Citation

Sabina C, Straus MA. Violence Vict. 2008; 23(6): 667-682.

Affiliation

Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg, Middletown, USA. sabina@psu.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Springer Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

19069560

Abstract

Studies on mental health effects of partner violence often ignore multiple victimizations or polyvictimization. The current study had several objectives: (a) examine the rate of physical, psychological, and sexual victimization and combinations of them (polyvictimization) among a sample of students at 19 U.S. colleges; (b) examine the association between victimization and depressive symptoms and posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms; and (c) examine the relation of polyvictimization to these mental health effects. A substantial number were polyvictims. As predicted, polyvictimization in almost all analyses was the strongest predictor of PTS symptoms for both men and women. Polyvictimization was a significant predictor of depressive symptoms for women. These findings highlight the importance of including polyvictimization in future work on the mental health effects of partner violence.

Language: en