The Role of Hate Crime Victimization, Fear of Victimization, and Vicarious Victimization in COVID-19-Related Depression

Wenger, Marin R.; Lantz, Brendan; Gallardo, Gabriella

doi:10.1177/00938548221104738

Cited by 18 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…Clear condemnation of xenophobia is an essential measure for countering the attitudes we observe here ( Lunn et al, 2020 ). Second, anti-Asian prejudicial attitudes were surprisingly frequent, even pervasive, in our sample, and research has suggested both that consistent exposure to bias and discrimination may be related to acute mental health consequences, depression, or event desensitization (see Lantz et al, 2022 ; Wenger et al, 2022 ; Wenger & Lantz, 2021 ), and that Asian victims of discrimination are less likely than others to seek help after victimization ( Lantz & Wenger, 2021 ). Following this, researchers and policymakers should make efforts to develop appropriate interventions aimed at addressing these consequences.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 73%

Fear, Political Legitimization, and Racism: Examining Anti-Asian Xenophobia During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2022

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Unfortunately, there is a long history linking pandemics to Anti-Asian prejudice and xenophobia; these negative outcomes have been particularly pronounced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some scholars have suggested that these relationships are driven by fear, wherein individuals respond to disease threat by “othering” that threat. Other research has implicated the role of the state, including the political rhetoric of former President Trump, in exacerbating bias by enabling a divisive political environment. Yet, very few existing studies have been able to assess the nature of these impacts or examine the mechanisms behind observed increases in xenophobia. To that end, this research presents results from a survey administered in May 2020 to respondents residing in the U.S., which assessed COVID-19-related attitudes and behaviors, as well as anti-Asian prejudicial attitudes. Using these data, we assessed the direct and interactive relationship between perceptions of risk (i.e., fear), exposure to COVID-19 information, support for Trump, and anti-Asian prejudice. Results reveal that fear—and support for Trump—are associated with increased anti-Asian prejudice, but that exposure to more information about COVID-19 is associated with decreased prejudice; we also note complex interactions between each of these factors.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 73%

Fear, Political Legitimization, and Racism: Examining Anti-Asian Xenophobia During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2022

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“…First, a nontrivial proportion of transgender homicides appear to be bias motivated. Drawing attention to these patterns is critically important, especially given that recent research suggests that these consequences extend to the larger community of those with shared characteristics (e.g., other, non-victimized transgender people) as well (see Wenger et al, 2022). Wenger et al (2022), for example, found that simply knowing someone who has been the target of bias-motivated violence is associated with increased individual depressive symptoms.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Drawing attention to these patterns is critically important, especially given that recent research suggests that these consequences extend to the larger community of those with shared characteristics (e.g., other, non-victimized transgender people) as well (see Wenger et al, 2022). Wenger et al (2022), for example, found that simply knowing someone who has been the target of bias-motivated violence is associated with increased individual depressive symptoms. This pattern is likely particularly extensive among transgender populations, where harassment and victimization are extensive (see Kidd & Witten, 2007; Witten & Eyler, 1999).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Descriptive Account of the Nature and Extent of Transgender Homicide in America, 2010 to 2021

Lantz,

Faulkner,

M. Mills

2023

J Interpers Violence

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There is a growing acknowledgment of transgender homicide as a serious social and public health issue; indeed, the American Medical Association has even referred to violence against transgender people as an “epidemic.” Addressing this issue, however, requires understanding the patterns associated with this violence. Yet, reliable data for doing so does not currently exist, especially in recent years. As such, the prevalence of these incidents and their key features are not easily understood. The current study addresses this issue using a comprehensive nationwide database on 305 instances of homicide directed against transgender people between 2010 and 2021, collected through extensive open-source data collection methods. The descriptive analyses of these incidents demonstrate pronounced increases in homicide victimization over time, and clear geographic clustering by state, such that roughly one in four incidents occurred in just three states: Texas, Florida, and California. After accounting for the estimated size of the transgender population, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri emerge as the most dangerous states with the highest risk of homicide victimization. The results also clearly demonstrate the intersectional nature of transgender homicide, in finding that most homicide victims are young Black or Hispanic transgender women. We conclude by emphasizing the need for multipronged policy responses to this issue that recognize the uniquely dangerous intersection of social problems that contribute to the vulnerable social position of many transgender people, including their vulnerability to homicide victimization.

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“…Illustrating these group-based reactions in the aftermath of anti-LGBT+ hate crimes, research has previously found that the number of hate crime victims known to an individual (defined here as indirect experiences with hate crimes, and sometimes referred to as vicarious victimization ) is positively associated with depressive symptoms ( Wenger et al, 2022 ), feeling more vulnerable and threatened, but also more empathy toward victims ( Paterson et al, 2019b ). Crucially, showing that these responses are group based and not simply a consequence of feeling more empathic toward all victims, an experiment showed that LGBT+ people feel more threatened and angry when reading about a homophobic hate crime compared to a similar crime not motivated by hate ( Paterson et al, 2019a , Study 1).…”

Section: Group-based Reactions To Group-based Hostilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Ingroup Empathy, Help, and Blame After Anti-LGBT+ Hate Crime

Paterson,

Walters,

Hall

2023

J Interpers Violence

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Crimes motivated by hatred toward a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity typically cause greater physical and emotional harm than comparative crimes not motivated by hate. Compounding these impacts, hate crime victims receive less empathy, less support, and are blamed more for their victimization both by society in general and by criminal justice agencies. However, as hate crimes are the epitome of intergroup hostility, the crimes are also likely to engender an ingroup empathy bias in which fellow LGBT+ people provide greater empathy to hate crime victims, potentially motivating greater support and reducing victim blaming for these particularly marginalized victims. Across three studies, we examined LGBT+ participants’ empathic reactions to hate crime victims, along with their willingness to help victims and blame victims. In the Pilot Study ( N = 131) and Study 1 ( N = 600), we cross-sectionally showed that indirect experiences of hate crimes predicted a stronger LGBT+ identity which, in turn, was associated with greater empathy that predicted greater willingness to help victims and blame the victim less. In Study 2 ( N = 657), we experimentally manipulated the motivation of a crime (hate vs. non-hate) and the group membership of the victim (ingroup-LGBT+ vs. outgroup-heterosexual) and found that crimes that had one or more group elements (i.e., involved an ingroup member and/or was motivated by hate) elicited greater empathy that, in turn, increased the willingness to help the victim and reduced victim blaming. Together, the findings provide cogent evidence that LGBT+ communities respond to anti-LGBT+ hate crimes with overwhelming empathy, and this ingroup empathy bias motivates helping behaviors and reduces victim blame, thereby buffering the marginalizing consequences of hate crimes. Policy implications include acknowledging and harnessing the importance of shared identities when practitioners and criminal justice agencies respond to anti-LGBT+ hate crimes.

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The Role of Hate Crime Victimization, Fear of Victimization, and Vicarious Victimization in COVID-19-Related Depression

Cited by 18 publications

References 70 publications

Fear, Political Legitimization, and Racism: Examining Anti-Asian Xenophobia During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Fear, Political Legitimization, and Racism: Examining Anti-Asian Xenophobia During the COVID-19 Pandemic

A Descriptive Account of the Nature and Extent of Transgender Homicide in America, 2010 to 2021

Ingroup Empathy, Help, and Blame After Anti-LGBT+ Hate Crime

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