DOI: 10.3886/icpsr09920
title: Criminal Victimization Among Women in Cleveland, Ohio: Impact on Health Status and Medical Service Usage, 1986
title: Archival Version

description: The impact of criminal victimization on the health status
 of women is the focus of this data collection. The researchers
 examined the extent to which victimized women differed from
 nonvictimized women in terms of their physical and psychological
 well-being and differences in their use of medical services. The
 sample was drawn from female members of a health maintenance plan at a
 worksite in Cleveland, Ohio. Questions used to measure criminal
 victimization were taken from the National Crime Survey and focused on
 purse snatching, home burglary, attempted robbery, robbery with force,
 threatened assault, and assault. In addition, specific questions
 concerning rape and attempted rape were developed for the
 study. Health status was assessed by using a number of instruments,
 including the Cornell Medical Index, the Mental Health Index, and the
 RAND Corporation test battery for their Health Insurance
 Experiment. Medical service usage was assessed by reference to medical
 records. Demographic information includes age, race, income, and
education.
description: Crime is a major source of stress for its
 victims. To the extent that stress is linked to illness, criminal
 victimization may be associated with medical service usage. This study
 was conducted to explore the impact of criminal victimization on the
 psychological and physical well-being of women. Women were the focus
 of the study in order to examine the disproportionate effects of
 interpersonal violence. The study was conducted at a worksite in
 Cleveland, Ohio. In order to increase the availability of complete
 medical histories, participants were members of a worksite health
 maintenance plan. Plan members were randomly selected and contacted by
telephone or mail to arrange interviews.
description: The study was conducted at a single worksite in
 Cleveland, Ohio. To increase the availability of medical histories,
 respondents were members of a worksite health maintenance plan. Data
 consist of self-assessments of physical and psychological health
 conducted in personal interviews and objective data collected from
 medical records. To assure confidentiality, interviewers were not
 employees of the health maintenance plan. Interviewers received
 instruction in the interview protocol. The survey was developed using
the "Total Design Method" in order to maximize response rates.
description: Interviews covered the extent to which women were
 victimized by crime and their usage of medical services. Questions
 used to measure criminal victimization were taken from the National
 Crime Survey and focused on purse snatching, home burglary, attempted
 robbery, robbery with force, threatened assault, and assault. In
 addition, specific questions concerning rape and attempted rape were
 developed for the study. Health status was assessed by using a number
 of instruments, including the Cornell Medical Index, the Mental Health
 Index, and the RAND Corporation test battery for their Health
 Insurance Experiment. Medical service usage was assessed by reference
to medical records.
description: Response Rates: For individuals contacted by telephone: 19
 percent resulting in 194 interviews, including both victims and
 nonvictims of crime. For individuals contacted by mail: 45 percent
 resulting in 219 additional victims of crime. The two contact methods
yielded 413 interviews with complete data available for 390 of them.
description: Presence of Common Scales: None.
description: Two sampling methods were used. Approximately 20 percent
 of the female members of the health maintenance plan were contacted by
 telephone. This resulted in 194 completed personal interviews. To
 augment the number of victimized women included in the sample,
 screening surveys were sent to all women health plan members,
resulting in another 219 completed interviews.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Interview Data
DS2: Mail Survey Data
DS4: SAS Data Definition Statements for Interview Data
DS5: SAS Data Definition Statements for Victimization Data
DS6: SPSS Compute Statements for Interview Data
DS7: SPSS Statistics Program for Interview Data
DS8: SPSS Compute Statements for Victimization Data
DS9: SPSS Statistics Program for Victimization Data
description: Adult women who were members of a health maintenance plan
at a worksite in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1986.
description: SPSS program files, which create new variables and
perform statistical calculations, are available.