Beschreibung:
<jats:p> Recent studies have shed considerable light on the widespread trauma associated with physical assault (primarily rape). Much less is known, however, about the extent to which these same manifestations of trauma extend (perhaps to a lesser degree) to victims of other types of victimization. The current study assessed three measures of psychological distress at two points in time (one month and six months postattack) among both a sample of recent victims of physical assault (rape, domestic assault, and nondomestic assault) and a sample of recent victims of nonassaultive crimes (robbery and burglary). Based on the three measures of psychological distress, response means of physical assault victims were compared to those of nonassaulted victims at both one month and six months, using profile analysis. While differences in levels between physical assault victims versus nonassaulted victims were clearly detectable at each of the two measurement periods, the profile of mean distress scores of the two groups appeared to be parallel at each period. These results suggest that victims of nonassaultive crimes may very well experience the same sort of psychological distress found among victims of assault, but to a lesser degree. </jats:p>