Examining an Indirect Pathway from the Variety of Stressful Life Events to Violent Victimization through Acquired Psychological Symptoms

Abstract

The effects of stressful life events on violent victimization have been well established. The existing literature, however, remains relatively limited in examining the indirect association between stressful life events and violent victimization through acquired psychological processes. The current study examines the mediating effects of the co-occurrence of negative psychological symptoms (adverse psychological effects) on the association between stressful life events and violent victimization. The results of two structural equation models, estimated using the NLSY 1997 cohort, demonstrate that a variety of stressful life events and violent victimization had a positive indirect effect on violent victimization through adverse psychological effects. The results were only slightly attenuated when self-reported number of arrests was introduced as a covariate of violent victimization in the SEM. The findings suggest that exposure to a variety of stressful life events and violent victimization can influence psychological symptoms and increase subsequent violent victimization.

Keywords:

• Violent victimization
• adverse psychological effects
• stressful life events

Acknowledgements

The NLSY97 survey is sponsored and directed by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, with assistance from the Center for Human Resource Research at The Ohio State University. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors alone.

Notes

1 The number of different stressful life events experienced by an individual.

2 For more information on the sampling and interviewing techniques used to create the NLSY97 see Moore et al. (2000).

3 All of the items are provided in Appendix A.

4 The items used to operationalize the variety of stressful life events, was subjected to a KR20 analysis. The results (KR20 = .19), demonstrated a low level of reliability between the items. This, however, supports the creation of a variety score because exposure to stressful life events, such as the hospitalization or incarceration of an adult member of their household, are likely uncorrelated with each other. Although we perceived variety of stressful life events as an observable construct, we subjected the measure to an independent CFA. The results demonstrated that the variety score likely explained the covariances between 2the items (Baseline χ²= 343.393, p < .001; Model χ²= 18.401, p = .031; CFI = .971; TLI = .952; RMSEA = .012; RMSEA 90%CI = .004, .020, p RMSEA < = .05 = 1.00; N = 7,275). The full results are provided in Appendix B. Nevertheless, the results of the CFA do not represent the raw variety of stressful life events respondents experienced and cannot be used to create a variety score measure.

5 A supplemental model was estimated where adverse psychological effects was specified in a manner consistent with a correlated traits model. The results of this model are provided in Appendix G and the substantive findings are discussed in the results section.

6 The results of the replication were substantively similar to those reported in the text and are available upon request.

7 The reliability of the measures, however, was examined using Cronbach’s alpha, which demonstrated a reasonable amount of reliability between the items asked at each round (α = .459). Although we perceived the number of arrests as an observable construct, we subjected the measure to an independent CFA. The results demonstrated that an overarching construct likely explained the covariances between the items (Baseline χ²= 81.016, p < .001; Model χ²= 2.88, p = .236; CFI = .988; TLI = .964; RMSEA = .008; RMSEA 90%CI = .000, .027, p RMSEA < = .05 = 1.00, N = 6,483). The full results are provided in Appendix B. Nevertheless, the CFA results in a measure that does not represent the raw number of arrests the respondents experienced.

8 Additional information provided in Appendices H and I.

9 Sensitivity analyses – estimated using the correlated traits specification – were conducted to further examine how the specification of a second order latent construct influenced the results presented in the primary model. More information is provided in Appendix H, while the results of the sensitivity analyses are presented in Appendix G and discussed below.

10 The specification of a recursive association between violent victimization (Round 16) and the number of arrests from Round 13 to Round 16 resulted in an under-identified model. Nevertheless, controlling for the covariance between the endogenous constructs is a common method for adjusting for interdependent associations (Kline, 2016).

11 While our primary focus in the manuscript is on the effects of exposure to a variety of stressful life events, we wanted to provide the reader with a comprehensive understanding of the direct and indirect pathways between each individual stressful life event and the constructs of interest. As such, we re-estimated the models (Appendices L and M) to examine the influence of each individual stressful life event on the constructs of interest with and without the covariances between the observed measures included in the estimation of adverse psychological effects. As noted in Appendices L and M, we did not specify any covariances between the unique stressful life events in this supplemental model. The findings suggest that each individual stressful life event had a nominal, standardized, and indirect influence on future victimization through adverse psychological effects. This observation suggests that adverse psychological effects might not strongly mediate the influence of each individual stressful life event on future victimization but, as discussed below, did mediate the association between a variety of stressful life events and future victimization. These two operationalizations of stressful life events – each individual stressful life events and a variety of stressful life events – represent two theoretically distinct conceptualizations of stressful life events in the extant literature (e.g., e.g., Boisvert et al., 2018).

12 The association between stressful life events and violent victimization and indirect association through adverse psychological effects had relatively small standardized effects suggesting that various factors contributes to an individual’s risk of violent victimization.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ian A. Silver

Ian A. Silver is an Assistant Professor at the Law and Justice Department at Rowan University and a fellow at the University of Cincinnati Corrections Institute (UCCI). His research interests include correctional rehabilitation, incarceration, psychology, and applied statistics. His recent work has appeared in the Criminology and Public Policy, Aggressive Behavior, Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, Brain Injury, and the Journal of Criminal Justice.

James D. Kelsay

James D. Kelsay is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Texas at Arlington. His research interests include policing, environmental criminology, and victimization. His work has appeared in the Journal of Quantitative Criminology, Criminal Justice and Behavior, Violence and Victims, and the Journal of Criminal Justice.