Jennifer J Stanton

Capstone in Psychology
Doug Frazer
Annotated Bibliography
June 26, 2014

This particular annotated bibliography is based upon evolving research I have been doing
since starting college in 2010. At the time I was interested in pursuing the use of comic books
and graphic novels in the classroom as a medium that might grab the imagination and attention
of students and pull them into reading about subjects they might otherwise have no desire to
explore. One of my great passions is working with survivors of domestic violence and sexual
assault and I have begun to wonder about the merit of using comic book creation in conjunction
with traditional group activity therapy as a means of helping teenage survivors communicate
about their experiences. Oftentimes, sexual assault robs victims of their agency and voice, it is
my thought that perhaps by utilizing comic book creation it might help survivors open up in a
group setting of their peers and thereby help them on the road to their recovery.

References
Abrams, D., Viki, G., Masser, B., & Bohner, G. (2003). Perceptions of stranger and
acquaintance rape: The role of benevolent and hostile sexism in victim blame and rape
proclivity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(1), 111-125. doi:10.1037/0022-
3514.84.1.111
This article examined the insidious role that certain attitudes and perceptions can play
in the blame game and the likelihood an individual might commit a rape. Specifically,
participants in the study were asked about their views on a scenario stranger rape and
acquaintance rate after their rates of sexism were recorded. The incidence of victim blaming was
higher in both men and women when the scenario depicted an incidence of acquaintance rate. In
scenarios depicting a stranger rape the incidence of victim blaming was lower. Those individuals
who held the strongest attitudes of benevolent sexism blamed the victim in more cases than they
did the attacker. Conversely, those with the lowest scores in benevolent sexism put the blame on
the attacker more often. There appears to be a correlation between high scores in hostile sexism
and rape proclivitythose with higher scores are more likely to commit the act. This particular
article might be useful for laying down some groundwork as to why some victims dont want to
come forward about being victimized. Who wants to be blamed for something horrific that was
never your fault?

Bagley, C., Bolitho, F., & Bertrand, L. (1995). Mental health profiles, suicidal behavior,
and community sexual assault in 2112 Canadian adolescents. Crisis: The Journal Of
Crisis Intervention And Suicide Prevention, 16(3), 126-131.
This article (as well as those by Benett and Fineran and Briere and Runtz) look into some
of the mental health issuesparticularly suicidal ideationamong adolescent high
school students. Unsurprisingly, victims of sexual assault are at a higher risk of becoming
suicidal when compared to their peers who have not been victimized. These three articles
would stand to show one of the reasons why it is so important for victims to be able to
find a safe place to receive help and healing.

Bennett, L., & Fineran, S. (1998). Sexual and severe physical violence among high
school students: Power beliefs, gender, and relationship. American Journal Of
Orthopsychiatry, 68(4), 645-652. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0080373
Bennett and Finerans findings were sad. That students face violence in schools is well
knownthat nearly half of a sample of 463 high school students admitted to being the
victim of either sexual or physical violence (or both) during the past year at the hands of
their peers is stunning. Not surprisingly most knew their attackers and girls were more
likely to have been sexually victimized than their male counterparts.

Briere, J., & Runtz, M. (1986). Suicidal thoughts and behaviours in former sexual abuse
victims. Canadian Journal Of Behavioural Science/Revue Canadienne Des Sciences Du
Comportement, 18(4), 413-423. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0079962
In this study it was discovered that participants who had been sexually victimized in
childhood or adolescents had a higher rate of suicide attempts when compared with
women who had not been previously victimized.

Cleaver, S. (2008). Comics and Graphic Novels. Instructor, 117(6), 28-34.
http://web.b.ebscohost.com.lib2.bvu.edu/ehost/detail?vid=4&sid=b5d68b27-e007-4210-a8a4-
397add3adc2d%40sessionmgr111&hid=120&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1
zaXRl#db=a9h&AN=32043131
The author writes about using comics and graphic novels in the classroom. Ms. Cleaver
talks with several teachers about how they utilize them. She also talks about an
interesting organization known as the Comic Book Project
(http://www.comicbookproject.org/) which teaches kids to write comic books. But it does
a lot of other things. Writing comic books helps them with grammar, spelling, and shows
them that they can accomplish a goalin this case, write and publish their own comic
book. What I really find interesting, and what really got me thinking about the possibility
of using comic books in a therapeutic setting is that what people have seen is that the kids
arent writing about super heroes. Instead, they are writing about what they are seeing:
teen pregnancy, drug abuse, domestic violence, gang violence, bullying. If creating a
comic book can bring these stories out, could it then be used to help survivors of sexual
assault talk about their feelings post-attack with other survivors in a safe and therapeutic
setting?

Eyssel, F., Bohner, G., & Siebler, F. (2006). Perceived rape myth acceptance of others predicts
rape proclivity: Social norm or judgmental anchoring? Swiss Journal of Psychology/
Schweizerische Zeitschrift Fr Psychologie/ Revue Suisse De Psychologie, 65(2), 93-99.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1024/1421-0185.65.2.93
This article goes hand in hand with the Abrams et.al paper in that it would be useful for
laying a foundation for why victims dont come forward. This article is all about
perceptions. If some men are committing rapes because they perceive that other men are
accepting rape myths, they might, in turn see rape as something that has a blind eye
turned toward it; the attacker might even perceive that other men might find the violence
against women as acceptable socially.

Feild, H. S. (1978). Juror background characteristics and attitudes toward rape: Correlates of
jurors' decisions in rape trials. Law and Human Behavior, 2(2), 73-93.
Feilds findings seem to support the idea that in rape cases, jurors have already decided
upon the guilt or innocence of both victim and accused before they even hear either
lawyer speak. In the mock trials created by the researchers the participants playing the
roles of jurors were more likely be lenient on an accused rapist if the previously held
views that women are responsible for their own rapes. This bit of thinking was found all
across the board in men and women of varied ages, educational, and socio-economic
backgrounds. One wonders if the results would be different were the study conducted
again today and in several different parts of the country. This is another article that would
be mentioned concerning victim blaming and public opinionspecifically, why would a
woman press charges if a jury is just going to let her rapist free because they blame her
for the attack?

Feiring, C., Taska, L., & Lewis, M. (2002). Adjustment following sexual abuse
discovery: The role of shame and attributional style. Developmental Psychology, 38(1), 79-
92. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.38.1.79
How victims vary in terms of age, race, educational and socio-economic background can
vary greatly from one individual to the nextso can how they adjust to life after their
victimization. The study looked at the degree of abuse, level of shame felt by the victim,
depressive issues and how victims dealt with PTSD, age of victims and differences in
how they dealt with the aftereffects, and self-esteem by interviewing 147 adolescent and
child victims. Interviews were given soon after the victimizations were first reported.
They were re-interviewed a year later. The results of the study would suggest that a year
later girls felt less shame than boys, adolescents felt more depression and children were
dealing with more PTSD than depression. Boys felt less depression than girls. Shame
appears to play a large role in the healing processor the slowing of it. The greater the
feelings of shame the less amount of heal the subject appeared to have reached. It is
interesting to note that the researchers discovered that only 3% of their participants did
not know their attacker. This sad fact illustrates how it might be very difficult for a victim
to be willing to trust their family or friends when they have been victimizedoften by
someone they love and who, they should be able to trust.

Foy, D. W., Eriksson, C. B., & Trice, G. A. (2001). Introduction to group interventions for
trauma survivors. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 5(4), 246-251.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037//1089-2966.5.4.246
This was a very straightforward article that did exactly what the title said. Considering I
am interested in group activity therapy with a group of sexual assault survivors this
seemed like an ideal place to begin. For individuals who have survived such violence it
could be very empowering and freeing to be around other people like themselves
people who arent going to blame them for what happened to them. This could be a
chance for support from individuals who really do understand.

Gibson, K., & Cartwright, C. (2013). Agency in young clients' narratives of counseling: "It's
whatever you want to make of it". Journal of Counseling Psychology, 60(3), 340-352.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0033110
Gibson and Cartwright explore agency in counseling. So often victims of sexual
assaultor any violence reallyare stripped of their agency and their voice. The idea of
the importance of voice and agency to anyone, but especially to a young person who is
only just really beginning to come into their own and begin to go out in the world, cannot
be overstated and one aspect of treatment for victims should be helping them take back
their voice and recover their agency; it is important from a developmental perspective as
well as being part of the therapeutic process. This article had some great information that
I could incorporate for those reasons. I believe that through talking with other survivors
and maybe using their own abilities in comic creation might help them start on the path to
finding that voice again and to regain their agency all while surrounded by others who
have faced the same thing and in a safe environment.

Gobin, R. L., & Freyd, J. J. (2009). Betrayal and revictimization: Preliminary findings.
Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 1(3), 242-257.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0017469
Gobin and Freyds research findings appear to indicate that revictimization seems to
occur at a higher rate in those individuals who were originally victimized by someone
they knowespecially someone with whom they were close, perhaps even loved and
who should have made them feel safe and protected. It seems that these betrayals set
victims up for later abuses by creating a great deal of cognitive dissonance and this
dissonancekeeping two very different mindsets at the same time (example: my daddy
loves me, but he hurts me, but he loves me and hes supposed to protect me, but he hurts
methoughts going round and round in a victims head)effectively creates blinders
if you will to catching warning signs that might lead to future victimization. For all
intents and purposes it becomes incredibly difficult for these individuals to pick up on the
behaviors of others that might, for all the world, be shouting: Im a creep and I am
capable of very bad things and I would really like to do them to you. Worse, still, it
makes it more difficult for them to believe they people who really are trustworthy in their
lives and who really do want to hurt them.

Holmes, M. L. (2000). Get real: Violence in popular culture and in English class. The English
Journal, 89(5), 104-110.
http://www.ncte.org.lib2.bvu.edu/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/EJ/0895-
may00/EJ0895Real.pdf
In her article, Holmes explains how she uses pop culture mediaincluding comic
booksin order to open a dialogue with her students. The subjects of these discussions
are varied: sexism, racism, poverty, teen pregnancy, neighborhood and school violence,
gang life, and drug use; these subjects hit close to home and the conversations are being
brought about by popular music, comic books, television shows, movies and in one case a
Confederate flag. This articles talk about how they as a groupteacher and pupils
alikelook for ways to solve the violence and find more peaceful ways to coexist and try
to understand where other people are coming from. In the case of the Confederate flag,
until the student who owned it brought it in he never realized how the sight of it made
some of the African American students feel until seeing it opened a conversation. This
article would be a nice piece of further foundation for the use of comic books in starting
conversations and its use in another serious discipline.

Kilpatrick, D. G., Acierno, R., Saunders, B., Resnick, H. S., Best, C. L., & Schnurr, P. P.
(2000). Risk factors for adolescent substance abuse and dependence: Data from a national
sample. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 68(1), 19-30.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.68.1.19
This study from 2000 examined various risk factors for youth substance abuse and
dependence. Not surprisingly some use and abuse is the result of sexual victimization
either in childhood or in adolescence; some victims use drugs and alcohol to stop the
emotional pain from such events or to feel something because they have shut down
emotionally due to such events. This resource would be helpful when opening up a paper
as I could use this to talk about some of the things that victims do sometimes following
victimizationits a way for some to cope.

Kivilighan, D. M., Jr, London, K., & Miles, J. R. (2012). Are two heads better than one? The
relationship between number of groupleaders and group members, and group climate and
group member benefit from therapy. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice,
16(1), 1-13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0026242
This article explores putting groups together for group therapy. It looks to find what
works best for a group make up that is the most beneficial for the clients involved. Their
findings seem to suggest that clients benefit most from small groups as this creates a
more perhaps nurturing, positive therapeutic environment. Small group size would also
help clients feel that they are getting a personal touch and not being treated like a
number.

Lefley, H. P., Scott, C. S., Llabre, M., & Hicks, D. (1993). Cultural beliefs about rape and
victims' response in three ethnic groups. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 63(4), 623-
632. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0079477
As stated in the articles title, this study looked at cultural beliefs about rape and victims
response in three ethnic groups. The populations being studied were Caucasians, African
Americans, and Latinos. Approximately half of the women who participated in the study
were rape victims, the other half were not. They were asked to answer questions as about
rape the way they would and how another woman in their community might and how
men in their community might. Results seemed to suggest that both former victims and
the women who had never been victimized sexually who were minorities felt that men in
their community would be less supportive of a victim and more likely to victim blame.
This might be because minority men have a higher rate of being charged and sentenced
than their Caucasian counterparts for the same crimes. The study also touched on the
aspect of Latino cultural of marianismo and machismo. The attitudes of in some Latino
cultures is that a man must be tough, virile, masculine, take what he wantsbe a mans
man as it werewho must live within very rigid gender roles. In opposition to that is the
ideal of marianismo where a woman must comport herself in a very conservative manner
likening her to the Virgin Maryshe must, be pure, kind, chaste, and dutiful. She must
obey. In some communities and cultures a woman who is raped may be seen as deserving
of it, impure and therefore shameful and unworthy after the attack is brought the light.
Again this sets the stage for victim blaming and the questions a victim might ask: If no
one is going to believe me or they are going to treat me like garbage, why should I come
forward? Why should I tell anyone? Who would even care?

McLean, K. C., & Breen, A. V. (2009). Processes and content of narrative identity development
in adolescence: Gender and well-being. Developmental Psychology, 45(3), 702-710.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0015207
McLean and Breen explored narrative identity development in their 2009 study. Narrative
identity helps us make sense of our world and our lives. They examined what types of
relationships might exist between age and gender in terms of what type of information the
participating adolescents were likely to share as well as what role self-esteem might play.
While age seemed to play a roleas we get older there seems to be more meaning-
making to our narratives as we strive to understand the worldbut there seemed to be no
difference in the amount of meaning making between boys and girls. This article could be
used in conjunction with a latter article also on narrative identity.

Paone, T. R., Packman, J., Maddux, C., & Rothman, T. (2008). A school-based group activity
therapy intervention with at-risk high school students as it relates to their moral reasoning.
International Journal of Play Therapy, 17(122), 122-137.
The Paone et.al study looked into the use of group activity therapy with high risk
students. They were trying to discover if group activity therapy would be more useful
than traditional group talk therapy in helping kids transitioning from middle school to
high school find their way. While members of the control group which did only talk
therapy did well, the experimental group utilizing GAT not merely blossomed, but
thrived; results would appear to support the thought that group activity therapy was more
helpful for these students as far as giving them a safe place to share, learn how to deal
with their new surroundings and the new demands of classes, and helped them grown
strong supports. (It should be noted that both groups of youngsters grew support systems
during their time in therapy, but the group getting GAT seemed to thrive more.) The
importance of this study for a paper I might right is because I want to use group activity
therapy with comic creation being the ongoing activity. That it GAT has shown positive
results with one at-risk group already seems promising.

Pasupathi, M., & Hoyt, T. (2009). The development of narrative identity in late adolescence and
emergent adulthood: The continued importance of listeners. Developmental Psychology,
45(2), 558-574. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0014431
While it is important throughout our lives that we feel that others are truly listening to us,
that we are really being heard, it is perhaps even more important as we approach
adulthood, developmentally speaking. It is not simply a matter of our thoughts and
feelings being taking seriously by others of our peer group and those in authority
(teachers, parents, new employers, etc), but it is also how we come to find our way in the
world and make sense of the things that are happening in our livesnot merely in the
world around us as we make our way day by day, but also our emerging selves, the new
adults we are becoming. The stories adolescents tell each other are important not only in
the words they use or how they use them, but also in what they do not say. It is part of the
game of learning social norms. The development of narrative identity helps these young
people understand their world and their place in it as, by sharing their stories with peers
they can, together, come to make some sense of this big crazy thing we call being an
adult. This use of this article would argue the importance of helping survivors through
group therapy with other survivorsto re-take their own narrative identities and voices.

Paul, L. A., Gray, M. J., Elhai, J. D., & Davis, J. L. (2009). Perceptions of peer rape myth
acceptance and disclosure in a sample of college sexual assault survivors. Psychological
Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 1(3), 231-241.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0016989
How victims feel they will be treated by friends, family, and acquaintances can have a
huge impact on their decision to see help. If they feel they will be blamed or treated
badly, they may choose to suffer in silence. This article takes a look at female college
students who were raped and the acceptance of rape myths.

Paone, T. R., Packman, J., Maddux, C., & Rothman, T. (2008). A school-based group activity
therapy intervention with at-risk high school students as it relates to their moral reasoning.
International Journal of Play Therapy, 17(122), 122-137.
The Paone et.al study looked into the use of group activity therapy with high risk
students. They were trying to discover if group activity therapy would be more useful
than traditional group talk therapy in helping kids transitioning from middle school to
high school find their way. While members of the control group which did only talk
therapy did well, the experimental group utilizing GAT not merely blossomed, but
thrived; results would appear to support the thought that group activity therapy was more
helpful for these students as far as giving them a safe place to share, learn how to deal
with their new surroundings and the new demands of classes, and helped them grown
strong supports. (It should be noted that both groups of youngsters grew support systems
during their time in therapy, but the group getting GAT seemed to thrive more.) The
importance of this study for a paper I might right is because I want to use group activity
therapy with comic creation being the ongoing activity. That it GAT has shown positive
results with one at-risk group already seems promising.

Saltzman, W. R., Layne, C. M., Pynoos, R. S., Steinberg, A. M., & Aisenberg, E. (2001).
Trauma- and grief-focused intervention for adolescents exposed to community violence:
Results of a school-based screening and group treatment protocol. Group Dynamics: Theory,
Research, and Practice, 5(4), 291-303. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037//1089-2699.5.4.291
The study examined a school-based screening and group treatment program for middle
school children and their exposure to trauma. After screening these children some were
put into a group treatment program that worked with them on PTSD and other factors.
The findings seem to show that PTSD, unsurprisingly, can stand in the way of children
or anyoneachieving high marks academically. But the findings also seem to show that
following a good treatment program it is possible to thrive in an academic setting and that
is a hopeful thought. This makes a great deal of sense considering everything an
individual with PTSD can faceflashbacks, anxiety, depression, nightmares, night
terrors; not many of us would be able to do our best work in school if we were dealing
with that. This would be a useful article for that note of hopefulness concerning getting
help in a treatment program for victims and then being able to go on to a bit of normalcy
after an attack.

Sprankle, E. L., End, C. M., & Bretz, M. N. (2012). Sexually degrading music videos and lyrics:
Their effects on males aggression and endorsement of rape myths and sexual stereotypes.
Journal of Media Psychology: Theories, Methods, and Applications, 24(1), 31-39.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1027/1864-1105/a000060
There have been many studies over the years looking at the relationship between sexually
explicit music and videos and aggression toward women, sexual stereotypes and the
endorsement of rape myths. A large portion of these have seen a positive correlation, this
study did not find one. The study consisted of two experiments. The first involved male
and female college students who were asked to watch eight music videos and report how
much of the content, both audio and visual, was of a sexually degrading nature. This
helped the researchers pick their two videos that they used in their main study. For the
main study, 187 male college students were asked to watch the two videos that the
researchers picked following the first experimentPull Over by Trina and Shake That
Shit by Preacha. Using a variety of different tests to measure aggression toward women,
sexual stereotypes, and attitudes toward rape and rape victims the researchers found that
their participants did not show a significant change in attitudes after watching the
videosthe videos appeared to have no effect on the mens aggression toward women,
attitudes toward rape, or on sexual stereotypes. While the research team admits to certain
limitations, one has to wonder how it is that this study found no correlation when so
many have before (not that this is the first study to come up with such findings). Perhaps
it had to do with the videos selected, the genre of music, or maybe even the order the
videos were played? Or perhaps it just might be a little bit of support to the idea that
music does not make people rape others, that that is a personal choice.

Thomae, M., & Viki, G. (2013). Why did the woman cross the road? The effect of sexist on
men's rape proclivity. Journal of Social, Evolutionary, and Cultural Psychology, 7(3), 250-
269. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0099198
Weve all heard sexist jokessome told by friends, family members, and co-workers,
some told by professional stand-up comediansbut does this type of humor have an
effect on rape proclivity in men? Thomae and Viki hypothesized that it does and set out
to investigate just that. They conducted three studies where they exposed groups of male
college students to sexist jokes and non-sexist jokes. After exposure the men were asked
to fill out what they thought were simply evaluations of how funny the jokes were. The
results from the tests seem to show that exposure to sexist humor does in fact raise rape
proclivityespecially in men who score high in levels of hostile sexism.

Versaci, R. (2001). How comic books can change the way our students see literature: One
teachers perspective. The English Journal, 91(2), 61-67.
http://www.ncte.org.lib2.bvu.edu/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/EJ/0912-
nov01/EJ0912Comic.pdf
Versacis article is an argument for all the reasons the use of comic books and graphic
novels can be great in a classroomin this case a Literature classroom specifically. He
takes examples of how he uses specific comics in his own classroom in some instances.
He argues against the naysayers who might think that comics are nothing more than fluff
about people in bright colored spandex that has nothing to do with literature. Versaci
points to various uses for any number of works in the realm of comics and how many of
these really are works of literature. He is even kind enough to leave the reader with a list
of books to check out. This is one of several articles which is would be important to my
paper by introducing comic books as something more than just junk food for the mind.
This legitimizes them as an art and as a useful tool in another discipline: education.

Viki, G., Abrams, D., & Masser, B. (2004). Evaluating stranger and acquaintance rape: The role
of benevolent sexism in perpetrator blame and recommended sentence length. Law and
Human Behavior, 28(3), 295-303. doi:10.1023/B:LAHU.0000029140.72880.69
This article is very similar to the previous articles by the authors. Indeed it is more of the
same subject, just taken from a different angle. This time they were looking at sexism and
the accused rapist and how sexism plays into that.

Weiner, S. (2004). Bold books for innovative teaching: Show, dont tell: Graphic novels in the
classroom. The English Journal, 94(2), 114-117.
http://www.ncte.org.lib2.bvu.edu/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/EJ/EJ0942-
nov04/EJ0942Bold.pdf
Rather similar in tone and message to the Versaci article, Weiners addition here lays
groundwork to just how good comic books and graphic novels can be. He speaks to their
depthnot they are all deep, some are just as shallow as anything else you pull off a
shelfand their various uses. Want real literature? How about Kafkas
Metamorphosis? Want to talk about history? There is always Maus I and Maus II which
tell stories based on events the writers father lived through during the Holocaust where
the Nazis are portrayed as cats and the Jews are mice. Like Versaci, he argues for what a
useful tool comics and graphic novels can be in the classroom. Just as any good story or
novella, a well written comic or graphic novel can touch the reader and open up
conversations that can go anywhere and everywhere. This would help in the foundation
of comic books and graphic novels as useful tools to bring about discussion.