NCJ Number
219737
Journal
Journal of Family Violence Volume: 22 Issue: 6 Dated: August 2007 Pages: 429-440
Date Published
August 2007
Length
12 pages
Annotation
Using four categories of accuracy--true positive, false positive, true negative, and false negative--this study examined how accurately victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) were able to assess their risk for repeat victimization, along with the identification of potential predictors of accuracy.
Abstract
Study findings supported previous research in determining that IPV victims were able to assess their risk of repeat abuse at a level greater than chance. Victims were equally skilled in predicting a recurrence of abuse as they were in predicting no repeat of the abuse. They were also equally likely to be wrong through an overestimation of their risk as they were in an underestimation of their risk of a recurrence of abuse. Significant and marginally significant predictors of the accuracy of categories were the history of violence with the current and former partners, level of the abusers' substance use, symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, and the recency of the violence. Among the stronger findings were the connection between level of stalking and true positives and between substance use and false negatives. The findings suggest that victim assessments of risk for repeat abuse have significant potential for informing treatment practice. The study used data collected in the first 18 months of a 4 1/2 year longitudinal study of 406 IPV victims who sought help from shelters, civil court, and/or criminal court in a mid-Atlantic city. Of this sample, 246 rated the likelihood that they would experience a repeat of physical abuse in the coming year. Eighteen months later they reported on whether predicted risks had been realized. 6 tables and 45 references