Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The purpose of this article is to review the many forms of violence in the lives of African American women, including childhood sexual abuse, dating violence, intimate partner violence, sexual assault, and sexual harassment. The first section will address definitions of violence, prevalence rates and risk factors, and suggest new directions for research.The second section is a review of the most common psychological sequelae associated with Black women's victimization. The final section is devoted to activities that promote healing, including therapy, participation in research studies, and activism.

This volume used a Black feminist framework to investigate childhood sexual abuse, intimate partner violence, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and community violence in the lives of African American women. This article will summarize the authors' findings, review their suggestions for intervention, and provide a list of readings and resources.

This study is a prospective investigation of adult sexual revictimization among 113 Black women with documented histories of childhood sexual abuse. The purpose was to obtain information on the frequency of sexual abuse in both childhood and adulthood and to determine which characteristics of the child sexual abuse were predictive of revictimization. Thirty percent of the participants were revictimized and physical force predicted subsequent victimization. This study also investigated possible sexual behavioral correlates of revictimization. Revictimized women reported more involvement in prostitution and partner violence. Finally, the present study considered the reproductive and sexual health correlates of revictimization. When compared …