Coos county teens’ family relationships

This fact sheet examines Coos County, New Hampshire teens’ perceptions of their family relationship experiences using data from the Coos Youth Study collected in 2011 from 418 eleventh graders in all Coos County public schools. Authors Corinna Jenkins Tucker and Desiree Wiesen-Martin report that Coos older adolescents feel close to their parents and siblings but also argue with them. A small group of youths report perpetrating violence on a family member

NATURE OF FORMAL INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE HELP SEEKING: THE INFLUENCE OF INDIVIDUAL AND COMMUNITY CHARACTERISTICS

Intimate partner violence is a public health concern, and intimate partner violence victim help seeking is the focus of many intervention/prevention policies and programs. Help seeking by victims of intimate partner violence from formal support services, such as the police, domestic violence shelters, and/or rape crisis centers, is relatively low (Kaukinen 2002; Davies, Block, and Campbell 2007; Campbell 2008; Kaukinen, Meyer, and Akers 2013; Zaykowski 2014), and the research which considers the nature of help seeking among those victims who seek help is quite limited. This dissertation investigates the nature of formal help seeking among intimate partner violence victims who seek help from a hotline, victim service program, and/or law enforcement. Specifically, the influence of individual and community characteristics on formal help-seekers as well as the impact of community characteristics and state on the relationship between individual characteristics and the nature of help seeking by intimate partner violence victims who sought formal help are examined. To address the nature of help seeking, I consider both the type(s) of help sought and the number of times a victim sought help following an incident of violence. This analysis is conducted using data from an evaluation of Service Training Officers Prosecutors (STOP) Violence Against Women grant funded programs conducted by the Urban Institute. The evaluation data were collected from eight states, 26 communities and 1,509 women. Multilevel modeling regression and logistic regression models are fit to examine the effects of individual and community characteristics and cross-level interactions between individual and community characteristics and states on formal help-seekers help seeking. Three significant and important findings deserve special attention. First, informal social support is negatively associated with the number of times help was sought from formal support services. The relationship between informal social support and intimate partner violence help seeking from formal supports suggests that more research is needed to understand how informal social support influences the nature of formal help seeking. Are the types and amount of formal help seeking by formal help-seekers influenced by informal social support? Second, where a person lives is related to intimate partner violence help seeking. Thirdly, community characteristics and states moderate the relationship between individual characteristics and formal help seeking. The second and third findings suggest that to gain a full understanding of the nature of help seeking, the analysis must go beyond characteristics of the individual and include characteristics of the community and state in which they reside. Lastly, this study adds to the literature by using a sample of formal help seeking intimate partner violence victims, and by examining multiple types of formal services and whether those services were accessed and the number of times those services were accessed

Adolescent Siblings’ Suicide Ideation

Similarity of suicide ideation in 1,055 full- and half-adolescent sibling pairs was assessed using Add Health. In each of two waves of data, between 10% and 16% of older and 11% and 13% of younger siblings report suicide ideation, and within families there was some sibling overlap in suicide ideation within and across two waves of data. Logistic regression analyses revealed that sibling warmth predicted older siblings’ suicide ideation, and older siblings’ suicide ideation and sex composition of the sibling dyad predicted younger siblings’ suicide ideation. Suicide ideation was not conditioned by sibling structural and relationship characteristics for older and younger siblings. Using an index of sibling similarity, previous sibling similarity in suicide ideation was predictive of sibling suicide ideation similarity 1 year later. Sibling relationship characteristics were unrelated to sibling similarity index. The importance of considering sibling resemblance in suicide ideation and taking a systemic approach to adolescent suicide are highlighted

Inter-parental conflict and sibling warmth during adolescence: Associations with female depression in emerging adulthood

Summary.—Grounded in Grych and Fincham\u27s cognitive appraisal theory, this study examined whether female emerging adults\u27 (N = 216) recalled sibling warmth moderated the relationship between exposure to inter-parental conflict in adolescence and their current depression. Findings indicated that sibling warmth moderated the relationship between the intensity and frequency of inter-parental conflict and depression, but not inter-parental conflict resolution. Compared to female emerging adults who reported lower sibling warmth, those who reported higher sibling warmth in the face of greater intensity and higher frequency of inter-parental conflict during adolescence had lower depression. The important role of siblings for youth from conflicted homes was highlighted

Gender Differences in Criminal Intent: Examining the Mediating Influence of Anticipated Shaming

Research finds males to have a higher likelihood of offending than females. Dominant explanations of the gender/crime relationship tend to invoke strain, learning, and control theories, but we propose that part of the relationship is attributable to differences in anticipated shaming. We test this argument using data collected from a sample of 439 young adults. Results of both Tobit regressions and path analyses support our hypothesis, suggesting that anticipated shaming may actually mediate more of the gender/crime relationship than do variables derived from alternative perspectives. Implications for understanding and controlling crime are discussed

An examination of SANE data: Clinical considerations based on victim–assailant relationship

The current study analyzes adult female sexual assault data, collected by sexual assault nurse examiners (SANEs) in New Hampshire, United States, between 1997 and 2007. The purposes of this study were to (1) explore the relationship between patient and assailant, (2) examine patients’ physical findings according to assailant type, (3) describe characteristics of both the patients and the assaults, and (4) make care recommendations. Secondary analysis was conducted on data gathered by SANEs from responses to a standardized questionnaire based on the medical/forensic examination of each patient over an 11-year period. Of the 741 women in this study, 53% were sexually assaulted by a non-stranger, 18% were assaulted by an intimate partner, and 11% were assaulted by a stranger. The relationship between patient and assailant is an important variable that requires SANEs to take a closer look at assessing for lethality, and assisting with safety planning, intervention, and treatment for victims

Findings from Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE): A case study of New Hampshire\u27s pediatric SANE database

The purpose of this article is to provide child sexual abuse data gathered by sexual assault nurse examiners (SANEs) in New Hampshire at the time of the medical/forensic examination. This study provides demographic, victim and assault characteristics from 696 child sexual abuse patients between 1997 and 2007. The study is a collaborative project between the SANE Advisory Board, a team of university researchers, and the Research Committee of the New Hampshire (NH) Governor\u27s Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence

Proactive and reactive sibling aggression and adolescent

Existing research on aggression tends to narrowly focus on peers; less is known about sibling aggression, most likely due to its historical acceptance. Aggression is characterized by its forms (i.e., physical vs. social or relational aggression) and itsfunctions (i.e., the motivations behind the aggressive act and categorized as proactive vs. reactive aggression). We use data from a two-wave study of middle (n = 197; M age= 12.63 years at Wave 1) and older (n = 159; M age = 16.50 years at Wave 1) adolescents to assess the extent to which proactive and reactive functions of sibling aggression make unique or conditional contributions to adolescent adjustment (i.e., depression, delinquency, and substance use). We find that proactive sibling aggression increases risk for problem substance use and delinquent behavior, reactive sibling aggression increases risk for depressed mood and delinquent behavior, and such results are observed even with statistical adjustments for sociodemographic and family variables, stressful life events, and prior adjustment. Few conditional effects of proactive or reactive sibling aggression by sex or grade are observed; yet, for all three outcomes, the harmful effects of reactive sibling aggression are strongest among adolescents who report low levels of proactive sibling aggression. The results speak to the importance of understanding the proactive and reactive functions of sibling aggressive behaviors for adolescent adjustment

Gender Differences in Criminal Intent: Examining the Mediating Influence of Anticipated Shaming

Research finds males to have a higher likelihood of offending than females. Dominant explanations of the gender/crime relationship tend to invoke strain, learning, and control theories, but we propose that part of the relationship is attributable to differences in anticipated shaming. We test this argument using data collected from a sample of 439 young adults. Results of both Tobit regressions and path analyses support our hypothesis, suggesting that anticipated shaming may actually mediate more of the gender/crime relationship than do variables derived from alternative perspectives. Implications for understanding and controlling crime are discussed