Gender differences in victims' reactions to burglary over time.
The purpose of the present study is to examine men's and women's reactions to burglary over time. More specifically, the goal is to determine whether or not there is a gender difference in the extent to which reactions to a non-gender-specific crime, such as burglary, emerge and endure. In order to do so, 20 male and 20 female victims of burglary from the City of Ottawa were interviewed about their experiences with and their reactions to this criminal event. Both short- and long-term reactions were studied. Data were collected on two separate occasions from each subject; the first interview was scheduled at varying points in time after the burglary, thus making the data both longitudinal and cross-sectional in nature. With regards to victims' immediate reactions to burglary, the results are similar to those of previous studies in the area. Women are more likely to express feelings of shock, fear, and upset than their male counterparts. However, contrary to prior research, no gender differences were found with regards to feelings of anger in the immediate stages of victimization. A slight gender difference was found in the long-term effects of burglary on its victims, with women expressing greater numbers of adverse reactions, particularly emotional ones, for a longer period of time than men (up to 40 weeks following the event). Overall, the results of the present study indicate that burglary has much more long-ranging consequences for its victims than was originally believed. Although the scope of the present study does not allow for me to extrapolate these results to the general population, they do serve to indicate areas that should receive more attention in future research endeavours.
Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 34-02, page: 0606.
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