Research is proposed to examine the adjustment of survivors of criminal homicide victims. Despite the prevalence of homicide, survivors, especially black survivors, have been neglected as a focus of victimization research. In a three-wave longitudinal design, 60 mothers of black victims over a 17 month period in Richmond, VA, will be interviewed 3-4 weeks, six months, and one year after the homicide. A matched comparison group of 60 black mother (selected based on a random digit dial survey of household in Richmond) who have not experienced homicide will also be interviewed. Multiple indicators of adjustment will be assessed, as well as predictors of differential adjustment such as homicide-related experiences, other life events both before and after the homicide, behavioral responses to the homicide, secondary victimization, social support, sense of mastery, and perceptions of inequity. Analyses will compare Survivor and Control groups across time, predict adjustment both within and between waves, and examine the interrelationship between adjustment and its predictors (e.g., Do differences in feelings of intense anger lead to poorer adjustment or vice versa?). The primary goals of the research are (1) to begin to establish, using methods more rigorous than heretofore achieved, a better descriptive base from which future research and interventions regarding criminal homicide survivors can be guided and (2) to address two important issues that have arisen from previous homicide research. The first concerns how to account for the extreme variability observed in survivors' reactions; the second concerns the course of adjustment over time, particularly whether (and how) survivors move toward eventual recovery. Findings should help fill a longstanding void in victimization research.
