Women's reactions to interpersonal violence research: a longitudinal study

Abstract

This study assessed women's immediate and long-term reactions to completing self-report measures of interpersonal violence. College women completed surveys at the beginning and end of a 2-month academic quarter for course credit. Results showed that 7.7% of participants experienced immediate negative emotional reactions to research participation. Greater immediate negative reactions were related to interpersonal victimization and psychological distress variables. Attrition from the study over the 2-month follow-up was not predicted by participants' immediate negative emotional reactions to the research or anticipation of future distress. Of the participants who returned for the follow-up, 2.1% of participants reported experiencing distress over the interim period as a result of their initial participation in the study. These long-term reactions were bivariately related to a number of victimization, psychological distress, and reaction variables measured at the first study session. However, in the regression analyses, only immediate negative emotional reactions to the research and anticipation of future distress predicted long-term negative emotional reactions.