The Needs of Victims: An Empirical Categorization Based on Interpersonal Conflicts

As a consequence of interpersonal conflicts, needs of the victimized are violated. These needs have to be addressed in order to achieve reconciliation. Due to the heterogeneity of need categories in scholarly research, we scrutinized which need categories can be empirically identified. 478 participants reported on an experienced interpersonal conflict. They responded to 109 items evaluating the perceived need violation for the conflict they reported on. By means of exploratory factor analysis with a random sub-sample (n1 = 239), six need categories were extracted. These are the need for respect, the need for meaning, the need for acceptance, the need for pleasure, the need for self-efficacy, and the need for safety. Confirmatory factor analyses showed that these needs replicated in the second random sub-sample (n2 = 239) as well as across sub-samples with people who had experienced an interpersonal conflict of lower severity of transgression (nA = 257) or higher severity of transgression (nB = 221). In addition, each of the need categories mediated the relationship between the severity of transgression and the desire for revenge. Yet, the results for the two need categories “pleasure” and “safety” have to be interpreted with caution due to a lack of scalar invariance. Among the other four need categories, respect was identified as the only independent mediator variable. Implications for the transformation of interpersonal conflict and further scholarly inquiries are discussed.