Impact of Violent Victimization on Physical and Mental Health Among Women in the United States, 1994-1996 (ICPSR 21020)
Version Date: Oct 26, 2007 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
Catherine E. Kaukinen, University of South Carolina;
Alfred DeMaris, Bowling Green State University
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR21020.v1
Version V1
Summary View help for Summary
The major goals of the project were to use survey data about victimization experiences among American women to examine: (a) the consequences of victimization for women's physical and mental health, (b) how the impact of victimization on women's health sequelae is conditioned by the victim's invoking of family and community support, and (c) how among victims of intimate partner violence, such factors as the relationship between the victim and offender, the offender's characteristics, and police involvement condition the impact of victimization on the victim's subsequent physical and mental health. This data collection consists of the SPSS syntax used to recode existing variables and create new variables from the study, VIOLENCE AND THREATS OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND MEN IN THE UNITED STATES, 1994-1996 (ICPSR 2566). The study, also known as the National Violence against Women Survey (NVAWS), surveyed 8,000 women 18 years of age or older residing in households throughout the United States in 1995 and 1996. The data for the NVAWS were gathered via a national, random-digit dialing sample of telephone households in the United States, stratified by United States Census region. The NVAWS respondents were asked about their lifetime experiences with four different kinds of violent victimization: sexual abuse, physical abuse, stalking, and intimidation. Using the data from the NVAWS, the researchers in this study performed three separate analyses. The study included outcome variables, focal variables, moderator variables, and control variables.
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Subject Terms View help for Subject Terms
Geographic Coverage View help for Geographic Coverage
Smallest Geographic Unit View help for Smallest Geographic Unit
none
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Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection
Data Collection Notes View help for Data Collection Notes
-
In order to use the SPSS syntax file provided in this collection, users must first obtain VIOLENCE AND THREATS OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND MEN IN THE UNITED STATES, 1994-1996 (ICPSR 2566), available from the ICPSR Web site: http://www.icpsr.umich.edu.
Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose
The major goals of the project were to use survey data about victimization experiences among American women to examine: (a) the consequences of childhood, adolescent, and adult victimization for women's physical and mental health, where violent victimization is defined by experiencing either physical or sexual assault, stalking, or threats from another person or persons, (b) how the impact of victimization on women's health sequelae is conditioned by the victim's invoking of family and community support, and (c) how among victims of intimate partner violence, such factors as the relationship between the victim and offender, the offender's characteristics (stake in conformity), and police involvement condition the impact of victimization on the victim's subsequent physical and mental health.
Study Design View help for Study Design
This data collection consists of the SPSS syntax used to recode existing variables and create new variables from the study, VIOLENCE AND THREATS OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND MEN IN THE UNITED STATES, 1994-1996 (ICPSR 2566). The study, also know as the National Violence against Women Survey (NVAWS), surveyed 8,000 women 18 years of age or older residing in households throughout the United States in 1995 and 1996. The data for the NVAWS were gathered via a national, random-digit dialing sample of telephone households in the United States, stratified by United States Census region. The NVAWS respondents were asked about their lifetime experiences with four different kinds of violent victimization: sexual abuse, physical abuse, stalking, and intimidation. Respondents disclosing victimization were asked detailed questions about the characteristics and consequences of victimization as they experienced it, including injuries sustained and use of medical services. Incidents were recorded that had occurred at any time during the respondent's lifetime and also those that occurred within the 12 months prior to the interview. Additionally, respondents were queried about their physical and mental health, demographic characteristics, and characteristics of the current partner, if present. Due to the sensitive nature of the survey, female respondents were interviewed by women and when a respondent disclosed abuse or appeared in distress, local support services were offered. Using data from the NVAWS, the researchers in this study performed three separate analyses. The first analysis examined the consequences of violence for women's health. Second, for the sample of violent crime victims, the researchers examined how appealing to sources of community support conditions the impact of the victimization on health outcomes. Finally, the researchers examined the moderating effect of help-seeking on health outcomes in the context of violence by an intimate partner.
Sample View help for Sample
The first set of analyses examining the consequences of childhood, adolescent, and adult victimization for women's subsequent physical and mental health were based on the full sample of women in the NVAWS. After omitting those with missing data on the response variables, involved samples ranged between 7,380 and 7,585 respondents. The second set of analyses examining the moderating effects of social support on physical and mental health outcomes employ the sample of women who had been the victim of sexual assault, physical assault, stalking or threats. After omitting those with missing data on the response variables, the involved samples ranged between 4,078 and 4,093 respondents. The final stage of the project identified the impact of intimate partner violence and examined the moderating effect of help-seeking strategies on the relationship between the extent/severity of victimization and health outcomes in the context of violent victimization by an intimate partner. In this last case, the researchers looked at how the moderating effect of community support is conditioned on the offender's stake in conformity. These analyses employed only those who had been victimized by a current partner. After omitting those with missing data on the response variables, the involved sample included 410 respondents.
Universe View help for Universe
inap.
Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation
Data Source View help for Data Source
VIOLENCE AND THREATS OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND MEN IN THE UNITED STATES, 1994-1996 (ICPSR 2566)
Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)
Mode of Data Collection View help for Mode of Data Collection
Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables
The study includes outcome variables, focal variables, moderator variables, and control variables. The outcome variables include: depressive symptomatology, concern for personal safety, self-protective behaviors, self-assessed health, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and the exhibition of substance use (heavy episodic drinking, illicit drug use, and prescription drug use). Focal variables measure the impact on physical and mental health of physical assault, sexual assault, stalking, and threatening. Moderator variables related to the victimization event, victim's help-seeking behavior, and characteristics of the perpetrator. The characteristics of the violent victimizations employed in the models include: life-course stage of victimization (child, teen, and adult), the victim-offender relationship (relative, acquaintance, stranger), and intimate partner (current or former). The help-seeking variables include family, friends, neighbors, and clergy, and the community support measures include rape crisis centers, domestic violence shelters, rape counselors, doctors, and psychiatrists. The police response variables include: arresting the perpetrator, taking a report, providing the victim with information on victim or court services, or providing advice on self-protection. Control variables include age, race, education, personal income, child abuse, number of children in the household, and dummy variables for having ever sustained a serious injury, having had a chronic disease or disabling health condition, having had a chronic mental condition, marital status, employment status, and being the first to hit the offender in cases of physical assault.
Response Rates View help for Response Rates
Not applicable.
Presence of Common Scales View help for Presence of Common Scales
The 12 items on physical victimization in the NVAWS were adaptations of items in the Conflict Tactics Scales (Straus, 1979, #4629). The PTSD inventory used in the NVAWS was adopted from the "Impact of Event Scale" developed by Daniel Weiss. Several Likert-type scales were also used in the NVAWS. For this project, the researchers developed a depression scale, a scale of extent/severity of assault, a concern for safety scale, as well as scales of alcohol and drug use.
HideOriginal Release Date View help for Original Release Date
2007-10-26
Version History View help for Version History
- Kaukinen, Catherine E., and Alfred DeMaris. IMPACT OF VIOLENT VICTIMIZATION ON PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH AMONG WOMEN IN THE UNITED STATES, 1994-1996. ICPSR21020-v1. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina [producer], 2003. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2007-10-26. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR21020.v1
Notes
The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.
This dataset is maintained and distributed by the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD), the criminal justice archive within ICPSR. NACJD is primarily sponsored by three agencies within the U.S. Department of Justice: the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.