Violence

 On April 20, 1999, two angry students attacked Columbine High School. The unprecedented murder/suicide resulted in 15 deaths, more than 20 injuries, and thousands of psychologically traumatized individuals. We present a qualitative analysis of interviews conducted two weeks after the incident with 4 Columbine High School students and 7 parents who were directly and indirectly affected. Findings highlight both similarities and variability in immediate emotional, cognitive, and social responses to the mass violence. Helpful and unhelpful support attempts are noted.

Forced sex is a public health issue affecting many college women. Despite physical and mental health consequences, and multiple prevention programs on college campuses, most sexual violence goes unreported (Fisher, Daigle, Cullen, & Turner, 2003). The purpose of this research was to determine the significant attitudes and beliefs that are associated with reporting of forced sexual experiences.

This study was a secondary analysis of the relationships among lifetime experiences of violence, depressive symptoms, substance use, safer sex behaviors use, and past-year sexually transmitted infection (STI) treatment among a sample of 445 low income, primarily African American women (257 HIV-, 188 HIV+) reporting a male intimate partner within the past year. Twenty-one percent of HIV and 33% of HIV+ women reported past-year STI treatment. Violence victimization increased women's odds of past-year STI treatment, controlling for HIV status and age.

Fifteen African American women with a history of intimate partner violence (IPV) were interviewed to examine (a) the ways in which poor, urban African American women stay healthy, and particularly how they protected themselves from sexually transmitted diseases and HIV while in abusive relationships; and (b) the roles of intersecting contextual factors such as lifetime experiences of violence, mental health symptoms, and substance use in women's processes of maintaining their health. Data were analyzed using a qualitative descriptive approach.

The relationship of personality type at age 6 years to interpersonal violence at age 12 years was investigated. Participants from the Child Sample of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth with complete data measures for the three time periods were categorized into one of the three personality types at age 6: under-controlled, resilient, and over-controlled.

Dating violence is accepted as bi-directional with both genders as victims and perpetrators. While researchers have studied perpetration and victimization, limited research has explored differences in young women who are victims and perpetrators with those who are victims only. This study compares injury and mental health symptoms of victims who reported perpetrating violence with victims who did not.