Search Results (342)

Background: Cyberbullying is a critical public health issue affecting adolescent well-being. This study adopted a socio-ecological framework to examine individual, family, and school-level risk factors associated with three cyberbullying roles—Cyberbullies, Cybervictims, and Cyberbully/Victims—with particular attention to the often-overlooked Cyberbully/Victim subgroup and gender pathways. Methods: A total of 4543 adolescents (Mage = 13.97 years; 52.5% girls) completed the Tabby Improved Checklist. Multinomial logistic regression analyses were conducted separately for boys and girls to identify predictors of involvement in the three cyberbullying roles, including empathy dimensions, moral disengagement, antisocial behavior, aggression toward teachers, and social support, using non-involved adolescents as the reference group. Results: Cyberbully/Victims represented a high-risk profile characterized by elevated moral disengagement, antisocial behavior, and aggression toward teachers, irrespective of gender. Gender-specific patterns also emerged: male Cyberbullies exhibited high cognitive empathy and low affective empathy, whereas female Cybervictims and Cyberbully/Victims reported higher levels of affective empathy. Furthermore, low parental support and monitoring significantly predicted involvement among male Cyberbullies but not among females. Aggression toward teachers emerged as a common risk factor across all cyberbullying roles. Conclusions: These findings underscore the complexity of the Cyberbully/Victim role and support the need for gender-sensitive prevention strategies. Effective prevention efforts should adopt a multi-level approach addressing maladaptive cognitive processes, emotional regulation, and student–teacher relationships to reduce online aggression. Full article

Despite intimate partner violence (IPV) being a global issue, research on societal attitudes focuses on victim-survivor over and above perpetrator characteristics. Across two studies, we investigated whether judgements (measured across victim blame, perceived criminality, and anticipated harm) differed as a function of perpetrator sex (male, female) and whether the perpetrator reported a general (Study 1: n = 183) or specific (physical, mental) disability (Study 2: n = 237). After controlling for variation in personality, beliefs, and demographics, we consistently observed punitive judgements (i.e., less victim blame, and higher perceived criminality and anticipated harm) for vignettes depicting the perpetrator as male and not disabled. Findings are discussed within frameworks that examine the intersection of disability and violence, and how typical depictions of perpetrators of IPV mitigate the recognition of IPV and the minimisation thereof. We call for an international, qualitative exploration into the role of disability in IPV through the experiences of victim-survivors and perpetrators, and further interrogation into how disability in this context impacts victim-blame reduction interventions, support provision, and legal system responses. Full article

Intimate partner violence is a public health and human rights issue that must be addressed and measured to inform care and prevention efforts. The Violence Scale (EV) is used to assess different types of violence; however, there is no evidence of its validity and reliability in Colombia, nor are there specific studies on men. Objective: To evaluate the metric properties of the Partner Violence Scale (EV, by its Spanish acronym) in men within the Colombian community context. Methodology: Content validation was carried out with expert judges and victims of partner violence. Subsequently, the EV was tested on a sample of 1293 Colombian men who had not reported/denounced partner violence. Confirmatory factor analyses were performed using rival models to evaluate the best-fitting factor structure, along with mean variance extracted analysis as an indicator of convergent validity and reliability analysis. Results: Every tested structure for organizing intimate partner violence showed adequate fit indicators (CFI > 0.95; TLI > 0.95). However, the lowest level of error was evident in the five-factor structure (psychological, physical, severe physical, economic, and sexual violence; RMSEA = 0.009; SRMR = 0.080). All items were loaded by the factor to which they belong, and all loadings were significant (p < 0.005). The extracted mean variances exceeded 40%, and there were high reliability indicators for the total test (>0.94) and for each factor (>0.70). Conclusion: The Violence Scale(EV) provides adequate evidence of validity and reliability to be used as a tool for assessing violent behaviors experienced by Colombian men. Its use is recommended as an instrument for highlighting violence that has been normalized due to the socio-cultural barriers that men face. Full article

Background/Objectives: Traffic accidents are a significant public health issue. Pedestrians are considered the most vulnerable victims, showing the highest mortality rates. Thus, mortality rate indicators reflect the effectiveness of policies and safety measures applied to urban mobility. Therefore, the study objective is to identify trends in pedestrian mortality to foster an understanding of the local reality and to propose effective interventions for the safety and mobility of this population. Methods: This ecological time-series study used secondary data from the Unified Health System Information System (DATASUS) on all traffic accident-related deaths in Espírito Santo, Brazil, from 2009 to 2020. Data were classified according to the 10th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10). Variables included sex (male; female), age group (in years: 0 to 80+), and victim type (pedestrian). Mortality rates were logarithmically transformed (base 10), and the Prais–Winsten regression model was employed using STATA 13.0. Results: A total of 1969 traffic accident-related deaths were recorded. Males accounted for 75% of deaths, individuals of mixed race (pardo) represented 57%, and 72% were unmarried. A significant reduction in mortality rates was observed across age groups, especially among individuals aged 0–24 years. Mortality trends remained stationary only among individuals aged 80 years and older. Overall, the mortality rate decreased throughout the study period, from 5.51 to 1.69 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants. Conclusion: Pedestrian mortality rates from traffic accidents in Espírito Santo showed a decreasing trend, particularly among children and young people, while remaining stable among the elderly. Full article

Teen dating violence (TDV) is a relevant form of adolescent interpersonal violence, yet little is known about how adolescents intend to respond when a peer discloses victimization and whether these responses facilitate access to supportive adults and other protective resources. This study examined adolescents’ intended responses following peer disclosure of TDV using a vignette-based design that extended prior work by including four relationship configurations: heterosexual male perpetrator/female victim, heterosexual female perpetrator/male victim, male same-sex couple, and female same-sex couple. Participants were 655 adolescents aged 12 to 18 years from secondary schools in Southern Italy. Descriptive findings showed that supportive and relational responses were most frequently endorsed, including listening to the friend, helping them decide what to do, reassuring them, and encouraging them to talk to trusted others, whereas institutional responses were endorsed less often. Stratified chi-square analyses indicated that condition effects were selective rather than pervasive and were concentrated mainly in responses involving escalation to adults or authorities. Across subgroups, the heterosexual female-perpetrator/male-victim condition was most consistently associated with lower intervention-oriented responding and/or greater uncertainty, whereas the heterosexual male-perpetrator/female-victim condition more often elicited active intervention. The findings suggest that adolescents’ responses to peer disclosures of violence are shaped not only by prosocial intentions but also by the social recognizability of the violent scenario, with implications for validation, access to supportive adults, and inclusive school-based prevention. Full article

Previous research has shown that both victim intoxication and narrative framing can influence the levels of victim blame. However, far less attention has been paid to how coercive strategy and narrative framing may interact to shape victim-blaming judgements and perceptions of sexual assault. The present study addresses this gap by examining how combinations of coercive strategies (physical force versus alcohol facilitated), narrative framing (active versus passive), and rape myth acceptance (RMA) influence victim blame and the recognition of sexual assault. Participant gender and age were also assessed in relation to RMA and victim-blaming attitudes. A total of 202 participants aged 18–63 (78.7% of women, 21.3% of men, M_Age = 28.93, SD = 14.36) completed an online survey evaluating vignettes depicting a male perpetrator sexually assaulting a female victim. Age significantly predicted victim blaming, with older participants assigning greater blame to the victim. Gender predicted both RMA and victim blame, with men reporting higher RMA and greater victim blame than women. Active framing in both the physical force and alcohol-use conditions reduced participants’ recognition of the incident as sexual assault. Participants with lower RMA consistently reported lower victim blame across conditions, and were more likely to identify the incident as sexual assault in the physical force condition. These findings highlight the influence of coercive strategies and the importance of victim-centred language in policing, legal, and media contexts, where narrative framing can meaningfully shape the recognition of sexual assault. Full article

Background: Unhealthy alcohol use may lead to arrhythmia and cardiomyopathy, but its impact on sudden death is not well understood. Objective: To investigate the association of unhealthy alcohol use with sudden death. Methods: We conducted a case-control study in Wake County, a large (~1 million inhabitants), diverse county in North Carolina. We screened and adjudicated victims of sudden, unexpected, out-of-hospital deaths in adults aged 18–64 years reported by emergency medical services between 2013 and 2015. We randomly selected sex- and age-matched control patients from a university health system from the same county and time period. Characteristics of sudden death victims and controls were ascertained via standardized chart reviews. Unhealthy alcohol use was identified via chart review and was defined as any evidence of excessive alcohol use, such as it being stated in the social history or medical history, alcohol abuse being listed as a possible contributor to death, or alcohol-related diagnoses. We used logistic regression to estimate odds ratios (ORs) for the association of unhealthy alcohol use and sudden death, adjusting for age, sex, race, and other psychiatric diagnoses, including depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and substance use disorders other than tobacco and alcohol. We also calculated the E-value to estimate the impact of any unmeasured confounders. Results: We identified 399 sudden death victims, of whom 374 (94%) had alcohol use data available. Among these 374 included victims, 256 (68%) were male, and 239 (62%) were White, with a median age at death of 55 years (IQR 48, 60). The demographic characteristics of the 1114 matched controls were similar to those of sudden death victims. Unhealthy alcohol use was present in 115 (31%) sudden death victims and 27 (2%) controls. In analyses adjusted for demographics only, unhealthy alcohol use was associated with a higher incidence of sudden death, with an OR of 17.5 (95% CI 11.4, 27.8). When further adjusted for other psychiatric diagnoses, the OR was 11.2 (95% CI 7.1, 18.0). The calculated E-value was 21.8, meaning an unmeasured confounder would need to be associated with both unhealthy alcohol use and sudden death by 21.8-fold to explain away the observed OR. Conclusions: Unhealthy alcohol use was strongly associated with higher sudden death risk in working-age adults. Our calculated E-value indicates it is unlikely that any unmeasured confounders alone would account for the observed association. Our findings suggest that interventions to reduce unhealthy alcohol use may be an effective strategy to prevent sudden death in working-age adults. Full article

Although the consequences of intimate partner violence (IPV) for female victims have been widely documented, the psychological and academic correlates of perpetration remain underexplored. This study examines whether emotional distress statistically mediates the association between IPV perpetration and academic presenteeism among male university students. A cross-sectional survey was administered to 343 students from the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés in Bolivia. Using validated instruments and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling, we assessed direct and indirect associations. Findings indicate that 50.1% of students reported perpetrating at least one form of IPV since entering university, with stalking and psychological violence being most common. Perpetrators reported higher levels of emotional distress compared to non-perpetrators and exhibited higher academic presenteeism (reduced academic functioning despite physical attendance). The structural model indicated a significant indirect statistical effect of IPV perpetration on academic presenteeism through emotional distress (β = 0.137, p < 0.001), accounting for 36.2% of the total effect. These findings suggest that universities may consider perpetrator-focused components within broader prevention and support systems, integrating behavioral accountability with screening, referral, and academic support while recognizing that intervention effectiveness was not tested in this study. Full article

Individuals who have experienced a violent injury are at an increased risk of subsequent reinjury. The traumatic event may increase one’s motivation to change the modifiable factors that are associated with violence risk. The current paper describes the assessment of potentially modifiable risk factors in a recently developed hospital-based violence intervention program (HVIP) for youth. Individuals aged 17–24 who sought hospital treatment for violent injury at a Level 1 Trauma Center enrolled to participate in a quasi-experimental study designed to evaluate a motivational-interviewing-informed case management HVIP (N = 48). Descriptive analyses of modifiable risk factors assessed at baseline for participants, including substance use, employment, housing, mental health issues, and firearm-related beliefs and behaviors, were conducted. Participants identified primarily as male (85%) and Black (87%). Commonly acknowledged risk factors included: PTSD (38%), unemployment or marginal employment (73%), low educational attainment (44% < high school equivalency), and daily marijuana use (55%). Participants’ acknowledgement of unsafe firearm behaviors was highly variable, with 50% denying any firearm carriage in the past 12 months. Nevertheless, participants reported neutral-to-moderate firearm beliefs, with moderate endorsement of needing a firearm for protection (M = 3.77, SD = 2.2) and acknowledgment that most people they knew carry a firearm (M = 3.6, SD = 2.0). However, there was mild disagreement with the idea that firearm carriage would reduce the likelihood of being victimized (M = 2.67, SD = 2.2). Given the variability in the reporting of unsafe firearm behaviors, HVIPs overly focused on firearm behaviors may not be appropriate for youth. Full article

Background and Forensic Significance: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a major public health concern that can result in intimate partner homicide (IPH). While most reported cases involve female victims, fatal violence against men, particularly older adults, remains under-recognized. We report an atypical case of IPH involving an elderly male victim who was killed by his female partner. This case highlights the importance of comprehensive medico-legal investigation to accurately reconstruct the mechanism of injury and exclude alternative causes of death. Case Presentation: A 76-year-old man was found dead in his home after his 72-year-old wife reported that she found him unresponsive. He had a history of asthma and chronic alcohol use, was reportedly intoxicated, and had been involved in a longstanding conflict with his spouse. Autopsy revealed multiple patterned abrasions and contusions with extensive intramuscular hemorrhage involving the extremities. Internal examination demonstrated generalized visceral pallor. Fatal acute asthma and alcohol intoxication were excluded. Overall, the cause of death was determined to be hemorrhagic shock resulting from repeated blunt force trauma, and the manner of death was classified as homicide. Conclusions: This case demonstrates that a sustained blunt force assault can lead to fatal intramuscular blood pooling. Furthermore, it illustrates the rare demographic and mechanism patterns of IPH, underscoring the importance of comprehensive medico-legal evaluation and awareness of such occurrences. Full article

Firearm homicide is a leading cause of death among children and young men in the U.S. (ages 1–19), with young Black males in urban environments facing rates 18-to-24-fold higher than their non-Hispanic White peers in 2023. A key precursor to firearm violence victimization is weapon-carrying behavior (WCB), defined as carrying, concealing, or displaying firearms or other weapons in community or social contexts that elevate risk for injury, interpersonal threats, or law enforcement contact. Several structural, behavioral, and trauma-based risk factors fuel weapon-carrying. Yet these WCBs are rarely studied in tandem, leaving a critical gap in our understanding of these high-risk behaviors for youth. This cross-sectional study leveraged baseline data from a convenience sample of 226 violence-exposed urban young Black males, ages 15–24 (M_age = 18.3 years; SD = 3.1) enrolled in a trauma-informed digital firearm violence prevention pilot study. Eligibility required prior personal or witnessed experience of youth violence; reported prevalence therefore characterizes a high-risk subgroup rather than urban young Black males as a whole. Past-30-day weapon-carrying frequency was measured across five YRBS-aligned categories (0, 1, 2 to 3, 4 to 5, and 6+ days) and modeled as a categorical index under negative binomial regression. Associations with peer and community violence exposure, substance use, sociodemographic, and socioeconomic factors were estimated as incidence rate ratios (IRRs) with 95% CI. Past-30-day weapon carrying was reported by 42.5% of participants, with carrying frequency ranging from 1 day to 6 or more days. Participants reported high levels of direct victimization (64.8%), witnessing community violence (76.4%), and use of nonprescribed medications, including in instances preceding violence. In the fully adjusted model, indicators of violence exposure were the most consistent correlates of carrying. Direct victimization (IRR = 1.15, p < 0.05), general exposure to violence or aggression (IRR = 7.82, p < 0.01), and physical fighting (IRR = 1.11, p < 0.05) remained independently significant. Conversely, associations with substance use, dating aggression, and employment were attenuated, suggesting shared ecological vulnerability rather than independent causal pathways. Findings underscore the central role of chronic violence exposure and support the need for trauma-informed, multilevel prevention strategies in clinical and community settings. Full article

Introduction: During an excavation in 2022 of a mass grave within a cemetery in Castilla-La Mancha containing the remains of executed victims of the Spanish Civil War and Francoist dictatorship, the scientific team discovered a medallion with a name and a date inscribed on it. The medallion was associated with an individual recovered from a grave containing 12 other individuals in 5 separate stratigraphic layers. This paper aims to outline the identification process of the deceased from the skeletal remains and associated medallion. Methods: This process included archival research, gathering witness testimonies, archaeological evidence, osteological examination and DNA analysis. Results: After restoration, the medallion revealed the words “VIVA LA FIJL. VIVA LA FAI.” on one face and “MUERO POR LA LIBERTAD.” on the other. The human skeletal remains associated with the medallion showed male morphological characteristics and were estimated to be between 21 and 30 years old at the time of death, with a height between 1.64 and 1.67 m. There was skeletal evidence of ballistic trauma on the right mandible and the right scapula. Genetic analysis confirmed an mtDNA match with his maternal niece. Discussion/Conclusions: This study demonstrates the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to the identification of human remains from the Spanish Civil War and the Dictatorship which followed, and how the objects found within a mass grave can be useful in aiding a positive identification. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic contributed to more severe and frequent intimate partner violence (IPV) among victims, and less availability of services; however, this research has largely been conducted on only female victims. We investigated the COVID-19 pandemic’s contribution to more severe and frequent IPV among male victims, barriers to getting help, and factors contributing to both increased severity/frequency and barriers. Participants included 318 male IPV victims from English-speaking Western countries who reported being the victim of IPV during the pandemic. They completed a Qualtrics questionnaire asking about their IPV experiences, mental health, COVID-19-related experiences in general and IPV experiences in specific. Overall, 47.8% of the participants experienced an increase in frequency and/or severity of IPV victimization, with help-seeking barriers, job loss, being confined to the house with their aggressor, and prior trauma independently predicting increases. Also, 75.5% reported one or more barriers to accessing help; such barriers were independently predicted by increased severity/frequency of IPV, financial strain, relationship length, being married, using marijuana, severe depression, prior trauma, IPV stigma, and coercive control victimization. Results are discussed in terms of their consistency with the literature on female victims, and the need for gender inclusive research, service provisions, and service recommendations in light of crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Full article

Background/Objectives: Bullying victimization is a significant threat to adolescents’ psychological well-being and academic functioning. However, most prior research has relied on variable-centered approaches that may obscure meaningful heterogeneity in students’ victimization experiences. The present study aimed to identify latent subtypes of bullying victimization among adolescents in Saudi Arabia using nationally representative PISA 2022 data and to examine whether the structure and prevalence of these subtypes differed across gender. Methods: Data were drawn from the Saudi Arabian sample of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022 and included 6709 adolescents. Bullying victimization was assessed using 11 categorical indicators representing different forms of victimization. Weighted descriptive analyses were first conducted to estimate the prevalence of specific bullying behaviors. Multigroup latent class analysis (LCA) was then applied separately across gender to identify victimization profiles and evaluate measurement and structural invariance. Sequential invariance testing was used to determine whether the latent classes had equivalent meaning and prevalence across males and females. This study involved secondary analysis of an existing large-scale educational dataset and did not require trial registration. Results: Weighted descriptive estimates showed that the prevalence of specific bullying victimization experiences ranged from 7.5% to 24.3%, with boys reporting greater exposure than girls on most overt and coercive forms. Class enumeration supported a parsimonious three-class solution for both genders, reflecting low, moderate, and high victimization severity. Approximately 71–79% of students were classified in the low-risk group, 14–18% in the moderate-risk group, and 3–14% in the high-risk group. Measurement invariance testing supported full invariance of item-response probabilities across gender, indicating that the latent classes represented substantively comparable victimization patterns for males and females. In contrast, structural invariance was not supported, as males were more likely to belong to the high-victimization class, whereas females were more likely to be classified in the low-risk group. Conclusions: The findings indicate that gender differences in bullying victimization are attributable to differences in the level of exposure rather than differences in the underlying structure of victimization experiences. Bullying victimization appears to be concentrated within a relatively small but highly vulnerable subgroup of adolescents. These results support the importance of universal school-based anti-bullying policies and prevention initiatives, while also highlighting the need for targeted psychosocial support and protective interventions for students experiencing chronic or multiple forms of victimization. Full article

In the U.S., extreme heat is the leading cause of weather-related fatalities. Farmers, ranchers and other outdoor workers who are exposed to the elements and engaged in strenuous physical activity are disproportionately impacted. This manuscript summarizes the number and severity of heat-related illnesses and injuries collected through the AgInjuryNews.org system, highlights their characteristics, provides recommendations for farmworkers and employers, and calls for future research. Heat-related illness cases from 2016–2024 were analyzed. Fourteen agricultural heat-related incidents covered by U.S. media were identified. Most incidents took place in June and July. A content analysis was conducted to identify news articles that included mention of prevention strategies, laws and regulations related to working conditions, or OSHA. Over half of the cases were from southern states. Eleven of the incidents involved male farmworkers, one involved a male farmer, and two involved first responders (gender unspecified). All of the farmer/farmworker incidents were single-victim fatalities. Seven articles mentioned prevention strategies, ten mentioned laws or regulations, and nine mentioned OSHA, often cursory. These findings suggest that media reports provide a limited and selective image of agricultural heat-related injuries, with coverage emphasizing fatalities and investigation information more often than prevention. Full article