Family and Friends : An Important Resource to Receive Psychosocial Support after Victimization as a Youth

• Several studies show that young crime victims might need psychosocial support to cope with their experiences. However, few youth victims actually seek help; either because they do not need it, or because the benefits of support to not way up costs of acknowledging victimization. This study therefore aim to investigate (1) From whom have youth victimized to different types and amounts of types of crimes and/or abuse sought and received professional and/or network support?(2) To what extent do youth victimized to different amounts of types of crimes and/or abuse judge the professional support as having met their expectations? And, (3) to what extent do victims that have received professional or network support after different amounts of types of victimization report emotional problems? In total, 2,500 20-24 year-olds were asked about their experiences of lifetime victimization and connected help-seeking, where the present study focus on the 2,160 participants who had been exposed to property crime, physical, verbal and/or sexual abuse. The results show that most youth victims had received support from family and friends, even though some also sought help from public institutions or non-profit organizations. These results appears for both specific types of crimes and for multiple victimization for different types of crimes. Further, most of the victims feel that the support was right for them and that it had made a positive difference; however, those who had been victimized of three or four types of offences were more negative. When it comes to mental health in adulthood, overall, most of the victims who had received either professional or network support, have few symptoms of problems; although, those with multiple victimization, have more symptoms. The results from the study is of importance for both support providers and the research community, to understand where young victims seek and receive support post-victimization in relation to well-being in early adulthood, which can lead to support services being better matched with the needs of the victim.  

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Sociologi -- Socialt arbete (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Sociology -- Social Work (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Crime Victims

Post-victimization Support

Public Welfare

Support Organizations

Satisfac-tion

Youth victimization

Social Work

Socialt arbete

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

kon (subject category)