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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of contextual factors on the attribution of responsibility to female victims of an intimate partner violence (IPV) episode. The victim’s infidelity and the perpetrator’s alcohol abuse constituted the contextual factors in the investigation. The bystander’s age, gender, and attitude towards gender roles were predicted to influence the attribution of responsibility to an IPV victim, and their willingness to help.

An experimental study was conducted with 464 Italian participants with two independent conditions incorporated into a fictional scenario, measuring the different levels of the dependent variables under investigation. The participants were randomly assigned to different conditions provided their answers via an anonymous questionnaire.

The participants attributed more responsibility to the victim when they admitted infidelity, controlling for gender role norms and sexism. Attribution of responsibility, male gender, and attitudes towards the male gender role were significantly associated with less willingness to help the victim.

The results point to the importance of increasing the bystander’s role in preventing IPV by addressing gender role norms and their impact on the justification of violence.

The study complements the existing literature by providing new evidence of the barriers that prevent the bystander’s intervention in IPV episodes. A clearer understanding of these barriers will help to develop strategies that aim to prevent violence in the future.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and poor general health reported by female victims of intimate partner stalking (IPS) and victims’ forgiveness or lack of forgiveness towards their perpetrators, controlling for escalation of stalking, age of victims and dispositional forgiveness.

A total of 120 Italian female victims of IPS, who had obtained an administrative protective order (PO) issued by police in stalking cases (Ammonimento), took part in a retrospective study that examined the relationship between the presence or absence of victims’ forgiveness of perpetrators and victims’ PTSD symptoms and general well-being. Interviews took place after one, two or three years following the PO.

All participants reported some level of direct or indirect stalking, and up to 98 per cent had suffered both. In half of all cases, a PO had been breached within a year of its issuance. Positive forgiveness was not associated with lower PTSD symptoms and was marginally associated with well-being. Negative forgiveness (e.g. holding a grudge, desiring revenge) was associated with greater PTSD symptoms; holding a grudge was significantly associated with poorer general health.

Victims of IPS experience a state of fear and anxiety due to the constant risk of being attacked, followed and controlled. Compared to studies about the protective role of forgiveness in community couples, this study found that among couples where stalking is present not only positive forgiveness does not take place at the same rate, but it is also not associated with the increased well-being. On the contrary, lack of forgiveness by stalked victims was related to PTSD symptoms and poorer health. Harbouring negative feelings, such a desire for revenge and holding a grudge towards a perpetrator, worsened woman’s mental health. These findings are novel and may assist the criminal justice system, law enforcement and service providers in their efforts to help women who are victims of IPS.

This study addresses the relationship between forgiveness and lack of forgiveness among victims of IPS and PTSD symptoms and victims’ poor health. Although longitudinal studies are needed to establish any causal relationship between stalking and mental health and the possibly mediating effects of forgiveness, this study is a first contribution to this important field of inquiry.

This article reviews individual risk factors for bullying, especially gender, age, aggressiveness, low intelligence and achievement, hyperactivity‐impulsiveness, low empathy, low self‐esteem, depression, unpopularity, and physical and biological features. It also reports individual, family and socio‐economic predictors and correlates of bullying discovered in a longitudinal survey of 411 London boys. The most important individual risk factors are low impulsiveness and low empathy, and they could be targeted in cognitive‐behavioural skills training programmes.