Finkelhor David, Ormrod Richard K, Turner Heather A
Crimes against Children Research Center, University of New Hampshire, 126 Horton Social Science Center, 20 College Road, Durham, NH 03824, USA.
Child Abuse Negl. 2009 Jul;33(7):403-11. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2008.09.012. Epub 2009 Jul 8.
To use a lifetime assessment of victimization experiences to identify children and youth with high cumulative levels of victimization (poly-victims). Also to compare such children to other victims and non-victims, and assess the contribution of cumulative victimization to levels of psychological distress.
A national sample of 1,467 children aged 2-17 recruited through random digit dialing and assessed via telephone interviews (with caretakers and youth themselves) about a comprehensive range of 33 types of victimization experiences in the previous year and at any time in their lives.
Nearly 80% of the children and youth reported at least one lifetime victimization. The mean number of lifetime victimizations was 3.7 and the median 2.6. The total number of different lifetime victimizations was highly predictive of symptoms of current distress. The best linear prediction of distress on the basis of cumulative victimization entailed weighting child maltreatment and sexual assault by factors of 4 and 3 respectively compared to other victimizations. We proposed classifying poly-victims as those 10% of children and youth with the highest victimization scores, and calculating different thresholds for children at different ages. Poly-victims designated in this way had significantly more distress, more non-victimization adversities than other youth and were less likely to come from an intact family.
Lifetime assessment of victimization has value as a means of identifying groups of highly victimized children and youth.
This paper describes a procedure under which practitioners can assess for a group of children, termed "poly-victims," who have a very high burden of lifetime victimization. These children merit identification because they have high levels of psychological distress, some of the most serious victimization profiles, and a presumed vulnerability for further victimization.
通过对受害经历进行终生评估，识别受害累积程度高的儿童和青少年（多重受害者）。同时将这类儿童与其他受害者及非受害者进行比较，并评估累积受害对心理困扰程度的影响。
通过随机数字拨号招募了1467名年龄在2至17岁的全国性样本儿童，通过电话访谈（与照料者和青少年本人）评估他们在前一年以及一生中经历的33种全面的受害经历。
近80%的儿童和青少年报告至少有一次终生受害经历。终生受害经历的平均数为3.7，中位数为2.6。不同终生受害经历的总数对当前困扰症状具有高度预测性。基于累积受害对困扰进行的最佳线性预测需要分别将儿童虐待和性侵犯的权重设定为其他受害经历的4倍和3倍。我们建议将多重受害者界定为受害得分最高的10%的儿童和青少年，并为不同年龄段的儿童计算不同的阈值。以这种方式界定的多重受害者比其他青少年有更多的困扰、更多非受害性逆境，且来自完整家庭的可能性更小。
对受害经历进行终生评估对于识别受害程度高的儿童和青少年群体具有价值。
本文描述了一种程序，从业者可据此评估一群被称为“多重受害者”的儿童，他们终生受害负担非常高。这些儿童值得被识别出来，因为他们有高度的心理困扰、一些最严重的受害情况，且可能更容易再次受害。
