Keith L Hullenaar1, Ali Rowhani-Rahbar2, Frederick P Rivara3, Monica S Vavilala4, Eric P Baumer5. 1. Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, Seattle, Washington. Electronic address: khullen@uw.edu. 2. Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, Seattle, Washington. 3. Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Seattle, Washington. 4. Department of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Seattle, Washington. 5. Department of Sociology and Criminology, College of Liberal Arts, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pennsylvania.
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Research is equivocal about how the social relationship between victims and offenders is linked to the emotional, social, and physical consequences of violence. This study examines the association of victim-offender relationship with the adverse outcomes reported by injured and uninjured victims of violence. METHODS: The study analyzed 16,723 violent victimizations recorded by the National Crime Victimization Survey from 2008 to 2018. Multivariable quasi-Poisson models estimated the associations between the victim-offender relationship and victims' emotional distress, social distress, and physical and emotional symptoms. These models also estimated a statistical interaction between victim-offender relationship and violent injury to examine how this association differed for injured and uninjured victims. The analyses occurred during 2020 and 2021. RESULTS: Uninjured victims were more likely to report emotional distress (risk ratio=1.41, 95% CI=1.33, 1.50), social distress (risk ratio=3.12, 95% CI=2.78, 3.51), more physical symptoms (symptom frequency ratio=1.68, 95% CI=1.51, 1.87), and more emotional symptoms (symptom frequency ratio=1.13, 95% CI=1.08, 1.18) in family member/intimate partner violence than in stranger violence. Victims also reported worse outcomes after acquaintance violence than after stranger violence. For injured victims, these differences narrowed-but were still significant-in emotional and social distress models. However, the number of emotional and physical symptoms reported by injured victims did not significantly vary across victim-offender relationships. CONCLUSIONS: Relational closeness between victims and offenders is a risk factor for adverse outcomes after violent victimization, and it is more strongly associated with these outcomes for uninjured victims than for injured victims.
INTRODUCTION: Research is equivocal about how the social relationship between victims and offenders is linked to the emotional, social, and physical consequences of violence. This study examines the association of victim-offender relationship with the adverse outcomes reported by injured and uninjured victims of violence. METHODS: The study analyzed 16,723 violent victimizations recorded by the National Crime Victimization Survey from 2008 to 2018. Multivariable quasi-Poisson models estimated the associations between the victim-offender relationship and victims' emotional distress, social distress, and physical and emotional symptoms. These models also estimated a statistical interaction between victim-offender relationship and violent injury to examine how this association differed for injured and uninjured victims. The analyses occurred during 2020 and 2021. RESULTS: Uninjured victims were more likely to report emotional distress (risk ratio=1.41, 95% CI=1.33, 1.50), social distress (risk ratio=3.12, 95% CI=2.78, 3.51), more physical symptoms (symptom frequency ratio=1.68, 95% CI=1.51, 1.87), and more emotional symptoms (symptom frequency ratio=1.13, 95% CI=1.08, 1.18) in family member/intimate partner violence than in stranger violence. Victims also reported worse outcomes after acquaintance violence than after stranger violence. For injured victims, these differences narrowed-but were still significant-in emotional and social distress models. However, the number of emotional and physical symptoms reported by injured victims did not significantly vary across victim-offender relationships. CONCLUSIONS: Relational closeness between victims and offenders is a risk factor for adverse outcomes after violent victimization, and it is more strongly associated with these outcomes for uninjured victims than for injured victims.
Authors: Laurel J Kiser; Carla Smith Stover; Carryl P Navalta; Joyce Dorado; Juliet M Vogel; Jaleel K Abdul-Adil; Soeun Kim; Robert C Lee; Rebecca Vivrette; Ernestine C Briggs Journal: Child Abuse Negl Date: 2014-03-22