Childhood poly-victimization and perceived family environment

There is a growing body of evidence demonstrating the necessity of examining multiple victimizations when studying childhood victimization histories. Several studies have found poly-victimization (i.e., high cumulative levels of victimization) common in non-clinical samples and associated with greater trauma symptomatology than experiencing a single type of victimization (Finkelhor, Ormrod, & Turner, 2007; Richmond, Elliott, Pierce, Aspelmeier, & Alexander, 2009; Saunders, 2003). This study examined the relative contribution of six different categories of childhood victimization and poly-victimization in predicting the Conflict and Cohesion subscale scores of the Family Environment Scale (FES). In a sample of 330 female college undergraduates, the results showed that victimization was common in a non-clinical sample, and most participants who endorsed one type of victimization also endorsed multiple types. Poly-victimization accounted for significant proportions of variability in participants\u27 perceptions of their family conflict and cohesion, but these contributions were small to moderate. Finally, polyvictimization and the simultaneous entry of all six categories of victimization accounted for large, and statistically significant, amounts of variance for perceived family conflict and cohesion