Using the covariance matrix reported by Guo et al., we reassessed the evidence supporting their mediation model linking peer victimization to lower levels of prosocial behavior among adolescents. We demonstrate that the empirical associations can be reproduced with high accuracy by an alternative latent-variable model that does not depend on the order of influence proposed in the original article. In this model, self-reported peer victimization, psychological capital, empathy, and prosocial behavior are conceptualized as indicators of a broader latent construct, namely core self-evaluation. The findings illustrate a fundamental issue in observational research: different theoretical models may account equally well for the same covariance structure. Consequently, correlational data alone provide limited grounds for favoring one specific explanatory mechanism over competing alternatives. Consequently, researchers should consider alternative specifications before drawing strong conclusions about underlying processes.

Childhood sexual abuse is widespread and has been tied to numerous negative outcomes that occur throughout the remainder of the life course. The current study sought to replicate and extend previous research by examining the connection between childhood sexual abuse and extreme forms of serious physical victimization later in life. To do so, we analyzed males and females drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health). The results of the analysis for males revealed that childhood sexual abuse was associated with three of the four physical victimization scales that were collected during adolescence and adulthood. For females, childhood sexual abuse was associated with two of the four physical victimization scales (one in adolescence and one in adulthood). Taken together, these results provide some evidence showing a linkage between childhood sexual abuse and subsequent physical victimization.

While empathy training has long been considered a cornerstone of clinical interventions for intimate partner violence (IPV), emerging evidence on the link between empathy and IPV perpetration suggests an inconsistent association. Guided by the double-edged sword theory and integrating attachment theoretical perspectives within the Chinese cultural context, this study established a competitive mediation model to explain this counterintuitive relationship. An online sample from 31 provinces in China, including 295 adults (69.8% women; Mage = 29.50 years), completed questionnaires measuring empathy, emotion appraisal, attachment avoidance, attachment anxiety, and psychological IPV perpetration. Results suggested that empathy may be indirectly associated with higher psychological IPV perpetration through attachment anxiety, while simultaneously linked to lower psychological IPV perpetration through a mediation chain of emotion appraisal and attachment avoidance. These two competitive mediating pathways mutually canceled each other, potentially accounting for an apparent lack of association between empathy and psychological IPV perpetration. These findings suggested the necessity of screening for insecure attachment styles before empathy-based IPV intervention. For perpetrators with avoidant attachment, empathy training may be enhanced by incorporating emotion appraisal, whereas for perpetrators with anxious attachment, empathy interventions may warrant caution.

While intimate partner violence (IPV) has increasingly been examined in religious collectivist contexts, limited theoretical attention has been given to culturally embedded patterns of coercive control within such settings. This study examines IPV against ultra-Orthodox (UO) Jewish women in Israel, asking: What culturally embedded mechanisms characterize this violence, and how do UO social workers interpret them? Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 16 UO social workers (nine women and seven men) with professional training and insider cultural knowledge, thematic analysis identified recurring non-physical patterns of domination. IPV appeared to operate through four culturally structured mechanisms: silent treatment, spiritual coercion, sexism, and financial control, all within a pervasive climate of emotional violence. These findings extend coercive control scholarship by distinguishing between macro-level communal rewards and micro-level interpersonal recognition within patriarchal bargains, demonstrating how their divergence may produce layered entrapment in religious collectivist settings. More broadly, the study situates IPV within intersecting structures of gendered and minority marginalization and highlights how symbolic religious authority may function as a culturally legitimate way of sustaining domination even in the absence of physical violence or material dependency.

Does intimate partner violence (IPV) before or during pregnancy increase the likelihood of unsafe infant sleep practices (surface sharing and non-supine positioning) among women with a recent live birth? The sample included 213,556 women with a recent live birth participating in the 2016 to 2022 Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) from 41 U.S. jurisdictions. We analyzed PRAMS data to estimate the prevalence of physical IPV 12 months before or during pregnancy and infant sleep practices (i.e., surface sharing and supine positioning) by demographic characteristics. We calculated adjusted odds ratios (aORs) to examine associations between physical IPV and infant sleep practices. Overall, 3.2% (95% confidence interval [CI] [3.1, 3.3]) of women reported physical IPV in the 12 months before or during pregnancy. Experiences of physical IPV in the 12 months before or during pregnancy were significantly associated with an increased likelihood of reporting surface sharing in the 2 weeks before survey administration and those who had experienced physical IPV had 20% higher odds of putting their infant in a non-supine sleep position compared to those who had not experienced IPV (aOR = 1.2, 95% CI [1.1, 1.4]). Physical IPV before or during pregnancy may be an important risk factor for unsafe infant sleep practices. Attention to IPV as a potential barrier to safe infant sleep practices may be an important consideration for perinatal care and support.

A substantial body of evidence indicates that neuroticism influences bullying victimization and peer attachment among left-behind children (LBC). However, how these three constructs interact at the within-person level remains underexplored. To address this gap, the present study, grounded in the transactional model, employed a random-intercept cross-lagged panel model to examine the longitudinal bidirectional relationships among neuroticism, distinct dimensions of bullying victimization, and peer attachment. A cohort of 604 LBC (Mage = 9.64, SDage = 0.71; 397 boys, 207 girls) was followed across four annual waves. At the within-person level, the results revealed that neuroticism and relational victimization, as well as neuroticism and physical victimization, exhibited bidirectional relationships, whereas neuroticism only unidirectionally and positively predicted verbal victimization. Furthermore, verbal victimization, relational victimization, and physical victimization each unidirectionally and negatively predicted peer attachment. These findings elucidate the dynamic interplay among neuroticism, distinct forms of bullying victimization, and peer attachment among LBC in middle childhood, highlighting the importance of distinguishing among victimization types and targeting bullying victimization as an important intervention focus for reducing neuroticism and promoting healthier peer relationships among LBC.

Disclosing experiences of abuse during childhood is a complex process. Previous research has shown that a key barrier to disclosure arises when children and young people do not recognise that what they are experiencing constitutes abuse. It is therefore crucial to deepen our understanding of how children and young people develop awareness of and grasp their experiences as abuse. This paper investigates the relational process of disclosing abuse among children and young people. The analysis highlights the central role of doubt in this process and identifies three analytically distinct but empirically interconnected forms of doubt: intrapersonal doubt, interpersonal doubt, and extrapersonal doubt. These three forms show that doubt not only concerns children's and young people's own interpretations of their experiences, but emerges as a relational process shaped through interactions with those in their social environment. The findings offer a novel contribution by conceptualising doubt not as an internal barrier, but as a relational and socially situated interpretive process. The paper is based on timeline interviews with 20 children and young people (aged 12-25 years) who had experienced one or more forms of physical violence, psychological violence, or sexual abuse.

Emerging data suggest problematic pornography use is associated with sexual violence perpetration, though limited research has examined this association within intimate partners. One known correlate of college students' sexual intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration that may influence the degree to which problematic pornography use relates to sexual IPV is alcohol use and problems. This study tested the hypothesis that problematic pornography use would positively relate to sexual IPV perpetration among undergraduates with high, but not low, levels of alcohol use and problems. College students (N = 236; 67.4% women, 77.5% white) completed an online survey assessing problematic pornography use, alcohol use and problems, and sexual IPV perpetration. We estimated the moderating effect of alcohol use and problems on the association between problematic pornography use and sexual IPV perpetration while statistically controlling for sex assigned at birth. The interaction between problematic pornography use and alcohol use and problems was significantly related to sexual IPV perpetration (B = 0.03, SE = 0.01, p = .01) such that problematic pornography use was positively associated with sexual IPV perpetration among participants with higher, but not lower, levels of alcohol use and problems. Problematic pornography use combined with greater alcohol use and problems in college students was associated with more frequent sexual IPV perpetration. Increased education on responsible alcohol and pornography use may mitigate sexual IPV perpetration risk among college students.

In response to longstanding critiques of the legal system's ability to meet survivors' justice-related needs, restorative justice (RJ) has been proposed as a complementary approach that emphasizes healing, accountability, and survivor participation. However, the use of RJ in cases of intimate partner violence (IPV) remains highly contested, with concerns surrounding safety, power imbalances, coercion, and the potential for re-traumatization. Despite these debates, there is limited empirical research examining how survivors themselves perceive the suitability of RJ in the context of IPV. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 57 women and nonbinary survivors of IPV in Ontario, Canada, this study explores their willingness to engage in RJ processes and perceived benefits and risks. Using a community-engaged research approach, findings reveal substantial variation in survivors' views. Participants identified potential benefits of RJ, including having a voice, achieving closure, holding perpetrators accountable, involving the community, and preventing future harm. At the same time, many expressed significant concerns related to personal safety, the sincerity of perpetrator accountability, and the adequacy of community capacity to support restorative processes. Overall, survivors tended to view RJ as an idealized model of justice, with practical benefits contingent upon stringent safeguards. The paper concludes by situating findings within ongoing debates about RJ and IPV, and by offering recommendations for practice and future research grounded in survivors' lived experiences.

Bullying behavior among youth is linked to long-term psychosocial and criminological consequences and is particularly prevalent yet understudied in juvenile justice settings. Stable individual differences, including personality traits, early psychopathic traits, and biological markers, may provide a framework for understanding bullying among young offenders. The present study examined whether these factors, both individually and cumulatively, were associated with bullying behavior among 370 male adolescents aged 14 to 19 years detained in a juvenile detention center in Northern Russia. Bullying behavior was evaluated using the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia - Present and Lifetime Version. Data were available for subsets on personality traits measured with the Temperament and Character Inventory (n = 320), early psychopathic traits assessed with Lynam's Childhood Psychopathy Scale (self-report n = 136; teacher report n = 154), and platelet Monoamine Oxidase B (MAO-B) activity (n = 178). Associations between bullying, personality traits, psychopathic traits, and MAO-B activity were examined using independent-samples t-tests, linear and logistic regression models. All analyses were conducted using available cases and adjusted for smoking. A cumulative risk index was created to examine the combined contribution of multiple risk factors, based on the top 20% in novelty seeking, psychopathic traits, and low MAO-B activity. Bullies differed from non-bullies on nearly all personality traits, showing higher novelty seeking and lower self-directedness and cooperativeness. Bullies also exhibited higher psychopathic traits (self- and teacher-rated) and lower MAO-B activity, although the MAO-B association weakened to a trend when adjusting for smoking. The likelihood of belonging to the bullying group increased with the accumulation of risk factors across personality, psychopathic traits, and MAO-B activity. We conclude that, within an already high-risk offender population, bullying is associated with the cumulative presence of personality characteristics, psychopathic traits, and biological markers, supporting a multidimensional framework of risk.

This Festschrift contribution identifies a research question that I believe most needs to be addressed in the near future in understanding, preventing, and responding to serial killers of interpersonal violence. Although there has been an upsurge of research on sexual homicide over the years, there is still much we do not know. The dilemma is: how can we add to the collective knowledge of killers? What role, if any, does early-life social isolation contribute to the development of serial homicidal behavior, and how does it interact with other known risk factors such as trauma, personality disorders, and cognitive/neurological abnormalities?

Founding Editor Jon Conte asked colleagues in the field to write a short piece on their thoughts about next steps to move research forward, research questions that should be addressed over the next 5 years, or next steps toward prevention. The articles in this Festschrift will hopefully provide ideas for our colleagues in the near future to guide our responses and move the field forward toward eradication of interpersonal violence.

Street harassment based on gender, gender identity or sexual orientation is a common form of violence globally, experienced daily by many people. Despite the scale of the problem, there is surprisingly little research investigating street harassment from the perspectives of bystanders who observe it. In this study, 120 online participants from the United Kingdom read three vignettes depicting street harassment of a presumed cis-gender woman, a trans woman and a gay couple. After reading the vignettes, participants were asked open-ended questions regarding their potential actions and barriers and facilitators to help. We employed thematic analysis in exploring the responses and constructed five themes: (i) Perceived safety and risk; (ii) Bystander characteristics, knowledge and understanding; (iii) Perceived target need; (iv) Presence of other people and (v) Suggested bystander action. We discuss the results with a reference bystander literature, relating it to the specific context of street harassment.

Advocates are the primary workforce that responds to the needs of domestic violence (DV) survivors. Previous research has indicated that this workforce experiences stressful occupational conditions and chronically low wages, which drive turnover intention. However, few studies have examined the financial status and needs of this population. The purpose of this study was to document the economic experiences of DV advocates in the United States, with a particular focus on hourly wage and overall financial well-being. The national online survey, administered in 2024, used a convenience sampling approach to recruit advocates and other direct practice staff working in DV-focused organizations (n = 419). Regression analysis was used to examine the association between advocates' average hourly wage and regional, occupational, and sociodemographic characteristics. This was followed by a latent profile analysis (LPA) to examine compensation profiles among advocates. Advocates had an average hourly wage of $23.36 (SD = $6.26), 46.17% experienced past-year food insecurity and 40.91% were working at least one additional job. Predictors of hourly wage included education level, speaking at least one additional language (e.g., bilingual), and years in the field. The best-fitting latent class profile model yielded four distinct profiles-mid-career advocates with higher education (Profile 1; n = 55); early-career advocates without children (Profile 2; n = 170); survivor-advocates caring for children at home (Profile 3, n = 165), and (4) late career advocates identifying as straight and female (Profile 4, n = 29). Hourly wages were not equal across profiles. Advocates from Profile 4 had the highest hourly wage ($27.39) and Profile 3 had the lowest ($21.12). Profile 3 had the highest percentage of advocates who met the cut-off for food insecurity and had reported the least financial well-being. Addressing the low wages of advocates, and subsequent impacts, has the potential to not only improve staff wellness, but stabilize and improve client services for survivors.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) may shape or distort cognitive beliefs, including the belief in an inherently just world. As such, acceptance of rape myths, often conceptualized as a type of just world belief specific to sexual assault, may be influenced by early life adversity. To date, research examining this association has been limited and mixed; however, one understudied factor that may help clarify findings is the role of early maladaptive schemas (EMSs), or broad, dysfunctional patterns of beliefs developed in childhood. The aims of the current study were to (1) examine the association between ACEs and rape myth acceptance, and (2) test whether this association was moderated by three EMS domains: disconnection/rejection, impaired autonomy/performance, and overvigilance/inhibition. Undergraduate students (n = 579; 68.0% White; Mage = 19.3 years, SDage = 2.80) completed a survey related to sexual assault and reporting experiences. Results revealed a significant, negative correlation between ACEs and rape myth acceptance, and all three EMS domains significantly moderated this relation. Among individuals with average and/or above-average EMSs, greater exposure to ACEs was significantly associated with lower rape myth acceptance, whereas no association emerged among individuals with lower EMSs. Findings indicate that, among those with higher levels of EMSs, exposure to ACEs may buffer against acceptance of rape myths, likely due to contradicting experiences of a just world. Our study is the first to directly examine the association between ACEs and rape myth acceptance while also investigating the role of important psychological factors, such as maladaptive schemas, that may be used to target rape myth acceptance and promote resilience.