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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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many women who disclose a rape encounter victim-blaming responses, which are associated with negative outcomes. The present study examined rape-related shame and experiential avoidance as mediators of the relation between victim-blaming responses to rape disclosure and depression among 103 rape survivors drawn from a community sample. Results revealed that victim-blaming responses were positively associated with depressive symptoms through rape-related shame and experiential avoidance, and shame was indirectly related to depression via avoidance. Findings suggest clinical interventions should focus on rape-related shame and experiential avoidance in targeting depression among rape survivors, and future research should continue to examine how victim-blaming responses to rape disclosure may be related to these factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]