PHYSICAL VERSUS PSYCHOLOGICAL MALTREATMENT: HOW INTERVENTION ATTITUDES ARE AFFECTED BY MALTREATMENT TYPE

Abstract

The present study examined how perception of maltreatment type and participant sex impact attitudes toward intervention. Included in the final analyses were 89 (46 men and 43 women) undergraduate college students. Participants read vignettes depicting either physical or psychological maltreatment and completed a survey of their perceptions of the maltreatment severity and attitudes toward intervention. Collected data were analyzed with a series of 2 (maltreatment type: physical versus psychological) x 2 (participant sex: male versus female) ANOVAs. Results showed that participants who read the physical maltreatment vignette were more likely to say that they would personally intervene than those who read the psychological maltreatment vignette and that women were more likely than men to rate maltreatment as severe, to believe intervention was necessary, to say that they would personally intervene, and to try getting others involved.