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The purpose of the study was to assess sexual assault survivors' nondisclosure motivations, including stigma threat, and their impact on revictimization risk. The authors describe data from a prospective study of 144 female, undergraduate sexual assault survivors, most of whom had been assaulted by acquaintances and only one of whom had officially reported her experience to police. As part of a large-scale investigation, participants described during individual interviews why they had not reported their experiences to law enforcement authorities. Open-ended responses were coded into five reliable content themes, one of which was stigma-motivated nondisclosure, or stigma threat. Results indicated that stigma threat prospectively predicted sexual revictimization during a 4.2-month follow-up period. Moreover, results of mediation analyses suggested that decreased posttraumatic growth during the course of the study accounted for the relationship between stigma threat and survivors' revictimizations. Discussion focuses on advances to the sexual revictimization research (e.g., the importance of assessing subjective/perceptual in addition to objective/factual characteristics of assaults and their social repercussions) and to posttraumatic growth research, with data highlighting for the first time an important health correlate (i.e., sexual revictimization) of sexual assault survivors' perceived (lack of) posttraumatic growth. In addition, recommendations are provided for primary (social-level) prevention as well as for secondary prevention, that is, formal and informal support provided to sexual assault survivors.

Despite growing evidence suggesting that women engage in verbal and physical dating aggression, there is a dearth of research examining the predictors of women's engagement in these behaviors. Util...

Despite growing evidence suggesting that women engage in verbal and physical dating aggression, there is a dearth of research examining the predictors of women's engagement in these behaviors. Utilizing a college sample, the purpose of the current study was to explore women's perpetration of dating aggression within the context of victimization experiences. Women ( N = 374) completed surveys at the beginning and end of a 10-week academic quarter for course credit. Results from two retrospective regression analyses (all Time 1 variables) suggested that (1) paternal physical abuse and adolescent/adulthood verbal victimization predicted women's reports of verbal perpetration and (2) childhood sexual abuse, adolescent/adulthood verbal victimization, adolescent/adulthood physical victimization, and adolescent/adulthood verbal perpetration predicted women's reports of physical perpetration. Results from the two prospective, longitudinal regression analyses suggested that (1) verbal perpetration (as measured at Time 1) and verbal victimization over the interim predicted women's reports of verbal perpetration over the interim and (2) physical perpetration (as measured at Time 1), verbal perpetration over the interim, and physical victimization over the interim predicted women's reports of physical perpetration over the interim. These data suggest the importance of considering previous victimization experiences, mutual partner aggression, and a history of aggressive behaviors when examining women's use of aggression in dating relationships.

This study assessed college women's reactions to participating in sexual assault research. Women with sexual victimization histories reported more negative emotional reactions than nonvictimized women, but also greater benefits. Benefits to research participation outweighed costs for both women with and without sexual victimization histories. Women with and without sexual victimization histories evidenced significant improvements in several domains of mood over the course of the study, although victimized women improved less in several areas of mood. Participants' presurvey mood, assault severity, perpetrator aggression, self-blame, and perceived benefits to research participation all uniquely predicted participants' immediate negative emotional reactions to the research protocol. Descriptive analyses showed that only a small number of women reported negative emotional reactions to the research protocol.

The current study extends the development and evaluation of an existing and previously evaluated sexual assault risk reduction program with a self-defense component for college women ( N = 300). The program protocol was revised to address psychological barriers to responding assertively to risky dating situations, and a placebo-control group was utilized rather than a wait-list control group. Relative to the placebo-control group, the program was effective in increasing levels of self-protective behaviors, self-efficacy in resisting against potential attackers, and use of assertive sexual communication over a 4-month interim. Results also suggested reduction of incidence of rape among program participants over the 2-month follow-up. Implications for future development and evaluation of sexual assault risk reduction programming are presented.

The present study evaluated the efficacy of a sexual assault risk-reduction program that included a physical self-defense component for college women ( N = 500). Program group women significantly increased their protective behaviors over the 6-month follow-up period compared to the waiting-list control group. However, there were no significant differences between the two groups regarding rates of sexual victimization, assertive communication, or feelings of self-efficacy over the follow-up periods. Program group women who were victimized during the 3-month follow-up period evidenced less self-blame and greater offender blame for their assaults than control group women who were victimized following the program. Given that program women evidenced a greater awareness of sexual assault at the end of the study than control group women, the difficulty in addressing the impact of programming on rates of sexual victimization is discussed.

The present study investigated the effects of an acquaintance-rape prevention program on college students' attitudes toward rape and attitudes toward women, perceptions of acquaintance-rape scenarios, and rape empathy. Participants were led to believe that they were participating in two separate experiments in order to decrease demand characteristics. Results indicated that intervention group men and women became more empathic toward the victim than the control group, postintervention. Within the intervention group, men changed more in their attitudes toward women postintervention than did women. In addition to positive attitude change, results with the date-rape scenarios suggested that intervention-group men became more certain of their definitions of rape situations postintervention. Prior to the intervention, women were generally more certain of their definitions than were men, with intervention-group men approximating women's responses postintervention.

Research has indicated that sexual assault on college campuses is pervasive (Koss, Gidycz, & Wisniewski, 1987) and that a history of sexual victimization serves as a risk factor for future victimization (Gidycz, Coble, Latham, & Layman, 1993). The purpose of the present investigation was to extend the findings of Gidycz et al. (1993) in examining the link among sexual victimization experiences. College women were evaluated for child and adolescent sexual victimization, family adjustment, alcohol use, psychological adjustment, interpersonal functioning, and sexual behavior. Women were re-evaluated at 3, 5-6, and 9 months for adult victimization, psychological adjustment, interpersonal functioning, and sexual behavior. Loglinear analysis indicated that chances of being victimized in one time period increased with greater severity of victimization in the preceding time period. The path analysis assessing the mediating effects of these variables on victimization experiences was partially supported. Implications for future research and preventative efforts are discussed.

Several retrospective investigations of sexual assault have assessed the extent to which a sexual victimization experience early in life is a risk factor for a subsequent victimization experience. The present investigation was an attempt to extend previous work by conducting a prospective analysis of sexual assault in a sample of 857 college women to assess the pathways through which victimization experiences become linked. The design was such that both victims' and nonvictims' history of child and adolescent sexual victimization experiences were assessed prior to their most recent assault experience. Psychological functioning was also assessed utilizing standardized measures of depression and anxiety. After the assault experience, psychological functioning of victims was reassessed, and nonvictims were reassessed after a comparable period of time. Results of the path analysis indicated that a sexual victimization early in life is a risk factor for an adult victimization experience. Furthermore, the results revealed a link between psychological functioning and victimization experiences. The discussion emphasizes clinical implications of these findings and suggested avenues for future research.

The experiences of 44 group sexual assault victims (multiple offenders, one victim) were compared with 44 individual sexual assault victims (one offender, one victim). Sexual assaults included various degrees of sexual victimization ranging from verbal coercion to rape. Participants were located from among a national sample of 3,187 college women. Group sexual assaults, compared to individual sexual assaults, were in general more violent, involved greater resistance from the victims, and were more likely to be perpetrated by strangers or relatives and to involve an experience which met the legal definition of rape. Group sexual assaults were less likely to involve multiple episodes by the same offender(s). Group sexual assault victims were more likely than individual sexual assault victims to seek police and crisis services, to have contemplated suicide, and to have sought therapy postassault. Despite these differences, the two groups were similar in the amount of drinking and drug use during the assault and their scores on standardized measures of psychological symptoms.