Labeling of sexual assault and its relationship with sexual functioning: the mediating role of coping

Sexual victimization experience, acknowledgment labeling and rape empathy among college men and women

OBJECTIVE

Sexual victimization experience is a health concern among college students and rape empathy may help address it. Empathy with a rape victim was examined based on sexual victimization experience, acknowledgment (i.e., labeling experience "sexual assault," "rape"), and gender.

METHOD

Undergraduates (n = 531) completed measures of sexual victimization experience and rape empathy.

RESULTS

Acknowledged victims reported greater empathy than unacknowledged victims and nonvictims, but the latter two groups did not differ. Unacknowledged female victims reported greater empathy than unacknowledged male victims, but no gender difference emerged for acknowledged victims or nonvictims. Victimized men were less likely than victimized women to acknowledge their experience.

CONCLUSIONS

The association found between acknowledgment and empathy may inform efforts to address sexual victimization (e.g., prevention, victim support), and men should not be overlooked. Unacknowledged victims and greater acknowledgment rates among women than men may have contributed to previously reported gender differences in rape empathy.

Predictors of college women's disclosure of sexual assault prior to and during college

Talking to others about experiences of sexual assault can facilitate recovery. The present study explored associations between assault characteristics, attitudes, coping strategies, social support, and the college women's disclosure of adolescent sexual victimization (N = 134), as well as sexual victimization over a 7-month interim during college (N = 67). A sample of first-year college women completed pencil and paper assessments of sexual victimization, assault characteristics, tendency to disclose, self-concealment, attributions of blame, likelihood to report sexual victimization, social support., and coping strategies. A series of bivariate and multivariate analyses examined predictors of sexual assault disclosure. Whereas acknowledgment of the sexual assault as victimization predicted disclosure of adolescent sexual assault, less acquaintance with the perpetrator and strong social attachments predicted disclosure of sexual assault occurring during women's first year of college. Data suggest that the factors that influence disclosure of sexual assault may vary across periods of adolescent and young adult development.

Childhood Trauma and College Sexual Harassment: Coping and Resilience as Moderators

Childhood trauma has been identified as a risk factor for future revictimization, especially in young adulthood. There is an established link between childhood victimization and later sexual assault, but it is unclear if childhood trauma is associated with sexual harassment. Related research has examined coping and resilience as buffers, or moderators, against negative outcomes associated with childhood victimization and sexual assault, so the buffering effect of these variables will be explored for sexual harassment as well. In a sample of 583 young adults age 18-25, self-report measures of childhood trauma, sexual harassment, coping, and resilience, were collected via an online survey tool. Results of a path analysis suggest that, in general, childhood trauma places young adults at a risk for sexual harassment. Resiliency did not moderate the association between childhood trauma and sexual harassment in young adulthood, but coping did moderate this association. Specifically, when coping was high, trauma and sexual harassment were negatively related, but when coping was low to moderate, trauma and sexual harassment were positively related.

Women's Contexts and Circumstances of Posttraumatic Growth After Sexual Victimization: A Systematic Review

Sexual violence is a concerning public health and criminal justice problem. Even though extensive literature has linked sexual victimization to a multitude of mental and physical problems, some victim/survivors recover and are able to lead lives without notable negative impacts. Little is known about women who experienced posttraumatic growth following sexual victimization. This review brings together knowledge accumulated in the academic literature in the past decade. It was informed by the PRISMA-P guidelines. Databases were searched using a combination of keywords to locate original peer-reviewed research articles published between January 2010 and October 2020 focusing on posttraumatic growth following sexual victimization. The initial search identified 6,187 articles with 265 articles being read in full, identifying 41 articles that were included in the analysis. The results suggest that recovery from sexual victimization is possible with the healing process being idiosyncratic. Victim/survivors employed various strategies resulting in higher degrees of functioning, which were termed growth. Following a synthesis of themes that emerged from the thematic analysis, a higher order abstraction, using creative insight through reflexivity, discussions among the research team and consistent interpretation and re-interpretation of the identified themes as a second stage analysis, resulted in the identification of two superordinate topics "relationship to self" and "relationship to others." Findings indicated that women engaged in deliberate introspection to connect with themselves and utilized altruistic actions and activism in an attempt to prevent further sexual victimization Helping victim/survivors deal with the sexual violence facilitated growth as a collective. We concluded that helping others may be a therapeutic vehicle for PTG. Given research in this area remains in its infancy, further investigation is urgently needed.

Predicting College Women's Body-Esteem and Self-Esteem Based on Rape Experience, Recency, and Labeling

We examined body-esteem and self-esteem based on rape experience, rape labeling status (yes; no) and recency of rape (recently, within past year; earlier, between age 14 and the past year). Undergraduate women (n = 1,005) completed the Body-Esteem Scale, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and Sexual Experiences Survey. Women raped within the past year (recently) reported lower levels of both body-esteem and self-esteem than those raped over a year ago (earlier) and nonvictims, but women raped earlier did not differ from nonvictims. Rape labeling status was not significant. Findings identify lower body-esteem, in addition to lower self-esteem, as correlates of recent rape.

Identification of Nonconsensual Sexual Experiences and the Sexual Self-Schemas of Women: Implications for Sexual Functioning

Many individuals who experience nonconsensual sexual experiences (NSEs) do not identify their experiences with common sexual violence labels (e.g., sexual assault, rape, or abuse), and cognitive mechanisms of identification have yet to be examined. Identification may involve the integration of the experience into sexual self-schemas, which would have implications for sexual well-being. Women were recruited through Amazon's Mechanical Turk (N = 818) to take part in an anonymous online study of sexual experiences. The current study assessed the relationship between textually derived sexual self-schemas and sexual function (measured by the Female Sexual Function Index) in women (M = 35.37 years, SD = 11.27) with NSEs who both did (identifiers, n = 305) and did not (non-identifiers, n = 176) identify with common sexual violence labels, in comparison with those with no NSEs (n = 337). Text analyses revealed nine sexual self-schema themes in participants' essays: Virginity, Openness, Erotophilia, NSEs, Romantic, Sexual Activity, Warmth, Relationships, and Reflection. Analyses demonstrated that identifiers reported significantly poorer sexual functioning and less use of both the Warmth and Openness themes than those with no NSEs. Identifiers also invoked the NSE theme more frequently than both those with no NSE histories and non-identifiers. While greater prominence of the Warmth theme was predictive of greater sexual functioning for both non-identifiers and those with no NSEs, this was not true for identifiers. Instead, the NSE theme was significantly predictive of lower sexual functioning in identifiers. The results suggest that NSE identification may result in greater internalization of the NSE into one's sexual self-schema and, in turn, predict decrements in sexual functioning. The results are discussed in relation to identification interpretation and clinical intervention.