"I Did Not Want to Make a Bigger Deal Out of It than It Was": A Mixed-Method Study on the Help-Seeking Behavior of Victims of Image-Based Sexual Harassment and Abuse.

Experiencing image-based sexual harassment and abuse (IBSHA), or the sending of unsolicited nude or sexual images and the nonconsensual taking, sharing, or threats to share nude or sexual images, may have severe consequences for victims' well-being. While seeking help may be beneficial, not every victim seeks help. Little research has been conducted on IBSHA victims' help-seeking behavior. Therefore, the present mixed-method study examined the help-seeking behavior of IBSHA victims, particularly the barriers and facilitators to seeking help. The study used data from an online survey (N = 163) and interviews (N = 6) among 12-to-25-year-old victims. The quantitative data indicated that the majority of victims disclosed the incident (72.8%), but only a third received help (34.4%). Help-seekers reported greater experienced barriers to help-seeking, when compared to non-help-seekers. The experienced barriers positively predicted victims' reported help-seeking behavior. From the qualitative data, four types of barriers were identified: (a) individual barriers (e.g., feelings of shame), (b) practical barriers (e.g., affordability of help), (c) interpersonal barriers (e.g., fear of negative reactions from one's social environment), and (d) sociocultural barriers (e.g., normalization of IBSHA). Moreover, two types of facilitators were identified: (a) individual facilitators (e.g., the impact of victimization) and (b) interpersonal facilitators (e.g., social support). This suggests victims experience multiple barriers, which altogether can influence their help-seeking behavior. As a help-seeking trajectory is complex and unique to the individual, victims may encounter multiple new hurdles along the way. This may explain why help-seekers reported more barriers. The findings and corresponding implications highlight the importance of providing education on IBSHA and help-seeking on various levels in society.

Why Do Bystanders Report Intimate Partner Violence? Insights into Real-Life Reasoning from Those Who Actually Intervened.

As intimate partner violence (IPV) often remains unknown to police, bystanders can play a crucial role in prevention and further escalation of IPV. However, little is known about what brings them into action by reporting incidents of IPV to authorities. As such, we use statements of bystanders who filed reports about IPV incidents to an official domestic violence agency in the Netherlands (N = 78), to investigate the reasoning and motivations for reporting their suspicions. Results show that the reasons for bystanders to report IPV differ depending on the relational dynamics between partners. In situations perceived as intimate terrorism, involving a hierarchical abusive relationship between a man offender and a woman victim, bystanders primarily reported when previous helping initiatives proved inefficient, and they did so to prevent further harm, often particularly in relation to the woman victim. In situations perceived as situational couple violence, involving a symmetrical abusive relationship, bystanders primarily reported when escalation appeared, and they did so to prevent further harm to involved children. We conclude that bystanders report IPV incidents when the need for help is clear, and their motivation for acting concerns the well-being of victims. Our findings add to the growing body of evidence about real-life bystander intervention in emergencies and highlight the need for understanding intervention as context-specific in order to design effective intervention initiatives.

"Sometimes It Seems Easier to Push It Away": A Study Into the Barriers to Help-Seeking for Victims of Sexual Violence.

Experiencing sexual violence may have serious long-term consequences for victims. Seeking help may decrease the chances of developing long-term physical and psychosocial problems. Still not every victim seeks help, and especially with victimization of sexual violence, there may be several reasons as to why. The barriers to help-seeking are diverse and may depend on several contextual factors. This study, as part of a larger research project, aimed to determine the barriers that victims of sexual violence experience in their decision to seek help in a non-college setting. This mixed-methods study included an online survey (N = 133) and open-ended survey (N = 207) amongst victims of 18 years and older. The online survey data were analyzed using chi-square tests for independence and t-tests; the open-ended survey data were analyzed using a descriptive approach. The online survey data showed that minimization of the incident was higher for non-help-seekers, whilst distrust toward support providers and issues with the accessibility of help were higher for help-seekers. No further significant associations were found between the decision to seek help and the barriers to help-seeking. From the open-ended survey data, three categories of barriers were distinguished: (a) individual barriers, such as feelings of shame, (b) interpersonal barriers, such as the fear of negative social reactions and (c) sociocultural barriers, such as societal stereotypes regarding sexual violence. The findings suggest that victims experience various, but primarily individual, barriers to help-seeking and that these barriers do not strongly differ between help-seekers and non-help-seekers. This study highlights the importance of addressing barriers to help-seeking on an organizational and societal level to encourage help-seeking.

Stay Home, Stay Safe? The Impact of the COVID-19 Restrictions on the Prevalence, Nature, and Type of Reporter of Domestic Violence in the Netherlands.

Purpose: Insecurities and social isolation resulting from the COVID-19 restrictions, may have elevated tensions at home, consequently increasing the risk of domestic violence. The present study aims to examine changes in the prevalence, nature, and type of reporter of domestic violence following the various restrictions implemented to control the spread of the COVID-19 virus in the Netherlands. Methods: All official domestic violence reports recorded by the 26 Dutch domestic violence agencies in 2019 and 2020 were collected and analyzed. Time-series forecasting analyses, using a SARIMAX model, were conducted to predict the trend of domestic violence reports during the first lockdown and to compare the predicted trend with the observed trend. Results: The observed trend of the registered prevalence of domestic violence did not substantially differ from the predicted trend based on pre-pandemic data. Similarly, findings regarding the nature of domestic violence suggest no clear divergence of pre-pandemic trends during the lockdown period. Nonetheless, a shift was found from professional reporters (e.g., the police) to non-professional reporters (e.g., neighbors). Conclusions: The prevalence of domestic violence reports in the Netherlands did not increase. However, the COVID-19 restrictions may have led citizens, especially neighbors, to detect domestic violence more often.

Factor Score Regression With Social Relations Model Components: A Case Study Exploring Antecedents and Consequences of Perceived Support in Families.

The family social relations model (SRM) is applied to identify the sources of variance in interpersonal dispositions in families, but the antecedents or consequences of those sources are rarely investigated. Simultaneous modeling of the SRM with antecedents or consequences using structural equation modeling (SEM) allows to do so, but may become computationally prohibitive in small samples. We therefore consider two factor score regression (FSR) methods: regression and Bartlett FSR. Based on full information maximum likelihood (FIML), we derive closed-form expressions for the regression and Bartlett factor scores in the presence of missingness. A simulation study in both a complete- and incomplete-case setting compares the performance of these FSR methods with SEM and an ANOVA-based approach. In both settings, the regression FIML factor scores as explanatory variable produces unbiased estimators with precision comparable to the SEM-estimators. When SRM-effects are used as dependent variables, none of the FSR methods are a suitable alternative for SEM. The latter result deviates from previous studies on FSR in more simple settings. As an example, we explore whether gender and past victimhood of relational and physical aggression are antecedents for family dynamics of perceived support, and whether those dynamics predict physical and relational aggression.

Procedural justice and prisoners' mental health problems: a longitudinal study.

BACKGROUND: Given the high prevalence of mental health problems among prisoners, knowledge on its determinants is important. Prior cross-sectional studies suggest that procedurally just treatment within prison is a significant predictor; however, longitudinal research is lacking. AIM: The aims of this study were to examine (1) the longitudinal relationship between prisoners' perceptions of procedural justice--including fairness, respect, humanity and relationships with officers--and their mental health and (2) the moderating role of coping style in this relationship. METHODS: Data were obtained from the Prison Project, a longitudinal study of adult male prisoners in the Netherlands, interviewed both 3 weeks and 3 months after their reception into pre-trial detention (N = 824). A cross-lagged structural equation model was employed to investigate associations. RESULTS: Prisoners who reported experiencing a higher level of procedural justice 3 weeks after their arrival in custody reported fewer mental health problems after 3 months. No evidence was found that coping style moderated this relationship. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest a causal relationship between procedural justice and psychological well-being. Fair and respectful treatment of prisoners is a predictor not only of prison order and prisoners' compliance but also of prisoners' psychological well-being.

The relationship between juvenile psychopathic traits, delinquency and (violent) recidivism: a meta-analysis.

A meta-analysis of k = 53 studies containing 60 non-overlapping samples and 10,073 participants was conducted to investigate whether psychopathy was associated with delinquency and (violent) recidivism in juveniles. The results showed that psychopathy was moderately associated with delinquency, general recidivism, and violent recidivism. Moderator effects revealed that various study and participant characteristics influenced the strength of the association between psychopathy, delinquency, and (violent) recidivism. It was concluded that screening for the (early) detection of psychopathy is important, as delinquent behavior and recidivism can be predicted from psychopathy as early as the transition from middle childhood to adolescence.

Negativity in problematic and nonproblematic families: a multigroup social relations model analysis with structured means.

The aim of the study was to determine whether there are differences in patterns of negativity between families with and without an adolescent with externalizing problem behavior. We used a structured means Social Relations Model in order to examine negativity in multiple levels of the family system. The sample consisted of 120 problematic and 153 nonproblematic families (two parents, two children), who rated the level of negativity in the relationship with each family member. Although a simple mean differences test would lead us to believe that differences in negativity between groups of families can be ascribed to the interaction between parent and adolescent, the results of the present study indicate that these differences are actually related to the characteristics of a problematic child.

Effects of early prevention programs on adult criminal offending: a meta-analysis.

This meta-analysis investigated the long term effects of prevention programs conducted during early and middle childhood on criminal offending during adulthood. The analyses included 3611 participants in 9 programs. The effect size for adult criminal offending was significant, but small in magnitude (OR=1.26; 95% CI=1.06-1.50, p=.011). The effects of the programs on positive outcomes (academic attainment and involvement in productive activity, such as being engaged in school or work) were somewhat larger and more consistent than effects on crime (OR=1.36, 95% CI=1.20-1.55, p<.001). Several participant and program characteristics moderated the effectiveness of (early) prevention. Children who were more at-risk and those from a lower SES benefited more. Shorter, but more intensive programs, and programs that focus on social and behavioral skills, rather than on academic skills or family support, tend to produce larger effects. Taken together, these results indicate that early prevention programs can help put children on a more positive developmental trajectory that is maintained into adulthood, but there is still no convincing evidence that they can prevent adult crime. Implications of the findings for research, policy and clinical practice are discussed.

Associations among the parent-adolescent relationship, aggression and delinquency in different ethnic groups: a replication across two Dutch samples.

BACKGROUND: The aim of the present study is to examine whether the patterns of association between the quality of the parent-adolescent relationship on the one hand, and aggression and delinquency on the other hand, are the same for boys and girls of Dutch and Moroccan origin living in the Netherlands. Since inconsistent results have been found previously, the present study tests the replicability of the model of associations in two different Dutch samples of adolescents. METHOD: Study 1 included 288 adolescents (M age = 14.9, range 12-17 years) all attending lower secondary education. Study 2 included 306 adolescents (M age = 13.2, range = 12-15 years) who were part of a larger community sample with oversampling of at risk adolescents. RESULTS: Multigroup structural analyses showed that neither in Study 1 nor in Study 2 ethnic or gender differences were found in the patterns of associations between support, autonomy, disclosure, and negativity in the parent-adolescent relationship and aggression and delinquency. The patterns were largely similar for both studies. Mainly negative quality of the relationship in both studies was found to be strongly related to both aggression and delinquency. DISCUSSION: Results show that family processes that affect adolescent development, show a large degree of universality across gender and ethnicity.

The relationship between parenting and delinquency: a meta-analysis.

This meta-analysis of 161 published and unpublished manuscripts was conducted to determine whether the association between parenting and delinquency exists and what the magnitude of this linkage is. The strongest links were found for parental monitoring, psychological control, and negative aspects of support such as rejection and hostility, accounting for up to 11% of the variance in delinquency. Several effect sizes were moderated by parent and child gender, child age, informant on parenting, and delinquency type, indicating that some parenting behaviors are more important for particular contexts or subsamples. Although both dimensions of warmth and support seem to be important, surprisingly very few studies focused on parenting styles. Furthermore, fewer than 20% of the studies focused on parenting behavior of fathers, despite the fact that the effect of poor support by fathers was larger than poor maternal support, particularly for sons. Implications for theory and parenting are discussed.