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Victim Blame As a Strategy for Coping with Criminal Victimization: an Analysis of Victim, Community, and Police Reactions

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Victim Blame As a Strategy for Coping with Criminal Victimization: an Analysis of Victim, Community, and Police Reactions Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 1980 Victim Blame as a Strategy for Coping with Criminal Victimization: An Analysis of Victim, Community, and Police Reactions Dennis P. Rosenbaum Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss Part of the Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Rosenbaum, Dennis P., "Victim Blame as a Strategy for Coping with Criminal Victimization: An Analysis of Victim, Community, and Police Reactions" (1980). Dissertations. 1882. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/1882 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 1980 Dennis P. Rosenbaum VICTIM BLAME AS A STRATEGY FOR COPING WITH CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION: AN ANALYSIS OF VICTIM, COMMUNITY, AND POLICE REACTIONS by Dennis P. Rosenbaum A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Loyola University of Chicago in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy March 1980 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Dr. Leonard Bickman for chairing the dissertation committee and offering guidance at various stages of this research. I am also grateful to Dr. John Edwards, Dr. Paul J. Lavrakas, Dr. Emil Posavac, and Ms. Ronna Stamm for serving on· the dissertation committee and providing feedback that was both insightful and construc­ tive. I am especially indebted to my wife, Susan, whose perseverance, tolerance, and support over the past three years have made this disser­ tation possible. ii VITA The author, Dennis Patrick Rosenbaum, is the son of Lloyd Smith Rosenbaum and Rose Veronica Rosenbaum. He was born on May 6, 1952, in Oregon City, Oregon. His elementary education was obtained in the Clackamas public schools (Carver and Clackamas, Oregon) and St. Johns Grade School (Oregon City, Oregon). He received his secondary education at Central Catholic High School (Portland, Oregon), where he graduated in 1970. While attending Central Catholic, he was a member of the National Honor Society, a Portland Metropolitan League All Star in cross country, and served as student body president. In September, 1970, he accepted a scholarship from Claremont Men•s College (Claremont, California). In June, 1974 he received his Bachelor of Arts degree, graduating Magna Cum Laude, with special departmental honors in the field of psychology. In September, 1974, he began his graduate study in social psy­ chology at the University of Waterloo (Ontario, Canada) and in May, 1976, was awarded the Master of Arts degree. In September, 1976, he pursued the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by enrolling in the Applied Social Psychology Program, Loyola University of Chicago (Chicago, Illinois). In August, 1977, he married Susan Margaret Hartnett of Chicago, iii Illinois, and on January 7, 1979, their first child, Sarah Ann Rosenbaum, was born. He has served as a consultant for criminal justice agencies and private research firms. He is presently employed by the Westinghouse Evaluation Institute, Evanston, Illinois) as a Senior Research Asso­ ciate. He has published articles on individual reactions to crime and belief in extraterrestrial life. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i i VITA . iii LIST OF TABLES viii LIST OF FIGURES ix Chapter I. INTRODUCTION l Overview • • .•. l The Victim-blaming Bias •..... 8 Implications of Blaming Crime Victims .... ll Theoretical Analysis of the Victim- blaming Response .•.•...... 15 Research on the Victim-blaming Response ..... 18 Just World and Defensive Attribution Research . • . 18 Noncriminal Victimization .•....... 24 Criminal Victimization ..... 27 The Victim's Perspective . 27 The Nonvictim's Perspective 33 The Desire for Control ...•... 38 Reactions Within the Coping Framework 41 Critical Summary of the Literature 51 Definitions of Key Variables 58 Hypotheses . • . • • . 61 The Magnitude of Victim Blame and Other At tri but ions . 61 Interrelationships Among Attributions 63 Attributions and Perceptions of Contra l . 65 Attributions and Precautions ....... 66 Psychological Impact of Victimization 68 Seriousness and Threat of Victimization . 69 The Passage of Time • . 74 Attitudes Toward Victim Services 75 Demographic Characteristics 75 I I. METHOD .. 77 Subjects 77 v Page Procedure . • • • • . 80 Victim Study I •••• 80 Victim Study I I . • • 86 Community Survey .•••..••.. 89 Police Questionnaire •..•... 90 Measures . • . • . 92 Construction of Composite Variables ....• 92 Attributions .•...•..... 95 Control . : . • . • . • 97 Precautions . • . 105 Psychological Impact and Coping Responses . • • . • . 105 Seriousness and Threat of Victimization .••....• 109 Attitudes Toward Victim Services 114 Demographic Characteristics 116 The Passage of Time . • . 116 I I I. RESULTS 118 Major Findings ••••••..... 118 The Magnitude of Victim Blame and Other Attributions ....... 118 Hypothesis 1 ....... 118 Interrelationships Among Attributions 124 Hypothesis 2 ........ 124 Attributions and Perceptions of Control 126 Hypothesis 3 .....•. 126 Hypothesis 4 . ..... 128 Attributions, Control, and Precautionary Behavior ............. 128 Hypothesis 5 ............ 128 Attributions and Psychological Impact/ Coping . •.... 130 Hypothesis 6 . ...... 130 Perceptions of Control and Psychological Impact/Coping ........... 132 Hypothesis 7 ......... 132 Precautionary Behaviors and Psychological Impact/Coping •..........• 133 Hypothesis 8 .......... 133 Seriousness and Threat of Victimization 134 Hypothesis 9 134 Hypothesis 10 141 The Passage of Time 145 Hypothesis 11 145 vi Page Attitudes Toward Victim Services ...• 146 Hypothesis 12 ......... 146 Integration of Zero-order Correlations and Exploratory Mode 1 Testing . 148 Summary and Integration of Zero-order Correlations .......... 148 Exploratory Model Testing 154 Reanalysis of Results 174 Hypothesis 3 . • . 174 Hypothesis 5 ...•...•.. 175 Hypothesis 7 ..•. 176 Hypothesi s 10 . 177 Hypothesis 11 ........• 178 Exploratory Model Testing 179 Summary 182 IV. DISCUSSION •...•..... 186 Summary and Assessment of t,1ajor Findings . 186 Implications ..•..•.. 190 Limitations and New Directions 195 REFERENCE NOTES 201 REFERENCES . 204 APPENDIX A: LETTER SENT TO ALL VICTIMS (EXCEPT RAPE) 214 APPENDIX 8: LETTER SENT TO RAPE VICTIMS 216 APPENDIX C: VICTIM TELEPHONE SURVEY (STUDY I) 218 APPENDIX D: VICTIM TELEPHONE SURVEY (STUDY II) 232 APPENDIX E: COMMUNITY TELEPHONE SURVEY 243 APPENDIX F: POLICE QUESTIONNAIRE ... 254 vii LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Reasons Victims Eliminated from Initial Sample 82 2. Reasons Victims Could Not be Interviewed 85 3. Reasons Community Residents Could Not be Interviewed . • . • . 91 4. Items and Factor Score Coefficients for Index of Personal Control Over Victimization: Study I ~ . 99 5. Items and Factor Score Coefficients for Index of Personal Control Over Victimization: Victim Study II •........... 101 6. Items and Factor Score Coefficients for Index of Personal Control Over Victimization: Community Study ........... 103 7. Items and Factor Score Coefficients for Index of Belief in Citizen Control Over Crime: Victim Study II . 104 8. Items and Factor Score Coefficients for Index of Self-reported Psychological Impact/Coping: Victim Study I . • . • . 107 9. Items and Factor Score Coefficients for Index of Self-reported Psychological Impact/Coping: Victim Study II ........... 108 10. Items and Factor Score Coefficients for Index of Observer•s Ratings of Impact/Coping: Victim Study II . 110 11. Items and Factor Score Coefficients for Index of Victimization Seriousness: Victim Study II 112 12. Items and Factor Score Coefficients for Index of Victimization Seriousness: Police Study . • . 113 viii Table Page 13. Items and Factor Score Coefficients for Index of Attitudes Toward V/l~AU Program: Police Study . 115 14. Items and Factor Score Coefficients for Index of Attitudes Toward V/WAU Services: Police Study . 117 15. Percentage of Responsibility Attributed to Victims . 120 16. Percentage of Responsibility Attributed to Chance . • . 122 17. Percentage of Responsibility Attributed to Offenders . 123 18. Mean Percentage of Responsibility Attributed to Victims as a Function of Crime Seriousness: Communi ty Study . 139 19. Correlations of Self-reported Coping with Personal Control, Self-blame, and Chance Attributions as a Function of Victimization Seriousness .•.............. 144 20. Partial Correlation Results: Victim Study I . 156 21. Partial Correlation Results: Victim Study II . 157 22. Partial Correlation Results: Community Study . 158 23. Regression Equations for Assessing Mediating Effects: Victim Study I ......... 162 24. Stepwise Regression for Predicting Coping: Victim Study I . .. • . 166 25. Stepwise Regression for Predicting Coping: Victim Study II . 167 26. Stepwise Regression for Predicting Perceived Control: Community Study . 168 27. Regression Results for Assessing the Relative Importance of Predictors: Victim Study I . 171 ix Table Page 28. Regression Results for Assessing the Relative Importance of Predictors: Victim Study I .. 172 29. Regression Results for Assessing the Relative Importance of Predictors: Community Study . • . 173 X LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. Integration of Zero-order Correlational Results: Victim
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