart rate. Discussion: Results suggest for the first time that emotions and psychophysiological states can drive confirmation bias in question formulation in real time in CSA

Post-traumatic growth in female survivors of intimate partner violence

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of psychological resilience, social support and non-support in post-traumatic growth of female survivors of intimate partner violence. Study was conducted online using social networks. 104 women participated in this study including 26 women still involved in a violent relationship and 78 women who have left their abusive partner. Women were asked about their violence experience by indicating type of violence and frequency, also there were questions about received social support and non-support, trauma symptoms, psychological resilience and post-traumatic growth. Type and frequency of abuse questionnaire (Tureikyte et. al., 2008) was used to indicate frequency of psychological, physical, economical and sexual abuse. Bosch support measure (Bosch & Bergen, 2006) was used to indicate perceived social support and non-support. Trauma Symptom Checklist – 40 (Briere & Runtz, 1989) was used to indicate trauma symptoms. The 14-Item Resilience Scale (Wagnild & Young, 1993) was used for measuring psychological resilience. And post-traumatic growth was indicated by A Short Form of The Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (Cann et. al. 2010). Data were analyzed by conducting multiple comparisons between study variables and demographic characteristics in order to indicate which characteristics have to be controlled in regression analysis. Hierarchical regression model was constructed to predict post-traumatic growth. Results of the hierarchical regression analysis revealed that all study variables and controlled demographic characteristics predicted post-traumatic growth but only status of the relationship (leaving abusive partner), trauma symptoms and frequency of psychological abuse were significant predictors of post-traumatic growth.Results confirmed some theoretical assumptions of post-traumatic growth and emphasized the importance of leaving abusive partner in order to experience post-traumatic growth. It is important to notice, that experience of intimate partner violence causes a lot of suffering for women and posttraumatic growth can occur as changes that helps these women to make sense of these experiences and incorporate them into their life stories without negating the negative consequences these women face

Country-level and individual-level predictors of men\u27s support for gender equality in 42 countries

Men sometimes withdraw support for gender equality movements when their higher gender status is threatened. Here, we expand the focus of this phenomenon by examining it cross-culturally, to test if both individual- and country-level variables predict men\u27s collective action intentions to support gender equality. We tested a model in which men\u27s zero-sum beliefs about gender predict reduced collective action intentions via an increase in hostile sexism. Because country-level gender equality may threaten men\u27s higher gender status, we also examined whether the path from zero-sum beliefs to collective action intentions was stronger in countries higher in gender equality. Multilevel modeling on 6,734 men from 42 countries supported the individual-level mediation model, but found no evidence of moderation by country-level gender equality. Both country-level gender equality and individual-level zero-sum thinking independently predicted reductions in men\u27s willingness to act collectively for gender equality. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Gendered self-views across 62 countries: A test of competing models

Social role theory posits that binary gender gaps in agency and communion should be larger in less egalitarian countries, reflecting these countries’ more pronounced sex-based power divisions. Conversely, evolutionary and self-construal theorists suggest that gender gaps in agency and communion should be larger in more egalitarian countries, reflecting the greater autonomy support and flexible self-construction processes present in these countries. Using data from 62 countries (N = 28,640), we examine binary gender gaps in agentic and communal self-views as a function of country-level objective gender equality (the Global Gender Gap Index) and subjective distributions of social power (the Power Distance Index). Findings show that in more egalitarian countries, gender gaps in agency are smaller and gender gaps in communality are larger. These patterns are driven primarily by cross-country differences in men’s self-views and by the Power Distance Index (PDI) more robustly than the Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI). We consider possible causes and implications of these findings