The construct dimensionality of victim blame: The situations of physical child abuse and rape

The dimensionality of the victim blame construct was investigated on 897 college undergraduates. Participants were administered questionnaires to assess the extent to which they blame victims of physical child abuse and rape. Several other personality measures were also given. We hypothesized that the multidimensionality of victim blame would be corroborated. Specifically, we asserted that behavioral, characterological, and abuser justification components of victim blame would emerge as separate constructs. We also predicted that blame directed toward child abuse victims and blame directed toward victims of rape would emerge as distinct factors. A first-order and second-order confirmatory factor analysis was carried out. The findings did not support the hypotheses. Instead, a global victim blame construct emerged with child blame and rape blame as specific factors. Behavioral, characterological, and abuser justification components of victim blame also appeared to stem from a more global victim blame construct.