Comparing Revictimization in Two Groups of Marginalized Women

Abstract

This study examines physical and sexual revictimization in a random sample of incarcerated and poor, urban, nonincarcerated women using multiple measures of physical and sexual child abuse. Researchers used hierarchical logistic regression to compare rates of revictimization and the strength of the association between child abuse and adult victimization using two measures of child physical abuse and four measures of child sexual abuse. Incarcerated women had higher rates of revictimization than did nonincarcerated women. Child abuse and adult incarceration were directly associated with adult victimization; interactions between child abuse and incarceration were associated with adult victimization for only a few definitions of child abuse. Findings suggest that the relationship between child abuse and adult victimization is robust and that factors in incarcerated women's lives further increase the probability of adult victimization.