ESTUDIOS DE MÉTODOS NO ELECTROQUÍMICOS PARA LA

The focus of the current study was to investigate whether psychological mechanisms, namely need for cognition, trauma susceptibility, self-efficacy, psychological distress, and worry about crime in the neighbourhood, were related to victim satisfaction with the police investigation. The rationale for selecting these variables for the study drew from the original research plan to specifically explore RISK10 scale because its relationship with satisfaction was not known. The initial objective was also to explore other psychological characteristics that might link with satisfaction in order to develop persuasive communication strategies for police to improve victim satisfaction in

secondary investigations. The following sections describe each of the cognitive and emotional dimensions, what is known from the literature, and the rationale for choosing these dimensions.

4.1.1.1. Need for cognition. Cohen, Stotland and Wolfe (1955) described the need for cognition as "a need to understand and make reasonable the

experiential world" (p.291). Cacioppo and Petty (1982) defined the need as a tendency or likelihood for a person to engage in and enjoy thinking. In

research, need for cognition has been linked to life satisfaction in that those with higher need for cognition expressed greater life satisfaction than those with a low need for cognition (Coutinho & Woolery, 2004). Need for cognition negatively correlated with self-consciousness, social anxiety and positively correlated with self-esteem (Osberg, 1987).

There appears to have been no previous studies investigating the links

existed it could assist in development of communication methods between the police and the public. For example, what type and how much information would be most useful in police-victim encounters. Those enjoying intellectual challenges might benefit from police contact and information during the process of making sense of their experience.

4.1.1.2. Trauma susceptibility. It has been suggested that those with low pre-victimisation well-being were at risk of developing distress symptoms. Therefore pre-victimisation well-being could have some predictive value on the negative impact of victimisation on well-being (Winkel & Vrij, 1998). Pre- victimisation variables also relate to trauma susceptibility. Trauma

susceptibility is a component in the Duality Model of Traumatic Memory, which describes the formation, structure, storage, and retrieval of traumatic memories (Winkel, Wohlwarth & Blaauw, 2003; 2004).

In this model susceptibility to traumatic memories includes intrapersonal (pre- victimisation) and interpersonal/social (post-victimisation) variables as well as cognitive and/or emotional dimensions. Therefore it considers not only the way people think but also emotional and social factors that may have an effect on coping with an adverse event. High susceptibility is likely if a person

possesses risk factors such as an anxious/pessimistic style of information processing and lacks protective/resilience factors such as social support.

The model predicts that persistent traumatic memories may emerge if a susceptible person is exposed to an adverse episode, for example

victimisation, which involves a strong 'fight-or-flight'- response that invokes a strong initial reaction. These initial responses may result in persistent

traumatic memories amongst susceptible individuals. The initial reactivity reflects normal coping in non-susceptible individuals.

Winkel, Wohlwarth and Blaauw (2003) found support for this prediction: their results showed that high initial reactivity indicated psychological dysfunction in susceptible individuals. This allowed the potential for a very early detection of persistent symptoms and police could have a role in the assessment. They recommended a rapid screening tool as a viable option and those at risk should be actively referred to a victim support agency. They suggested a screening item called the RISK10 scale that measure post-victimisation risk factors such as self-blame. The scale has been tested for predicting trauma susceptibility and emotional adjustment disorder (Winkel, Wohlwarth & Blaauw, 2003; 2004). However, this has not been tested since for predicting distress or to obtain evidence for its utility. The authors indicated also that a shorter version of the RISK10 could be used. They found two items in the scale that were particularly useful for predicting later distress. These were measures for blame attributions (self-blame) and perceiving the event as a mental burden or life threatening. The authors recommended that any new screening instrument should include these items (Winkel, Wohlwarth & Blaauw, 2003).

4.1.1.3. Self-efficacy. Another concept of interest and related to coping was perceived self-efficacy, a feature of Social Cognitive Theory. Bandura (1982, 2001) describes self-efficacy as person's belief that one is able to produce desired results and prevent unfavourable ones. A major source of anxiety is the person's perceived inefficacy to turn off frightening cognitions (Bandura 1988). Bandura argues that self-efficacy beliefs are the

foundation of human agency and without these beliefs people have reduced motivation to act or cope when facing difficulties (Bandura, 2001).

Van den Bogaard and Wiegman’s (1991) research among burglary victims suggested that self-efficacy was central to the coping process. They

recommended that police interventions should aim to restore or strengthen burglary victims' sense of personal control. Low self-efficacy beliefs have also been found to predict PTSD among victims of violent assault (Johansen, Wahl, Eilertsen & Weisaeth, 2007). As was suggested in relation to victim alienation, police could also have a role in assisting victims to preserve or restore feelings of personal control and alleviate their worry or distress.

4.1.1.4. Worry about crime. There are indications that one's

neighbourhood may influence satisfaction. It could be argued that when worry about crime is high, police presence or positive evaluation of police contact may alleviate worries about victimisation or re-victimisation. For example, burglary victims' comments in Study 1 indicated beliefs that police patrols in the neighbourhood could prevent new crimes or re-victimisation. Kusow, Wilson and Martin (1997) found that a combination of race and residential location had an effect on satisfaction. However, residence mattered more than race in satisfaction with the police. In contrast, residence did not predict

satisfaction among domestic violence victims in Martin (1997). It should be noted that interpreting these results are problematic because no information was given about how the residence variable was measured. It is not known whether residence was referring to geographical location or type of residence status, for example, co-habiting.

Satisfaction has been found to be lower in areas of high male unemployment, areas of rented property and low levels of social cohesion (Coupe & Griffiths, 1999). Dai and Johnson (2009) found that race again became a non-

significant factor when neighbourhood context was examined. At a community level, in areas of high deprivation where there may be a high crime rate, satisfaction with police was lower than in other areas. On an individual level, those who had a positive view about their future neighbourhood conditions and those who perceived safety and low incivility were more likely to express satisfaction. This led the authors to recommend that improving neighbourhood conditions and police conduct were effective ways to improve satisfaction.

Results from Lord, Kuhns and Friday’s (2007) longitudinal study support improving policing in the community. The more police activity respondents were likely to observe, the more likely they were to report high satisfaction. Further, the influence of individual and neighbourhood characteristics on satisfaction was mediated by personal contact with the police. However, the study had a limitation in its methodology: data was collected from different samples at different points in time and there was no control group. Therefore their results are an indication about community level satisfaction before and after implementing community policing but not about satisfaction from an individual level. The current study was not looking into differences in

satisfaction between residential areas but in the victims' personal worry about crime in their neighbourhood and its effect on satisfaction.