The Association Between Violence and Victimization in Civil Psychiatric Patients

Little research has evaluated mentally disordered individuals who have experienced the co-occurrence of violence and victimization. This is despite the fact that these outcomes share risk factors. Patients were recruited from a civil psychiatric ward, interviewed, and administered questionnaires. The goals of the study were to 1) determine the association between violence and victimization both within and across different time periods, 2) examine risk factors associated with violence, victimization, and the co-occurrence of both, and 3) investigate the association between risk factors and violence controlling for victimization and vice versa. Results of this study demonstrated that violence and victimization within the same timeframe were significantly associated. Certain risk factors appeared to be associated with the outcomes across time periods. Further, partial correlation analyses revealed that generally violence did not greatly impact the association victimization had with risk factors and vice versa. This research could help guide practitioners in reducing risk.