NCJ Number
227535
Journal
Trauma, Violence, & Abuse Volume: 10 Issue: 3 Dated: July 2009 Pages: 225-246
Date Published
July 2009
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This study reviews and analyzes research on the psychological impact of adult sexual assault, using an ecological theoretical perspective in analyzing how factors at multiple levels contribute to post-assault adverse effects.
Abstract
This research review indicates that the mental health effects of sexual assault stem from multiple factors, not only victim characteristics. Aspects of the assault itself, postassault disclosures and help-seeking, and sociocultural norms can all have a degree of impact on how the trauma affects women's psychological well-being. The review also shows that women's victimization is cumulative, and the response from the woman's social world is cumulative, with both domains influencing how any one incident of sexual violence will impact women's mental health. Self-blame has been examined from both the individual and environmental levels. This review conceptualizes it as a meta-construct that develops from and is shaped by multiple levels in the ecological system. A critical next step in the development of an ecological model of rape recovery is to examine interactions across various levels of the social ecology; for example, what individual or assault characteristics, in conjunction with various types of coping strategies are linked to more positive or negative psychological outcomes. This must be followed by an examination of how individual-level features interact with various postassault help-seeking experiences. A key advantage of an ecological model of mental health impact is that it can suggest multiple strategies for intervention. Although individual and assault characteristics are difficult, if not impossible, to modify in their own right, it is possible to address myths and stereotypes about sexual assault and its victims, which could have positive effects on victims' recoveries. 2 figures, 1 table, and 79 references