Copingprozesse bei Opfern schwerer Straftaten: Vorstellung eines Forschungsdesigns
This article on victims of crime describes a longitudinal research project currently in progress. After a long period of ignorance, efforts are being made to understand the victim's situation better. Institutions of social work, particularly victim support schemes and victimologists focus the q...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | German |
| Published: |
1988
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| In: |
Kriminologische Forschung in den 80er Jahren ; [3,2]
Year: 1988, Pages: 983-1011 |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Related Items: | Elektronische Reproduktion von:
146999108X |
| Summary: | This article on victims of crime describes a longitudinal research project currently in progress. After a long period of ignorance, efforts are being made to understand the victim's situation better. Institutions of social work, particularly victim support schemes and victimologists focus the question of the impact of crime on victims. Although the existence of post-traumatic-stress-disorder-symptoms have been demonstrated in the case of raped women and hostages there is still a lack of theoretical work especially on the psychological consequences of crime. Previous research has estimated material losses and physical injuries but has failed to analyse this "invisible wound". Such an analysis requires a different orientation both in theory and methodology. lt is proposed to use Lazarus' coping theory which takes subjectivity into account by means of the threat-appraisal-concept and which has been successfully applied in medical, psychiatric and psychological contexts. The experience of victimization leads to psychological imbalance connected with stress. Most criminal attacks can be interpreted as destroying the victim's identity to a different extent depending, of course, on the type of crime and situational circumstances. To get back to a level of psychological stability the individual uses different problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies. The use of "qualitative" research techniques to understand the specific problem of each individual implies tuming to a microstructural level of analysis. In our research project, a sample of 20 victims of assault and burglary will be studied. Each person will be interviewed three times within a year, the first narrative interview being conducted as soon as possible after the criminal incident. Theorists will be confronted with an alternative method of datacollection and with a different perspective in explaining victimization and victim behavior. |
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| Item Description: | Literaturverzeichnis: Seite 1009-1011 |
| Physical Description: | Illustration |