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Constructed 25-item Attitudes toward Rape Victims Scale (ARVS) which emphasized victim blame, credibility, deservingness, denigration, and trivialization. Results from administration of ARVS to university students, social workers, psychologists, physicians, lawyers, and police officers in Singapore, and to university students in the United States confirmed ARVS's reliability, validity, and cross-cultural suitability. (Author/NB)

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This research explores the emotional reactions of a rarely studied group of women who work closely with survivors of sexual violence: rape victim advocates. Women who assist rape victims in obtaining medical, criminal justice, and mental health services were interviewed about their experiences, and qualitative analysis was used to delineate the situational context of the advocates' emotional reactions. Results indicate that respondents experienced anger and fear in response to both individual (e.g., a perpetrator's menacing glare) and environmental (e.g., community denial of a problem) cues. Additionally, some experienced rape victim advocates perceived their emotional reactions to be an important part of their work with rape victims. These findings suggest that intense emotional reactions, previously conceptualized within a vicarious trauma framework, may at times serve as resources for women working with rape survivors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has found that approximately half of women who report an experience that meets the legal definition of rape do not label it rape. It has been assumed that labeling the experience as rape is necessary and beneficial for recovery; however, conflicting findings have been reported. In the present study, a longitudinal design was utilized to examine the long-term consequences of being a rape victim and of labeling the experience as rape. Assessments were obtained at two time points approximately 10 months apart from females in their first year of college. Participants were classified as nonvictims, victims who labeled the experience as rape, or victims who did not label the experience as rape. Results showed that there were negative effects of being raped, such as more psychological distress and increased alcohol use; however, few differences were found at either assessment based on rape victims' labeling of the experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the usefulness of concept mapping in feminist research. Uses of concept mapping; Characteristics of feminist social science as embodied by concept mapping; Formation of a group that would discuss a concept; Use of a six-step process; Use of concept mapping in examining how community resources for sexual-assault victims could be improved; Problems faced by rape victims in seeking community help.

Examines the belief of a rape victim in a just world. Attitudes of rape victims; Suggestion of longer prison sentences for rapists; Analysis of the just-world beliefs of jurors in rape trials.

Examines the psychological variables relevant to three models of rape victimization. Increase of the likelihood of sexual assault; Accounts on the personality differences between rape resistors and rape victims; Components of a rape-supportive belief system.

The coping strategies that a victim of a rape engages in can have a strong impact on the development and persistence of psychological symptoms. Research provides evidence that victims who rely heavily on avoidance strategies, such as suppression, are less likely to recover successfully than those who rely less heavily on these strategies. The present study utilized structural path analysis to identify predictors of avoidance coping following rape and examined factors in the assault itself (e.g., force, alcohol use), sequelae of the assault (e.g., self-blame, loss of self-worth), and social support as potential direct and indirect predictors of avoidance coping. From a sample of 1,253 university women, the responses of 216 women who endorsed an experience of rape were examined. Results suggested that sequelae of the assault such as feelings of self-blame and negative reactions received from others are potentially important predictors of avoidance coping. Implications of the results for future rape recovery research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study we examined rape survivors' postassault use of prescription drugs, including sedatives, tranquilizers, and antidepressants. In a community-based sample of 102 sexual assault survivors, 44% had used prescription drugs postrape. Consistent with prior research on alcohol as a postassault coping mechanism, the current study found evidence that some women were “self-medicating.” Fourteen percent of the women who had used prescription drugs postrape did so without a doctor's prescription and 50% obtained them through their physicians without disclosing the assault. Most of these women did not disclose the assault to their physicians because they feared how they would respond. For the remaining 36% of women using prescription drugs, there was evidence of the “medicalization” of rape. These victims disclosed the assaults to their doctors, who in many cases responded by giving them a prescription for medication, which made many of the survivors feel blamed and silenced. Implications for improving health care are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grounded in a culturally inclusive ecological model of sexual assault recovery framework, the influence of personal (e.g., prior victimization), rape context (e.g., degree of injury during last assault), and postrape response factors (e.g., general and cultural attributions, rape related coping) on self-esteem of Black and White college women, who were survivors of attempted and completed rape, were examined. As predicted, Black and White women identified similar general variables (e.g., general attributions) as important in the recovery process. Black women, however, identified a cultural factor (i.e., cultural attributions) as more important in influencing their reactions to the last rape compared to their White counterparts. Using path analysis, findings from this cross-sectional study indicated that severity of the last assault and prior victimization were related to lower self-esteem indirectly through avoidance coping strategies, and victim blame attributions for the latter. Results also suggested that the link between cultural attributions and self-esteem was explained through victim blame attributions, primarily for Black participants. The model accounted for 26% of variance in self-esteem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methodological analyses of sexual victimization research are still rare, despite the explosion of interest in this topic and widely varying rates across studies. In-depth analysis of the meaning of differences in rates is especially lacking. A series of five ethnically and geographically diverse focus groups were held to explore how wording in sexual victimization surveys affects the reporting of various types of negative sexual experiences. Participants provided rich formulations about sexual intercourse that suggest there is a wide range of coercion, from peer pressure to lose one's virginity to partner pressure to demonstrate one's commitment to stereotypical forced rape. Focus group participants asserted that many terms that are often used synonymously, such as unwanted, nonvoluntary, and forced, have distinct meanings. They also described how different social pressures on women and men, and differences in physical size lead to inevitable differences in perceptions of coerciveness. Although recent sexual victimization surveys have increased the specificity of descriptions of sexual acts, these findings suggest that it is equally important to be precise in communicating what is meant by coercion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stereotypes about Black sexuality fostered hypotheses that racial factors and racism influence rape victim blaming. Predominantly White and Asian college students (170 men, 162 women) completed the Modern Racism Scale and evaluated a rape vignette varying victim race, perpetrator race, and rape type. As predicted, racial factors determined victim blaming. Compared to intraracial rapes, interracial rapes were less uniformly judged as "definitely rape" and were judged as having more culpable and less credible victims, and less culpable perpetrators. For men, racism scores positively predicted victim blaming in all rapes. For women, racism scores moderated victim blaming in interracial acquaintance rapes. In our conclusions, we emphasize the durability of racial stereotypes about rape and their influence on discriminatory adjudication outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates the reactions of men and women to a woman who presumably had been raped by a stranger or an acquaintance. Differences between the reactions of male and female subjects to stranger and acquaintance rape and rape victims; Adjustment problems of encountered by acquaintance rape victims; Influence of subject gender on the perceptions of rape victims.

Looks at a study conducted using two social identity theories to explore how racial and feminist identity are related to rape myth acceptance in African American women. Identification of feminist theorectical models of rape and rape myths; Analysis of a black feminist model of rape myth acceptance; Information on black feminist perspectives are influenced by racism and sexism intersect.

Focuses on the implication of internal and external factors of meditational process and coping strategies for women who experienced rape. Relationship between the traumatic circumstances, mediators and outcome variables; Severity of abuse predicting women's negative and lasting attitudes toward sex and intimacy; Forms of sexual assault.

Focuses on the conceptual analysis of rape victimization. Prevalence of rape in women; Clinical treatment of rape; Problems in sexual functioning.

Analyzes the research on the victim-offender relationship consisting mainly of women who were raped by nonintimate and nonromantic acquaintances. Increase of the rates of rape; Nature of the relationship between victim and offender; Provision of sufficient power to detect potential relationships.

Along with the direct trauma of their experience, many rape victims also suffer secondary victimization due to the tendency of others to blame victims for their assault, particularly in cases of acquaintance rape. We explored the role of news media coverage in promoting victim blaming tendencies. In Study 1, a content analysis of articles reporting sexual assaults from two newspapers revealed a tendency for media to overreport stranger rapes and underreport acquaintance rapes, perpetuating the stranger rape as "real rape" prototype. More victim blaming language was also used in reports of acquaintance rape than stranger rape. Perceivers responded to these differences; a high victim blaming news article resulted in greater victim blaming compared to an article low in victim blame content (Study 2 and 3), and exposure to a high blaming article produced greater victim blaming in a subsequent unrelated case of rape and increased endorsement of rape myths (Study 3). These findings demonstrate the importance of the media in shaping public perception of rape victims, particularly in cases of acquaintance rape, and suggest that news media, legislators, and other visible communicators can change the culture of victimization through intentional efforts to delegitimize rape stereotypes in their reporting and dialogs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A sample of predominantly low-income, African American female veterans and reservists seeking health care in a Veterans' Administration medical clinic was screened for a history of sexual assault since age 18. Overall, 39% had been sexually assaulted in adulthood. Those who had been sexually victimized were asked to describe one assault incident in detail: 38% described an assault that occurred during military service and 62% described one that occurred before or after military service. This study also examined victims' postassault help-seeking experiences and the degree to which they encountered“secondary victimization” (i.e., victim-blaming behaviors and practices engaged in by legal and medical personnel, which exacerbates victims' trauma). Most victims who sought help from the legal or medical systems (military or civilian) reported that this contact made them feel guilty, depressed, anxious, distrustful of others, and reluctant to seek further help. Secondary victimization was significantly positively correlated with posttraumatic stress symptomatology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Risk perception was examined in relation to sexual victimization among 262 college women. Participants were presented with written vignettes that described hypothetical situations with a stranger and with an acquaintance. Participants' hypothetical decision to leave a potentially risky situation with an acquaintance predicted rape and revictimization during an 8-month follow-up period. Revictimized participants had significantly delayed responses compared to previously victimized respondents who were not revictimized. Multivariate models indicated that prior victimization and delayed risk response increased vulnerability for rape and other forms of sexual victimization. Results highlight the need to assess multiple aspects of risk perception, including threat identification and behavioral responses to hypothetical or real situations. Findings suggest that delayed response to danger cues might be one factor that increases vulnerability for revictimization by acquaintances.

Past research has indicated that nearly half of college-aged women who experience forced, nonconsensual sexual intercourse, do not label their experience as rape. We found evidence that these unacknowledged rape victims possess more violent, stranger rape scripts than do acknowledged rape victims, who are more likely to have an acquaintance rape script. The difference in rape scripts between acknowledged and unacknowledged rape victims was not due to different demographics or actual rape experience. However, unacknowledged victims did have a sexual history which involved less force than did acknowledged victims. Apparently, most unacknowledged victims do not define their rape experience as rape because they have a rape script of a violent, stranger, blitz rape which does not match their experience of being raped in a less forceful manner by someone with whom they were acquainted. The extent to which their less forceful sexual histories is related to their more violent rape scripts remains to be investigated.

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, 102 female rape survivors were interviewed regarding their first post-assault disclosure. Qualitative analysis revealed that nearly 75% of first disclosures were to informal support providers and over one third of the disclosures were not initiated by the survivors themselves. Over half of the survivors received positive reactions and less than one third felt the disclosure had a detrimental impact on their recovery. Loglinear analysis suggested that survivors who actively sought help from informal support providers were more likely to receive positive than negative reactions. In contrast, survivors who actively sought help from formal support providers were more likely to receive negative than positive reactions. When disclosure to formal support providers was initiated by the formal support providers themselves, however, survivors received exclusively positive reactions. Implications for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of studies have identified which survivors of sexual assault are more likely to develop symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Most correlates that have been identified have been at the individual level. Insufficient attention has been given to whether survivors' social interactions impact their individual responses to assault and subsequent levels of psychological symptomatology. In this study, a large, diverse sample of community-residing women ( N= 636) was surveyed. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the relationships between assault severity, global support, negative social reactions, avoidance coping, self-blame, traumatic life experiences, and PTSD symptoms. The results suggest that negative social reactions and avoidance coping are the strongest correlates of PTSD symptoms and that the association typically observed between victim self-blame and PTSD symptoms may be partially due to the effect of negative social reactions from others. These reactions may contribute to both self-blame and PTSD. Implications for future research and clinical practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The constructive replication of a prespecified, cognitively mediated model of rape's impact on psychosocial health is reported using longitudinal data (see, for a summary of model development). Rape survivors (n= 59) were assessed four times, 3 to 24 months postrape. Structural equations modeling of baseline data (intercepts) and rate of change over time (slopes) revealed that all large effects replicated, smaller effects did not. The model's central features were confirmed and showed that Psychological Problem History exacerbated Characterological Self-Blame, leading to more Maladaptive Beliefs, which determined initial Psychosocial Distress and its rate of decline. The major contributions of the study include: (a) placement in a research program designed to balance the strengths/limitations of cross-sectional and longitudinal data; (b) analysis of prerape characteristics, cognitive mediators, and multiple psychosocial distress variables in a system; and (c) a strategy for structural equations modeling in small samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effects of an acquaintance rape victim's and her assailant's alcohol consumption on judgments of their behavior and traits were examined in a 2 x 2 x 2 between-subjects factorial experiment. Sixty-eight women and 64 men, 21 or older, read one of four stories in which only the victim, only the assailant, both victim and assailant, or neither victim nor assailant consumed alcohol. One individual difference trait, rape attitudes, was also measured. The interaction of victim and assailant drinking diminished the view that a rape had occurred and that the victim responded negatively, whereas it enhanced judgments of the assailant's likability and sexuality. The portrayal of only the victim drinking resulted in a more negative view of the assailant's behavior and traits. Evaluations of the victim depended on the assailant's drinking behavior rather than on her own. Implications for treatment of rape victims and establishing assailant accountability are discussed.

Examines the effect of physical attractiveness on people's judgments toward the responsibility of a victim in an ambiguous rape case. Tendency of people to be biased against an attractive victim; Advantage of an unattractive defendant over an attractive defendant in terms of credibility in court; Role of common stereotypes on people's judgment.

Child sexual abuse (CSA) has consistently been associated with the use of avoidant coping; these coping methods have been associated with increased trauma symptoms, which have, in turn, been linked to increased risk for adult sexual revictimization. Given these previous findings, the purpose of the current study was to test a model that conceptualized the relationships among these variables. Specifically, CSA severity was conceptualized as leading to the use of avoidant coping, which was proposed to lead to maintenance of trauma symptoms, which would, in turn, impact severity of revictimization indirectly. This comprehensive model was tested in a cross-sectional study of a large, geographically diverse sample of college women. Participants were 99 female undergraduates classified as having experienced CSA who completed measures of abuse history, coping style, current levels of trauma symptoms, and adult sexual revictimization. Multivariate path analysis indicated that the data fit the hypothesized model for verbally coercive, but not physically aggressive, revictimization. Specifically, increased CSA severity was associated with the use of avoidant coping, which, in turn, predicted greater levels of trauma symptomatology and severity of sexual coercion in adulthood. Although cross-sectional in nature, findings from this study suggest that coping strategies and trauma symptoms may represent modifiable factors that place women at increased risk for verbally coercive sexual revictimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary purpose of this study was to assess the effects on counselors of working with sexual violence survivors. Members of a women psychologists' organization and a group of sexual violence counselors completed questionnaires regarding the extent of their work with survivors and their psychological functioning. Counselors who had a higher percentage of survivors in their caseload reported more disrupted beliefs, (particularly about the goodness of other people), more symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, and more self-reported vicarious trauma. Symptomatology was not related to counselors' own history of victimization. Qualitative data regarding difficult and enjoyable aspects of working with survivors also were gathered, along with data on the strategies used by counselors to cope with work-related stress. Implications for counselor training are discussed.

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.

Internal and external factors are examined as mediational processes and/or coping strategies that link four aspects of women's rape experiences to the initial and lasting effects on their post-rape adjustment, attitude toward sex and intimacy, and lifestyle changes to prevent future assaults. Data are from a multiethnic community sample of 55 women who had been victims of rape or attempted rape. A measured or observed variaable simultaneous path analysis model was used to test the relationships among the traumatic circumstances, mediators, and outcome variables. More self-blame, high involvement of police or other agencies, a greater number of repeated rapes per incident, and severity of abuse predicted women's negative initial and lasting attitudes toward sex and intimacy. The implications of these findings are discussed as they relate to barriers in disclosing attempted and completed incidents of rape.

Examines several effective avoidance strategies for acquaintance rape. Predictors of rape avoidance; Methods on identifying and recruiting rape avoidance victims; Distinction between rape and attempted rape.

Many rape victims are unacknowledged rape victims—they report an experience meeting researchers’ operational definitions of rape but do not label their experience as rape. The purpose of this study was to investigate women’s decisions about whether to label their experiences as rape. Participants were 77 college women (predominantly White; mean age = 19.23) who had experienced rape according to the study’s operational definition. The researchers used open-ended questionnaires and interviews to explore participants’ explanations for labeling or not labeling their experience as rape. Explanations were related to match—whether the incident matched their rape script (e.g., whether the man fit their image of a rapist; whether they fought back)—and to motivation—the perceived consequences of using the label (e.g., discomfort with thinking of the perpetrator as a rapist; feeling less self-blame vs. feeling less control or more traumatized). Over time, participants were more likely to label their experience as rape. Results suggested that individuals differ in the meanings that they ascribe to the label rape. For some individuals, labeling their experience as rape may be adaptive; for others, it may be unhelpful or even harmful. Researchers, clinicians, and advocates should use caution in imposing their own preferred labels on other women’s experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The majority of college women who experience rape do not conceptualize their experience as a victimization, that is, they are unacknowledged victims. There is some initial evidence that unacknowledged victims are at elevated re-victimization risk relative to acknowledged victims. In the current study, we sought to identify mediators of the association between acknowledgment of rape and re-victimization in a sample of 319 college rape victims; 187 (58.6%) participants completed a 2-month follow-up study. We examined regular drinking, number of sexual partners, and continuing a relationship with the assailant as potential mediators of the relation between acknowledgment and re-victimization. At follow-up, unacknowledged victims reported higher rates of new attempted (16.2%) and completed rape (11.9%), relative to acknowledged victims (attempted: 7.9%; completed: 3.0%). Number of sexual partners mediated the relation between acknowledgment and attempted rape. Both number of partners and regular drinking mediated the relation between acknowledgment and completed rape. Thus, not acknowledging rape may be associated with re-victimization in part because unacknowledged victims may be more likely to engage in behaviors that increase vulnerability. We believe there is a need for longitudinal, theoretically grounded research examining risky behaviors, victimization, and acknowledgment status over time to delineate the relations among these variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents corrections for errors in previous issues of the periodical "Psychology of Women Quarterly." One of the corrections is related to an article titled "Cognitive Mediation of Rape's Mental Health Impact: Constructive Replication of a Cross Sectional Model in Longitudinal Data." A book reviewed by Saba Rasheed Ali was published with the title "Biracial Women in Therapy: Between the Rock and the Hard Place of Race." The correct title of this book is "Biracial Women in Therapy: Between the Rock of Gender and the Hard Place of Race."

Powerful stereotypes exist about how female rape victims should act. For example, victims are expected to physically resist their attacker and immediately report their assault. In reality, some victims are too shocked to physically resist or too traumatized to immediately go to police. Nevertheless, counterstereotypic-victim behavior can undermine fair prosecution outcomes, especially for acquaintance-rape victims. In the current research, we examined the influence of perceivers’ cultural similarity to the perpetrator, and the stereotypicality of rape-victim behaviour, on victim and perpetrator blame, punishment severity, and guilt likelihood. We varied an acquaintance-rape scenario, to present stereotypical/counterstereotypical rape-victim behaviour, and the cultural similarity/dissimilarity of perpetrators to participants, who were White-Australian women and men, aged between 18 and 74 (N = 237). In the victim-stereotypic condition, reactions did not vary as a function of perpetrator-cultural similarity. However, in the counterstereotypic-victim condition, culturally similar (compared to culturally dissimilar) perpetrators were considered less guilty and less deserving of punishment. Moderated mediation indicated that the greater leniency shown towards culturally similar perpetrators was explained by increases in victim blame and decreases in perpetrator blame. To decrease bias when prosecuting rape perpetrators, we recommend challenging the selective use of counterstereotypic-victim behaviour to defend culturally similar perpetrators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research suggests that rape victims who do not disclose or report to the police give reasons including self-blame and fear of judgment; however, this research has not been conducted with incarcerated women. Female offenders are a unique population because they experience high rates of sexual assault prior to incarceration. This study recruited 74 women at a U.S. state prison, who experienced sexual assault prior to incarceration to explore the associations among rape myth acceptance (RMA), disclosure, and reporting of sexual assaults to the authorities. Participants were asked open-ended questions regarding why they chose to disclose their sexual assaults to others, to report to the police, or to remain silent. Narratives were audiotaped, transcribed, and coded for thematic content. Women’s narratives, particularly those of women who indicated that they remained silent, frequently included a variety of rape myths that involved blaming themselves for the rape, fearing not being believed, believing that familiar perpetrators cannot be rapists, and questioning whether the event was really a rape. Women often described such rape myth beliefs with greater frequency than discussing situational characteristics of the rape as reasons for nonreporting. Implications for these findings in clinical, research, and social justice contexts are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]