Unsupported or Turned Against

Mark Relyea · Sarah E. Ullman

140 citations0/0 files storedPsychology of Women Quarterly

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Sexual Assault and Victimization Studies Intimate Partner and Family Violence Child Abuse and Trauma

Abstract

Social reactions to disclosures of sexual assault have significant effects on women's post-assault outcomes (see Ullman, 2010, for a review). The Social Reactions Questionnaire (SRQ; Ullman, 2000) measures these reactions (as reported by survivors) and aggregates them into positive and negative scales. However, studies indicate that only some "negative" reactions have a negative valence for survivors whereas others produce a mixed (positive and negative) valence. The current study compares a one-primary-factor model of "negative reactions" to a model with two primary factors that we have labeled "turning against" and "unsupportive acknowledgement." Results showed that although one primary factor was plausible, two primary factors provided a better fit to the data. To assess the discriminant validity of the two factors, we performed regressions predicting social support, psychological adjustment, and coping behaviors. Analyses supported the hypotheses that reactions of being turned against were related to social withdrawal, increased self-blame, and decreased sexual assertiveness whereas reactions of unsupportive acknowledgment were related to both adaptive and maladaptive coping. Against predictions, depression and PTSD were more related to receiving unsupportive acknowledgment than to receiving turning against reactions. Implications for interventions and research are discussed. Importantly, almost all women (94%) in our sample received reactions that acknowledged that an assault occurred but failed to provide support, and this lack of support was associated with worse coping than even more hostile reactions such as being blamed or stigmatized. Therefore, there seems a great need for effective programs to train community members to respond to survivors with the kind of emotional and tangible support that promotes better outcomes.

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2021Correlates of Social Reactions to Victims’ Disclosures of Sexual Assault and Intimate Partner Violence: A Systematic Review 2017Victim voice in reenvisioning responses to sexual and physical violence nationally and internationally.2014Correlates of posttraumatic growth in adult sexual assault victims.2013Social Reactions to Sexual Assault Disclosure and Problem Drinking 2017Social Reactions to Sexual Assault Disclosure: A Qualitative Study of Informal Support Dyads

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