U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Crime Victims' Attributional Activities and Differential Psychological Responding to Victimizations: The Influence of Behaviour, Character and External Explanations (From Children, Evidence and Procedure, P 58-69, 1993, Noel K Clark and Geoffrey M Stephenson, eds. -- See NCJ-150558)

NCJ Number
150568
Author(s)
F W Winkel; A Vrij
Date Published
1993
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This study investigated the relation between external, behavior, and character attributions of burglary victims in the Netherlands and several aspects of fear responses and intentions to choose extreme preventive options to avoid future victimization.
Abstract
All persons reporting a burglary at two stations of the North Holland regional police force were requested to participate in the study. The sample consisted of 165 victims, 61 percent male and 39 percent female. Various instruments were employed to assess the behavioral ability of subjects to cope with the burglary event, fear of crime, avoidance or flight responses, burglary prevention, and internal and external attributions. Results showed that subjects were most likely to engage in behavior attributions, followed by external and character attributions. Males were more likely to apply behavior attributions, while females were more likely to engage in external attributions. External attributors appeared to be the most likely to apply extreme burglary prevention measures, while character and behavior attributors were less likely to engage in extreme behaviors. In terms of emotion- focused coping, victims engaging in external attributions were the least successful. They reported the highest levels of fear, expressed the most negative fear-related cognitions, and exhibited the strongest intentions to apply extreme preventive measures. Behavior attributors reported the lowest levels of fear and fear-related cognitions and exhibited the weakest intentions to engage in avoidance and flight responses. 63 references and 4 tables