Providing Help to Victims: A Study of Psychological and Material Outcomes in New York City, 1984-1985 (ICPSR 9479)
Version Date: Jan 18, 2006 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
Robert C. Davis
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR09479.v2
Version V2
Summary View help for Summary
This data collection was designed to examine the effectiveness of a New York City agency's attempt to decrease the negative emotions that result from victimization. The data address the following questions: (1) To what extent do specific treatments mitigate the negative psychological impact of victimization? (2) Are individuals from a particular demographic group more prone to suffer from psychological adjustment problems following victimization? (3) When victimized, do individuals blame themselves or the situation? (4) Are some crimes more difficult to cope with than others? (5) Does previous victimization affect the likelihood that an individual will have difficulty coping with current as well as future victimization? Data were collected in two waves, with Wave 1 interviews completed within one month of the victimization incident and Wave 2 interviews completed three months after treatment. The effects of three treatments were measured. They included: traditional crisis counseling (which incorporates psychological aid and material assistance such as food, shelter, cash, etc.), cognitive restructuring (challenges to "irrational" beliefs about the world and one's self used in conjunction with crisis counseling), and material assistance only (no psychological aid provided). A fourth group of victims received no treatment or services. Three standardized psychometric scales were used in the study. In addition to these standardized scales, the initial assessment battery included an index of fear of crime as well as an index that measured behavior adjustment. Another set of measures assessed how victims perceived their experience of victimization and included items on self-blame, selective evaluation, and control. Also included were questions about the crime and precautions taken to guard against future victimization. The follow-up assessment battery was virtually identical to the initial battery, except that questions about services and social support received by the victim were added. The following demographic variables are included in the data: sex, age, marital status, education, income, and race. The unit of analysis was the individual.
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Data Collection Notes View help for Data Collection Notes
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The codebook and data collection instrument are provided as a Portable Document Format (PDF) file. The PDF file format was developed by Adobe Systems Incorporated and can be accessed using PDF reader software, such as the Adobe Acrobat Reader. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Acrobat Reader is provided through the ICPSR Website on the Internet.
Universe View help for Universe
Victims of crime in New York City during 1984 and 1985.
Data Source View help for Data Source
personal interviews
Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)
HideOriginal Release Date View help for Original Release Date
1991-07-18
Version History View help for Version History
- Davis, Robert C. PROVIDING HELP TO VICTIMS: A STUDY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL AND MATERIAL OUTCOMES IN NEW YORK CITY, 1984-1985. 2nd ICPSR version. New York, NY: Victim Services Agency [producer], 1990. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 1998. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR09479.v2
2006-01-18 File CB9479.ALL.PDF was removed from any previous datasets and flagged as a study-level file, so that it will accompany all downloads.
1998-04-28 The data files and SPSS data definition statements have been replaced, and SAS data definition statements were created for this collection. Also, the codebook is now available as a PDF file.
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.