Latent profiles among sexual assault survivors: implications for defensive coping and resistance

The Mediating Role of Problematic Alcohol Consumption on the Association Between Pandemic-Related Strains and Domestic Violence Across Six Countries

Research has documented that domestic violence increased worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic. Studies have also suggested that alcohol use, which also increased during COVID-19, is a risk factor for domestic violence victimization. However, research has yet to examine whether alcohol consumption mediated the relationship between pandemic-related stressful events and domestic violence. Using structural equation modeling, the current study examines the impact of three types of pandemic-related strains (financial problems, familial problems, and work problems) on individual assessments about whether their drinking became problematic during the pandemic and then whether problematic alcohol use increases the risk of psychological and physical domestic violence. This model was analyzed across six countries: Ukraine, The Netherlands, Pakistan, Denmark, Guatemala, and the United States. Results indicate that the associations between pandemic-related strains and self-assessed problematic drinking varied by country. However, across all countries, problematic alcohol consumption was associated with increased physical and psychological domestic violence victimization. Overall, the findings of the current study support the use of programs that aim to reduce problematic consumption of alcohol with the hopes that they may, in turn, reduce psychological and physical domestic violence victimization.

Understanding Formal Responses to Intimate Partner Violence and Women's Resistance Processes: A Scoping Review

Intimate partner violence (IPV) literature addresses the ways in which women oppose violent male partners through acts of "everyday resistance." There is a limited understanding, however, of the relationship between women's resistance and their formal help-seeking in the context of IPV. Our scoping review, which includes 74 articles published in English-language journals between 1994 and 2017, attempts to help fill this gap by developing systematic knowledge regarding the following research questions: (1) How are formal institutional responses discussed within the literature on resistance to IPV? (2) How does institutional help-seeking facilitate or obstruct IPV survivors' personal efforts to resist violence? We find that institutions and organizations succeed in facilitating resistance processes when they counter victim-blaming ideas and provide IPV survivors with shared community and a sense of control over their futures. However, they fall short in terms of helping survivors by expecting survivors to adhere to a rigid narrative about appropriate responses to violence, devoting insufficient attention to individual-level factors impacting survivors' vulnerability and ability to access help, and replicating abuse dynamics when interacting with survivors. Policy and practice implications are discussed.

Understanding the Body and Embodiment in the Context of Women's Resistance to Intimate Partner Violence: A Scoping Review

Scholars acknowledge that women oppose male intimate partner violence (IPV). Yet there is limited comprehensive knowledge regarding how women's bodies and embodiment, that is, their physical and emotional practices and the cultural and social systems that influence them, figure in this process. Our scoping review helps fill this gap by analyzing and synthesizing 74 research articles published in English-language scholarly journals between 1994 and 2017 to address three research questions: (1) How does existing IPV research conceptualize resistance? (2) To what extent do the body and embodiment appear in this research? and (3) What common themes emerge from investigation of the role of embodiment and the body in the context of IPV? The articles identify several subtypes of resistance strategies including avoidance, help-seeking, violent action, and leaving a violent relationship. The reviewed research also regularly describes women's physical and emotional states in the context of IPV. Only a small number of these texts, however, define or conceptualize embodiment. Our analysis of the manner in which the body figures in women's resistance to IPV yielded four themes: (1) the active body, (2) the injured/constrained body, (3) the interactive body, and (4) the transformative body. We conclude with a discussion of policy and practice implications, such as the need to increase awareness about how institutions enforce embodied norms among victims and use the body to assign blame and/or proffer assistance in the context of IPV.

Differences in Women's Substance-Related Sexual Assaults: Force, Impairment, and Combined Assault Types

This study furthers previous research on sexual assaults (SAs) involving substances and/or force by examining effects of perpetrator behaviors of alcohol and/or drug impairment level (none, impaired, incapacitated) and/or force during SA in relationship to various assault and recovery outcomes. A diverse sample of 632 women from a large Midwestern city participated in a study on women's experiences with SA. Of this sample of substance-involved SAs, 37.3% (n = 236) reported a forcible-only unimpaired assault, 50.6% (n = 320) reported a combined impairment/incapacitation and force assault, and 12% (n = 76) reported an impaired/incapacitated-only assault. Multivariate analyses of covariance (MANCOVAs) and chi-square analyses compared assault types as defined by combined alcohol and/or drug impairment level and/or force to determine how these assaults differed in demographics, other assault characteristics, and post-assault experiences. Assault types differed on several demographic, assault, and post-assault factors with most differences showing that the combined assault type was related to worse outcomes than forcible-type assaults, including greater reexperiencing, avoidance, and numbing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Implications for clinical intervention include recognizing that assaults involving substance use and force are traumatic and warrant individualized treatment.

Emotional Responses to a Sexual Assault Threat: A Qualitative Analysis Among Women With Histories of Sexual Victimization

Sexual assaults against women are a leading threat to human rights and public health in the United States. Considering the high rates of sexual revictimization among women and the limited understanding of the mechanisms which fuel this phenomenon, the goal of the present study was to investigate the role of emotion in coping with a hypothetical threat of sexual assault for previously sexually victimized college women. A total of 114 college women with a history of sexual victimization listened to an audio-recording describing a sexual assault scenario and then described how they felt. A qualitative analysis paradigm was used to capture participants' responses in an open-ended, real-time, experiential manner. Data were analyzed using Consensual Qualitative Research-Modified methodology. Four main themes emerged (Negative Reactions, Indifferent Evaluations, Active Responses, and Cognitive Appraisal of the Situation), along with various subcategories, demonstrating the variability of women's responses to a sexual assault threat. Many women experienced uncomfortable or distressing emotional reactions to the vignette, primarily through discomfort, but also through anger, anxiety, and being upset. Few women reported experiencing fear, and a small number reported experiencing self-blame. The low endorsement of fear and anger in our high-risk sample indicates emotional dysregulation as a potential mechanism of repeated sexual victimization and a promising target for clinical intervention. Overall, results may inform sexual assault risk reduction efforts and the empowerment of women who have experienced sexual victimization.

Patterns of Violence Victimization and Perpetration Among Adolescents Using Latent Class Analysis

Research has identified interpersonal violence (a broad term that includes stalking, harassment, sexual assault, and physical dating violence) as a major problem among adolescents. Research suggests that there are different patterns, or classes, of interpersonal violence victimization and perpetration, but little of this work has focused on adolescents. In the current study, we conducted latent class analysis using a sample of 2,921 adolescent girls and boys in high school from northern New England to assess varying patterns of interpersonal violence victimization and perpetration over the past 2 months, specifically stalking, harassment, sexual assault, and dating violence. Four classes of violence victimization and perpetration were identified: (a) No Victimization or Perpetration class (n = 1,898, 65.0%), (b) Low Victimization and Perpetration class (n = 343, 11.7%), (c) Harassment Victimization Only class (n = 560, 19.2%), and (d) High Victimization and Low Perpetration class (n = 120, 4.1%). Several differences in classes emerged as a function of demographic and behavioral health variables. For example, the High Victimization and Low Perpetration class had the highest proportion of girls and youth with sexual minority status. Furthermore, youth in the High Victimization and Low Perpetration class also had a significantly higher proportion of class members endorsing depressed mood and engagement in binge drinking than the youth in other classes. These findings demonstrate the heterogeneity in patterns of interpersonal violence, which future research should seek to better understand in terms of etiology, outcomes, and best practices for prevention and intervention.

Bidirectional associations between alcohol use and intimate partner violence and sexual assault victimization among college women

Whereas some prior studies have explored whether alcohol increases the risk for victimization and/or whether distress resulting from victimization increases the risk for alcohol use, few studies have simultaneously tested these bidirectional hypotheses among a high-risk sample (i.e., undergraduate women), while including both sexual assault (SA) and intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization, and exploring potential moderating effects of PTSD symptoms on these paths. Among 631 college women, the present study tested these bidirectional associations using cross-lagged panel models across two measurement periods (i.e., Time 1 [T1] and Time 2 [T2], six months later). Results suggested that T1 alcohol use increased risk for T2 SA (but not T2 IPV victimization), and PTSD symptoms moderated this association; at lower levels of PTSD symptoms, there were no significant associations between alcohol use and subsequent SA victimization, whereas at higher levels of PTSD symptoms, alcohol use predicted subsequent SA victimization. By contrast, the opposite directional hypothesis was not supported; neither T1 lifetime SA nor IPV were associated with T2 drinking, regardless of the level of their PTSD symptoms. Prevention and intervention efforts should simultaneously address risk factors for alcohol use and victimization using trauma-informed practices.

Characterizing Sexual Violence in Intimate Relationships: An Examination of Blame Attributions and Rape Acknowledgment

Rape by an intimate partner frequently involves a precedence of sexual consent between victim and perpetrator, often does not include the use of physical force, and may not fit societal definitions of rape. Given these unique characteristics, women who are assaulted by an intimate partner may be less likely to acknowledge the experience as a rape. In turn, they might make fewer blame attributions toward themselves and their perpetrators than victims of rape by a nonpartner. Consistent with these expectations, results from 208 community women reporting rape in adulthood revealed the presence of indirect effects of perpetrator type (nonpartner vs. intimate partner) on both behavioral self-blame and perpetrator blame through rape acknowledgment, even when controlling for both victim substance use at the time of the assault and coercion severity. Compared with women who experienced a rape by a nonpartner, women who experienced rape in the context of a marital or dating relationship were less likely to blame themselves or the perpetrator for the assault, in part because they were less likely to label their experience as a rape. Overall, these findings highlight the unique nature of intimate partner rape and provide further information about the relatively underresearched area of sexual violence in intimate relationships.

Predictors of Assertive and Nonassertive Styles of Self-Defense Behavior During a Lab-Based Sexual Assault Scenario

The current study examined how psychological factors influence hypothetical behavioral responses to threat (BRTT). College women (n = 113) with a history of sexual victimization completed a standardized lab-based self-defense scenario. Interpersonal skills, coping style, and assertive and nonassertive BRTT during a prior assault predicted assertive BRTT during the task. The use of nonassertive BRTT during past assaults no longer predicted assertive BRTT during the task when accounting for rape acknowledgment. Findings regarding rape acknowledgment demonstrate the complexity of recovery from sexual assault. Our results highlight interpersonal skills as an intervention target for innovative sexual assault risk reduction interventions.

Latent Profile Analysis of Alcohol Consumption and Sexual Attitudes Among College Women: Associations With Sexual Victimization Risk

This study used latent profile analysis (LPA) to identify at-risk profiles of college freshman women ( n = 481) using self-reports of alcohol consumption and sociosexuality. Analyses resulted in three profiles labeled low alcohol use-low sociosexuality, high alcohol use-medium sociosexuality, and high alcohol use-high sociosexuality. Baseline victimization predicted latent profile membership. More severely victimized women were more likely to be in the high alcohol-high sociosexuality profile than the high alcohol-medium sociosexuality and low alcohol-low sociosexuality profiles. At follow-up, the high alcohol-high sociosexuality profile had higher mean levels of victimization severity, relative to those in the high alcohol-medium sociosexuality and low alcohol-low sociosexuality profiles.

I Said No: The Impact of Voicing Non-Consent on Women's Perceptions of and Responses to Rape

The current study explored the impact of voicing non-consent in relation to rape. Aims of the study included determining (a) the prevalence of voicing non-consent, (b) the relationship of voicing non-consent to verbal and physical resistance, and (c) whether voicing non-consent predicts distress and rape acknowledgment. Out of 262 college women who experienced rape, 81% voiced non-consent. Voicing non-consent was related to verbal and physical resistance, but was distinct in prevalence and prediction of distress. Voicing non-consent was associated with trauma-related symptoms in multivariate models. Women who voiced non-consent were more likely to acknowledge their experience as rape or sexual assault. Implications are discussed.

Women's Behavioral Responses to the Threat of a Hypothetical Date Rape Stimulus: A Qualitative Analysis

One in four college women experience sexual assault on campus; yet, campuses rarely provide the in-depth self-defense programs needed to reduce sexual assault risk. Further, little is known about the range of possible behaviors elicited by sexual assault threat stimuli besides assertion. To fill this gap, the aim of the current study was to explore qualitative themes in women's intended behavioral responses to a hypothetical sexual assault threat, date rape, by using a laboratory-controlled threat. College women (N = 139) were randomly assigned to one of four different levels of sexual assault threat presented via an audio-recorded vignette. Participants articulated how they would hypothetically respond to the experimentally assigned threat. Responses were blinded and analyzed using Consensual Qualitative Research methodology. Six major themes emerged: assertion, compliance/acceptance, conditional decision making, avoidance, expressions of discomfort, and allusion to future contact. Although almost all participants described assertion, a number of non-assertive responses were described that are not currently recognized in the literature. These non-assertive responses, including compliance/acceptance, conditional decision making, and avoidance, may represent unique behavioral response styles and likely reflect the complex psychological process of behavioral response to threat. The variety of themes found illustrates the great range of behavioral responses to threat. This broad range is not currently well represented or measured in the literature and better understanding of these responses can inform future interventions, advocacy efforts, and policies focused on sexual assault.

Longitudinal Change in Women's Sexual Victimization Experiences as a Function of Alcohol Consumption and Sexual Victimization History: A Latent Transition Analysis

OBJECTIVE

Women's alcohol consumption and vulnerability to sexual victimization (SV) are linked, but findings regarding the nature and direction of the association are mixed. Some studies have found support for the self-medication hypothesis (i.e., victimized women drink more to alleviate SV-related distress); others have supported routine activity theory (i.e., drinking increases SV vulnerability). In this study, we aimed to clarify the interplay between women's prior SV, typical drinking, and SV experiences prospectively over one year.

METHOD

Participants (N = 530) completed a baseline survey and weekly follow-up surveys across Months 3, 6, 9, and 12.

RESULTS

Latent class analysis (LCA) suggested that women could be classified as victimized or non-victimized at each assessment month; 28% of participants were classified as victimized at one or more assessment months. Latent transition analysis (LTA) revealed that childhood sexual abuse and adult SV history each predicted greater likelihood of being victimized during the year. Typical drinking during a given assessment month was associated with (1) greater likelihood of victimized status at that assessment month and (2) greater likelihood of having transitioned into (or remained in) the victimized status since the previous assessment month. Furthermore, victimized status at a given assessment month predicted a higher quantity of subsequent drinking.

CONCLUSION

These findings indicate a reciprocal relationship between typical drinking and SV, supporting both the self-medication hypothesis and routine activity theory, and suggesting that hazardous drinking levels may be one important target for both SV vulnerability reduction and interventions for women who have been sexually victimized.

Longitudinal Effects of Sexual Assault Victims' Drinking and Self-Blame on Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Alcohol plays a major role in sexual assaults, but few studies have examined its impact on recovery outcomes, particularly in longitudinal studies. In a longitudinal study of 1,013 adult sexual assault survivors, we investigated the effects of victim drinking on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as well as the mediating role of characterological and behavioral self-blame attributions. In line with some prior research, victims who were drinking before their assault experienced less PTSD, but more self-blame than those who were not. Characterological, but not behavioral self-blame was related to increased PTSD symptoms. Thus, although drinking was overall related to less PTSD, it was also associated with increased PTSD via self-blame attributions, highlighting the danger of blaming victims of alcohol-related rapes for their assaults. Implications for future research and clinical work with survivors of alcohol-related sexual assaults are drawn.

Using a Person-Oriented Approach in Nursing Research

The purpose of this article was to provide an overview of the person-oriented approach, describe empirical examples of its use, and discuss how the approach may be used in nursing research. The person-oriented approach consists of theoretical and methodological components and provides a way to explore the heterogeneity of populations related to phenomena of interest. For analytic purposes, the person-oriented approach views the person as a holistic unit rather than a sum of his or her characteristics, and thus, it provides an alternative or complementary approach to the more traditional, variable-oriented approaches most commonly used to study health phenomena. Although the person-oriented approach has not been used extensively in nursing research, it offers promise for nursing scholars who study complex problems within heterogeneous populations and who seek to develop targeted interventions to more effectively promote desired health outcomes.

Feminist self-defense and resistance training for college students: a critical review and recommendations for the future

There remains resistance to feminist self-defense and resistance training programming for women, despite (a) documented effectiveness of rape resistance strategies in avoiding rape, (b) consistently high rates of sexual victimization on college campuses, and (c) limited evidence of lasting change in sexual assault perpetration reduction within existing men's prevention programs. The current article seeks to discuss (1) the rationale for feminist self-defense and resistance training for women, (2) key components of feminist self-defense and resistance training, (3) barriers to its implementation, (4) outcomes of self-defense and resistance training programming, and (5) recommendations for future work. Such suggestions include increasing funding for large-scale self-defense and rape resistance outcome research to examine program effectiveness. Specifically, outcome research that examines the role of contextual factors (e.g., alcohol use) and women's victimization histories is needed. Finally, self-defense training and resistance training should be combined with bystander intervention and men's programs with the goal of providing synergistic effects on rape reduction.

In Their Own Words: A Content-Analytic Study of College Women's Resistance to Sexual Assault

The purpose of this study was to utilize a mixed methodological approach to better understand the co-occurrence of perpetrator tactics and women's resistance strategies during a sexual assault and women's reflections on these experiences. College women were recruited from introductory psychology courses and completed both forced-choice response and open-ended survey questions for course credit. Content-analytic results of college women's written responses to an open-ended question suggested that women's resistance strategies generally mirrored the tactics of the perpetrator (e.g., women responded to perpetrator verbal pressure with verbal resistance). However, there were some instances in which this was not the case. Furthermore, a number of women expressed a degree of self-blame for the sexual assault in their responses, as well as minimization and normalization of the experience. These findings suggest that sexual assault risk reduction programs need to directly address victims' self-blame as well as create an atmosphere where societal factors that lead to minimization can be addressed.

Sexual assault-characteristics effects on PTSD and psychosocial mediators: a cluster-analysis approach to sexual assault types

Using cluster analysis, we investigated the effects of assault characteristics (i.e., level of violence, subjective distress, alcohol consumption, perpetrator identity) on PTSD symptoms, and whether these effects are mediated by postassault social and psychological reactions. A large community sample of women sexual assault survivors completed 2 mail surveys at a 1-year interval. In line with prior research, cluster analyses revealed the existence of 3 general categories of sexual assault, which we described as "high violence," "alcohol-related," and "moderate sexual severity." Alcohol-related assaults resulted in fewer PTSD symptoms than high-violence assaults at Time 1, but not at Time 2. Alcohol-related and violent assaults resulted in more PTSD symptoms than moderate-severity assaults at both times. The effect of assault-characteristics clusters on Time 2 PTSD was mediated by Time 1 self-blame and turning against social reactions. The importance of considering effects of violence and alcohol consumption during the assault to better understand postassault PTSD, including implications for theory and practice, are discussed.

Sexual Victimization, Fear of Sexual Powerlessness, and Cognitive Emotion Dysregulation as Barriers to Sexual Assertiveness in College Women

The current study examined sexual victimization and two barriers to young women’s sexual assertiveness: fear of sexual powerlessness and cognitive emotion dysregulation. College women ( N = 499) responded to surveys and indicated that fear of sexual powerlessness and, to a lesser extent, cognitive emotion dysregulation were barriers to sexual assertiveness. Compared with nonvictims, sexually victimized women had greater problems with sexual assertiveness, fear of sexual powerlessness, and cognitive emotion dysregulation. Among victims, fear of sexual powerlessness and emotion dysregulation interacted to impede sexual assertiveness. Findings support targeting identified barriers in interventions to improve sexual assertiveness and reduce risk for unwanted sexual experiences and sexual victimization.

What Your Data Didn’t Tell You the First Time Around: Advanced Analytic Approaches to Longitudinal Analyses

The present article describes the gap that exists between traditional data analysis techniques and more sophisticated methods that tend to be used more commonly among researchers outside of the study of v iolence against women. We briefly characterize growth models and person-centered analyses and describe the growing body of work in v iolence research that has applied these methods. Through an example from our own application of one of these techniques—latent class growth analysis—we highlight the ways that v iolence against women researchers may benefit from applying these more sophisticated methods to their own data, both past and present.

Intimate partner survivors' help-seeking and protection efforts: a person-oriented analysis

Domestic violence advocates and researchers advocate for a survivor-centered approach for assisting women experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV), with individualized safety plans and services; yet little empirical work has been done to determine IPV survivors' specific combinations of vulnerabilities and assets that might inform such an approach. Using latent profile analysis of a cohort of 448 survivors, five distinct subgroups were previously identified in terms of biopsychosocial asset and vulnerability profiles. The purpose of the current study was to apply person-oriented methodology for survivor-centered investigation of differences in help-seeking and protective actions according to subgroup membership within this cohort. Though not differing demographically, the subgroups were found to differ significantly and meaningfully in their patterns of IPV help-seeking and protective actions. Thus, reliance on population-aggregate linear relationships between IPV exposure and safety efforts may risk overlooking important variation by vulnerability and asset profile, and knowledge of distinct clusters among functioning profiles may help with understanding of survivors' coping strategies.The authors outline service-need considerations across the subgroups and provide guidance for targeted outreach, locating IPV survivors and matching services to their needs.

Heterogeneity among violence-exposed women: applying person-oriented research methods

Variability of experience and outcomes among violence-exposed people pose considerable challenges toward developing effective prevention and treatment protocols. To address these needs, the authors present an approach to research and a class of methodologies referred to as person oriented. Person-oriented tools support assessment of meaningful patterns among people that distinguish one group from another, subgroups for whom different interventions are indicated. The authors review the conceptual base of person-oriented methods, outline their distinction from more familiar variable-oriented methods, present descriptions of selected methods as well as empirical applications of person-oriented methods germane to violence exposure, and conclude with discussion of implications for future research and translation between research and practice. The authors focus on violence against women as a population, drawing on stress and coping theory as a theoretical framework. However, person-oriented methods hold utility for investigating diversity among violence-exposed people's experiences and needs across populations and theoretical foundations.