NCJ Number
236145
Journal
Child Abuse & Neglect Volume: 35 Issue: 7 Dated: July 2011 Pages: 468-479
Date Published
July 2011
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This study estimated the prevalence of multiple victimization in a nationally representative sample of Canadian adolescents, adopting an ecological approach in identifying correlates of multiple victimization.
Abstract
The study found that the clustering of various types of victimization is common among adolescents. For both boys and girls, a difficult parent-child relationship characterized as rejecting is important when considering risk for multiple victimization, as is the adolescent's functioning outside of the home in the context of friendship quality and involvement in out-of-school activities. Non-victimization adversity (e.g., the death of a loved one) also emerged as a significant multiple victimization correlate. These findings suggest that in order to better identify adolescents who may be vulnerable to multiple forms of victimization, treatment practitioners should adopt an ecological approach that considers individual, family, and household functioning. Among the 6 in 10 adolescents who reported at least 1 victimization experience in the 2000-2001 cycle of Canada's National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY), 30.5 percent reported 2 types of victimization, and 23.7 percent reported 3 or more types of victimization. There was an increased probability of multiple victimization (two or more types) in adolescents who reported greater parental rejection, more frequent out-of-school activities, and non-victimization adversity. The probability decreased if adolescents reported greater friendship quality. Data from the NLSCY were used to estimate the prevalence of multiple victimization (verbal harassment, threat of and actual physical assault, school social exclusion, discrimination) in 1,036 13-16 year-olds. The study also examined household (e.g., parental education), family (e.g., parenting practices), and adolescent (e.g., friendship quality) correlates of multiple victimization for the whole sample and separately by sex. 4 tables and 45 references