Undergraduates Indicate Favorable CostBenefit Ratio for Victimization and Perpetration Questions

1
Undergraduates Indicate Favorable Cost-Benefit
Ratio for Victimization and Perpetration Questions

• Kathryn Becker-Blease
• Washington State University Vancouver
• These slides online at
• http//www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/becker-b/apa2007

2

• Assessing the ethical costs and benefits of
  research is necessary
• to ensure good science, and
• to protect participants.

3

• Trauma-focused research raises concerns about
  risks to traumatized participants.
• Does asking about trauma re-traumatize?
• Does asking have benefits for participants?
• Too personal, sensitive, uncomfortable?
• Research has provided answers to some of these
  questions.
• See Becker-Blease Freyd (2006), DePrince
  Freyd (2004), Newman, Walker, Gefland (1999)
  and http//www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/becker-b/CITR
  M/ethics_bibliography.htm

4
DePrince Freyd, 2004

• Survey with 12 trauma questions
• Distress relative to other things encountered in
  day-to-day life and cost-benefit ratio
• Participants
• 468 undergraduate volunteers
• Age M 20.4 (SD 3.0) 73.5 female
• 149 community participants
• Age M 38.7 (SD 12.3) 64.0 female

5
Distress questionplease rate whether you found
answering the questions to be more or less
distressing than other things you sometimes
encounter in day to day life.
Much less distressing
Neutral
Much more distressing
DePrince Freyd (2004)
6
Cost- Benefit Ratioplease consider both your
experience answering the questions, and your
feelings about how important it is that we ask
the questions, and then rate how good of an idea
it is to include such a measure in psychology
research.
Very good
Neutral
Very bad
DePrince Freyd (2004)
7
Cromer, Binder, Freyd, DePrince Becker-Blease
(2006)

• Asked undergraduate students about
• Grade point average
• SAT scores
• Body image
• Emotional abuse
• Sexual abuse
• Distress relative to other things encountered in
  day-to-day life and cost-benefit ratio
• Same questions as DePrince Freyd (2004).

8
Distress questionplease rate whether you found
answering the questions to be more or less
distressing than other things you sometimes
encounter in day to day life.
Much less distressing
Neutral
Much more distressing
Cromer et al. (2006)
9
Cost- Benefit Ratioplease consider both your
experience answering the questions, and your
feelings about how important it is that we ask
the questions, and then rate how good of an idea
it is to include such a measure in psychology
research.
Very good
Neutral
Very bad
Cromer et al. (2006)
10
In this study

• We asked participants about both victimization
  and perpetration.
• Then, we asked about the costs and benefits of
  both kinds of questions relative to other kinds
  of questions. Our methods and questions
  paralleled two previous studies.

11
Participants and Methods

• 75 undergraduates completed an extra credit
  survey
• Questions included
• income,
• witnessing family conflict and domestic violence
  as children,
• being the victim of childhood sexual abuse (CSA)
  perpetrated by a sibling,
• perpetrating CSA on a sibling.
• the costs and benefits of these questions.

12
Demographics

• 72 female (n 54)
• 88 White/Non-Hispanic (n 66)
• Age M 27.8 (SD 8.8, range 19 to 58)
• Personal income M 16,555
• (SD 13,802, range 0 to 75,000).

13
Family Conflict and Abuse

• Witnessed intense parental conflict 40 (53).
• Survivors of CSA perpetrated by a parent 4 (5).
• Survivors of CSA perpetrated by a sibling 5
  (7).
• Perpetrator of CSA against a sibling 1 (1).

14
Distress questionplease rate whether you found
answering the questions to be more or less
distressing than other things you sometimes
encounter in day to day life.
Much less distressing
DePrince Freyd
Neutral
Cromer et al.
Much more distressing
15
Cost- Benefit Ratioplease consider both your
experience answering the questions, and your
feelings about how important it is that we ask
the questions, and then rate how good of an idea
it is to include such a measure in psychology
research.
Very good
DePrince Freyd
Cromer et al.
B
B
B
A
Neutral
Very bad
16
Asking about abuse better than asking about income

• 6 (8) participants said asking about income was
  a very bad idea
• No participants said asking about family
  conflict, victimization or perpetration was a
  very bad idea

17
In Sum

• Participants report
• a favorable cost benefit analysis for researchers
  asking about victimization and perpetration.

18
Future Research

• Replicate in larger, more diverse samples.
• Identify preferred ways to ask about abuse
  (interview, written survey, etc).
• Identify best ways to ask about abuse of
  children.