Critique of Articles

Critique of Articles

SECTION 1

SUMMARY: Psychiatric Impact of Organized and Ritual Child Sexual Abuse: Cross-Sectional Findings from Individuals Who Report Being Victimized

Although its prevalence is considered to be low, the challenge of Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a practice being witnessed in various cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds in many parts of the world. These are activities related to sexual abuses and exploitation towards children by subjecting them to acts like sexual assault, incest, child sexual exploitation, and other forms of sexual exploitation. CSA involves organized crime, which comprises of a network of perpetrators as well as several persons who are the victims. Organized crime is characterized by the use of unorthodox approaches related to religious, magical, or supernatural aspects to intimidate children into engaging in sexual activities. Based on the article, victims of organized children abuse (ORA) are present in several health contexts and tend to suffer from a number of trauma- and dissociative disorders as observed by health care professionals. The article also states that such victims are characterized by higher scores of dissociation than those with PTSD, and this results in fear of relationships and withdrawal from shameful situations. Dissociative disorders are characterized by disruption and/or discontinuity during normal processes of awareness, memory, identity, emotion, perception, representation of the body. In addition, health care professionals play an essential role in providing support to clients who have undergone various ORA experiences.

The research gathers data by interviewing previous ORA victims through an online survey. The survey was conducted by asking the victims to answer several questions provided on a questionnaire which comprised independent single- or multiple-choice questions—the type of questions which the victims (participants) were required depended on their experiences. The participants were required to answer questions related to various topics such as socio-demographic variables, awareness, and withdrawal, counselling, psychotherapy, psychiatric hospital stays, general support, ORA experiences, posttraumatic and dissociative symptoms, among others.  Notably, the participants gave varying responses based on their individual experiences with ORA.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the main characteristics inhabited by persons who had identified themselves as victims of ORA. The research also aimed to examine the relationship between ORA related activities and the use of health care with trauma-related symptom severity (PTSD and SD). One of the findings is that the prevalence of women who become victims of ORA is significantly higher compared to the number of men. On the other hand, the researchers noted that victims of childhood mistreatment were highly likely to adopt non-heterosexual orientation. Notably, girls who were sexually abused by male perpetrators in childhood were expected to be averse in engaging in relationships with men. In this sense, CSA has effects on the sexuality of individual and sexual interests during their adulthood. Most of the participants were also indicated that they had been diagnosed with dissociative disorders and dissociative personality states due to abuses. Also, psychopharmacological treatment for ORA victims was identified to be inadequate and poorly structured. Family involvement was one of the major factors that encouraged perpetrators to engage in child sexual abuse.

One of the major contributions of the article is that ORA often results in trauma-related symptom severity in a self-identified victim. Furthermore, the authors have explained the role of ideological/ritual strategies in promoting ORA. More so, it is clear that healthcare providers have a role in helping victims of child sexual abuse overcome trauma by treating severely traumatized clients with CPTSD and dissociative disorders and help detach them paths of the perpetrators.

SUMMARY: Cognitive Reframing of Intimate Partner Aggression: Social and Contextual Influences

Offenders of intimate partner violence often use victim-blaming attributions to explain their violent conduct. These attributions represent a significant challenge for intimate-partner violence offender intervention programs. The main goals of this study were to analyze the influence of social support and stressful events in life on psychological adjustment (self-esteem and depression).In addition, it focuses on the various factors that impact perceptions related to intimate partner aggression. In society, one is expected to love their intimate partners and love them unconditionally. However, as the relationship grows, some partners begin perpetrating aggression acts towards the other person in a romantic relationship. While many previous studies refer to “IPV” (intimate partner violence), we use the term IPA to include several aggressions to include verbal, emotional, psychological, physical, or sexual aggression. In fact, victims of IPA are subjected to various non-physical psychological or emotional aggressions by their intimate partners. The article seeks to investigate the various factors that influence one’s perceptions upon being subjected to intimate partner aggression by their current relationship partner.

Nowadays, most researchers are concerned with how IPA victims manage partner perceptions and aggressive relationship acts. A notable example is a study in which adults from a community college were asked about specific behaviors, and most of them did admit to receiving kicks and beatings from their partners. The prevalence of intimate partner aggression has been on the rise, and it can be attributed to several factors. The article has investigated the role of cultural, individual, partner, and relationship factors in causing IPA.

Based on the article, Individual influences for any given person are at the most immediate and personal level. These are factors that are directly tied to the person in terms of his or her history of life, personality, intelligence, among others. One common variable at this level in the context of partner aggression is experienced with violence or aggression in one’s family of origin. People who grow up in backgrounds that are characterized by violence and aggression are likely to perpetrate violence towards their partners.

The research made several findings and conclusions in relation to individual perception of intimate partner aggression. To begin with, one’s motivation to minimize or reinterpret aggression may be about personal, concrete, immediate cognitive coping, and self-protection. Still, ultimately, their theoretical, abstract, or global views will also affect those motivations at least somewhat. In addition, It is not a harmless experience when victims are discounting the aggression aimed at them. Past researchers have noted that downplaying IPA leads to harms that may not be visible physically. The article is essential in helping readers understand intimate partner violence as well as the perceptions of the victims of this kind of victimization.

SUMMARY: The Relationship between Family Violence and Self-Control in Adolescence: A Multi-Level Meta-Analysis

Family violence is a common occurrence and has had tremendous effects on individuals, communities, and society. It is a practice where one or more family members are involved related to verbal and physical violence. Persons who have been exposed to family violence have inhibited vulnerability in terms of their physical, mental, and social well-being during their lifetime. Family violence impacts on not only one’s adolescence but also the adult life adulthood and parenthood. One of the likelihood is that persons who experience family violence are likely to prefer the use of violence during their adolescence and subsequently establishing a cycle of violence among the generation. One of the causes of family violence is a lack of self-control. Self-control is the ability of an individual to engage in desirable actions and behaviors and also overcome undesirable impulses. On the other hand, exposure to family violence may result in a decrease of self-control among adolescents, thus may trigger them to engage in violence within several domains such as schools, among their peers, and in romantic relationships.

The above article used a quantitative research method as a method of analysis. It has used a meta-analysis that has analyzed the problem of family violence and its relation to self-control using 28 sizes from 143 effect sizes, which comprise more than 25,000 participants from about eight nations and in their early or late adolescence years. In essence, the research involved investigating self-control and family violence variables for persons aged between 10 and 22 years to analyze various stages of adolescent development.  The research investigates the correlation between factors such as age, gender, and nationality in terms of the relationship between family violence and self-control. One of the findings is that youth from all ages are significantly affected by family violence, but the magnitude tends to vary across different adolescence stages.  Those who are in early adolescence are likely to have lower self-control due to family violence as most of them depend on parental support. Based on gender, the impacts of family violence are equal among boys and girls. In relation to countries, the research has not identified whether countries or cultures tend to affect the relationships between family violence and self-control. In this regard, the article reveals at apart from age, other factors such as gender, nationality, and informant did not have an impact on self-control among adolescents who had experienced family violence.

The article has provided essential information in relation to family violence and self-control across persons who are in the adolescent stage. One of the major contributions of the article is that family violence is one of the factors that can result in victimization among adolescents as it results in them being violent. This is because most of them tend to have low self-control due to the impacts of family violence and contributing to maintaining violence. The article reveals that those in the early adolescence are likely to have lower self-control as they most dependent on their parents. However, the influence of family violence may decrease during their late adolescence as they tend to have become more independent individuals who are less influenced by family factors. The article can be termed as theoretical-based as it is concerned with the theoretical aspect of the relationship between family violence and self-control.

SECTION 2

Critique of Articles

The three articles have highlighted several social aspects related to victimization in society. To begin with, the article “Psychiatric Impact of Organized and Ritual Child Sexual Abuse: Cross-Sectional Findings from Individuals Who Report Being Victimized” highlights the challenge of child sexual abuse and the role of family members in contributing to the victimization of the victims. On the other hand, the article “The Relationship between Family Violence and Self-Control in Adolescence: A Multi-Level Meta-Analysis” highlights how family violence results in the victimization of adolescents as they tend to become violent and aggressive during their early and late adolescence years. On its part, the article “Cognitive Reframing of Intimate Partner Aggression: Social and Contextual Influences” focuses on how intimate partner aggression (IPA) results in the victimization of the abused partners and result in altering their perception towards IPA. In this sense, there are several issues in society that result in the victimization of those affected by the problem. The three articles have significantly highlighted and discussed the various practices that cause victimization and their implications on victims and society.

Personal Victimization Issue

Another problem in society that has led to victimization is adolescent (teen) dating violence. It is dating violence, which is directed towards teenage boys and girls between ages 13 and 19. Most of the victims of TDV are subjected to physical, sexual, and emotional violence. Those who perpetrate TDV tend to give several reasons to justify their actions. Nevertheless, numerous measures are required to ensure teenage boys and girls do not become victims of adolescent dating violence, given the adverse physical and emotional effects. Despite the increasing prevalence of TDV in worldwide, the problem has not gained equal attention to problems such as adult intimate-partner violence and marital abuse. Over the years, adolescents have been overlooked as a population that is prone to relationship violence. Various patterns of distributions characterize TDV. One of the features of TDV is that both males and females are victims of this kind of violence. Teen boys and girls tend to report abuse at almost equal rates. The rate of victimization among males and females teenagers does not indicate significant gender differences. In most cases, boys tend to perpetrate TDV through physical violence such as punching while girls tend to commit moderate abusive acts like scratching, slapping, and throwing objects.

There are various risk factors associated with increasing the prevalence of TDV worldwide. Different teenagers tend to become victims or perpetrators of TDV due to various varying reasons and circumstances. To begin with, TDV can be attributed to several socioeconomic and demographic factors in the lives of a teenager. Factors such as community or household and race/ethnicity, as well as geographic region, play a significant role in contributing to dating abuse among teenagers. Teenagers from low socioeconomic status, raised by single parents, and low-income neighborhoods are prone to acts of TDV. Teenagers who have been victims of corporal punishment or other harsh disciplines and other physical abuse during their lifetime have a high likelihood of engaging in TDV. Those who perpetrate TDV tend to give several reasons to justify their violent actions towards their partners. One of the reasons is the social norms around masculinity. Notably, most men, including teenage boys, tend to feel superior compared to women. Another reason that perpetrators of TDV give is that violence is a component of every relationship. They tend to justify their actions by claiming that it is not possible to be in an intimate relationship whereby the two parts fight each other. Most of the perpetrators who give this reason are those who grew up in families or environments in which they witnessed fights between their parents, guardians, or neighbors. Perpetrators of dating violence also justify their abusive behaviors by claiming that their partners are fine with the manner they are being treated. Some of the perpetrators think that since their victims choose to remain silent is a way of indicating that they are fine being in a violent relationship. In addition, the decision by the victims not to walk away from violent relationships encourages the perpetrators to think that they have accepted violence as a component of their relationship. As a result, perpetrators of dating violence have several reasons they give to justify their abusive behaviors.

Several factors of adolescent development can be attributed to the start and growth of an abusive relationship among individuals in this age group. To begin with, peer influence is one of the factors that characterize adolescent development. As a result, it is one of the factors that facilitate the start of an abusive relationship. Notably, both girls and boys who have friends who are violent towards their intimate partners tend also to become perpetrate violence to ensure they fit or become equal to their friends. Most teen boys who treat girls well and considered to be “unmanly”. TDV has serious implications both on the physical and emotional well-being of the victims. Dating violence, either in the form of verbal, physical, sexual, or emotional violence, may have short and long-term impacts on teenagers. Nevertheless, most of these effects may go unnoticed as most victims of TDV are often aid or reluctant to tell their parents or another adult for fear of being judged or believed. The effects of this kind of victimization are both short and long term. One of the negative impacts of TDV is emotional damage on the teen victim. Teen boys and girls who are in an abusive relationship may experience symptoms of depression, and anxiety Victims of dating violence may experience different physical effects. In the short term, they may be prone to bruises and scars, while in the long term, victims of TDV may have arthritis, high blood pressure, and heart disease. Teen boys and girls who are victims of TDV are prone to performing poorly in their schoolwork. Teenagers whose intimate partners are violent may tend to isolate and also increased drug and alcohol abuse, risk of transmitting STDs, increased teen pregnancy risk, losing interest in romantic relationships, loss in self-confidence, abandoning one’s dreams and goals, and feeling of anger, among others. Like highlighted in the articles, TDV is a problem that has resulted in victimization.

References

Goodfriend, W., & Arriaga, X. B. (2018). Cognitive Reframing of Intimate Partner Aggression: Social and Contextual Influences. International journal of environmental research and public health, 15(11), 2464.

Schröder, J., Nick, S., Richter-Appelt, H., & Briken, P. (2018). Psychiatric Impact of Organized and Ritual Child Sexual Abuse: Cross-Sectional Findings from Individuals Who Report Being Victimized. International journal of environmental research and public health, 15(11), 2417.

Willems, Y. E., Li, J. B., Hendriks, A. M., Bartels, M., & Finkenauer, C. (2018). The relationship between family violence and self-control in adolescence: a multi-level meta-analysis. International journal of environmental research and public health, 15(11), 2468.