Citation

Holland KJ, Cipriano AE, Huit TZ, Volk SA, Meyer CL, Waitr E, Wiener ER. Psychol. Violence 2021; 11(3): 276-285.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, American Psychological Association)

DOI

10.1037/vio0000377

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Sexual assault is pervasive on college campuses, but survivors rarely use formal supports. A frequent reason that survivors do not use supports is the belief that the assault was not "serious enough." Our convergent parallel mixed method study examined the causes and consequences of minimization as a service barrier. We used qualitative interviews to examine the manifestation and impact of minimization in survivors' lives. We used quantitative surveys to examine whether minimization differed across four formal supports (Campus Police, Title IX Office, Counseling Center, Victim Advocate) and survivor characteristics (assault type, assault acknowledgment, race/ethnicity, sexuality), and the associations between minimization and mental health outcomes.

METHOD: We collected survey data from 93 survivors and 40 semi-structured interviews.

RESULTS: Our qualitative thematic analysis suggested that minimization does not occur in a vacuum (e.g., minimization of sexual assault by society, peer groups, and resources fosters survivors' own minimization). There were few significant differences in minimization across survivor characteristics or type of formal support, but there was a trend that minimization was somewhat lower among survivors who experienced completed rape (vs. other forms) and labeled the assault (vs. unacknowledged survivors). Minimization occurred even when survivors experienced adverse mental health outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS: Findings illustrated connections between social and institutional discourse around sexual assault (e.g., what is seen as "severe") and minimization. Survivors' endorsement of minimization as a reason they did not use formal supports does not reflect the consequences of the assault on survivors' wellbeing. Interventions to reduce service barriers should address minimization. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)

Language: en