Elsevier

Journal of Anxiety Disorders

Volume 12, Issue 3, May–June 1998, Pages 199-208
Journal of Anxiety Disorders

Crime-Related Trauma: Psychological Distress in Victims of Bankrobbery

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0887-6185(98)00009-7Get rights and content

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between the experience of a traumatic event, that is, a bankrobbery, and its psychological consequences. Two groups of employees of a major commercial bank in the Netherlands participated in this study. One group (n = 310) consisted of subjects who had experienced a bankrobbery and worked in high-frequency bankrobbery areas; the other matched control group (n = 214) consisted of nonrobbed employees from banks in the same area. Victimized subjects displayed more signs of psychological distress than the control subjects, but distress decreased over time. The main findings of this study are that a depressive/avoidant coping style, strong threat perception during the robbery, and additional life events were positively related to posttraumatic distress as assessed by the Impact of Event Scale and the Symptom Check List (SCL-90), and self-esteem was negatively associated with the SCL-90 only.

Section snippets

Subjects

Two groups of employees of a major commercial bank in the Netherlands participated in this study. One group consisted of subjects who had experienced a bank robbery and worked in high-frequency bankrobbery areas. The other (control) group consisted of nonrobbed employees, who were matched on basis of identical high-risk contact services (i.e., cashier, desk personnel, minor branch manager) and were working in the same high-risk areas.

Three-hundred and twenty-eight victims returned their

Results

Table 1 shows the means and standard deviations of the victimized employees and the control group on the personality scales and symptom checklist (SCL-90-R). As expected, victimized subjects displayed more signs of psychological distress than the control subjects (SCL-90-R; t = 4.48, p < .000). No differences were found between the groups on the personality variables extraversion, self-esteem, and locus of control. However, the victimized group had higher neuroticism scores than the control

Discussion

The main findings of this study can be summarized as follows. First, employees who had experienced a hold-up evidenced significantly higher psychological distress than their nonvictimized colleagues. Within the group of held-up employees, an association was found between the time elapsed since the robbery and their current level of psychological distress. Although the cross-sectional design of the study precludes definite conclusions, these findings suggest significant psychological distress

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the RABO bank. The views expressed in this paper are solely the views of the authors and do necessarily reflect those of the RABO bank. The authors would like to express their appreciation to Jules Borghouts, Gerrie Klok, Frans van Slagmaat, and Jan Hageraats of the RABO health department.

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