PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS FOLLOWING CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION IN THE GENERAL-POPULATION - CROSS-SECTIONAL, LONGITUDINAL, AND PROSPECTIVE ANALYSES

Samples of 105 violent crime victims, 227 property crime victims, and 190 nonvictims provided normative data regarding levels of psychologic al distress following criminal victimization. At points approximately 3 months, 9 months, and 15 months postcrime, symptoms of depression, s omatization, hostility, anxiety, phobic anxiety, fear of crime, and av oidance were assessed. Although crime victims showed substantial impro vement between 3 and 9 months, thereafter they did not. Over the cours e of the study, violent crime victims remained more distressed than di d property crime victims who, in turn, remained more distressed than n onvictims. Regression analyses revealed that the effects of crime coul d not be accounted for by precrime differences between victims and non victims in either social status or psychological functioning. However, lasting effects were often contingent on the occurrence of subsequent crimes.