Citation

Sinko L, Ploutz-Snyder R, Kramer MM, Conley T, Arnault DS. Violence Vict. 2022; 37(3): 396-421.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Springer Publishing)

DOI

10.1891/VV-D-20-00082

PMID

35654488

Abstract

There is little data on what influences posttraumatic growth for women who experienced non-consensual sexual contact (NCSC) as an undergraduate college student. The purpose of this study is to garner a better understanding of posttraumatic growth among women-identifying survivors of undergraduate NCSC by addressing the following aims: 1) evaluate the mediating role of NCSC-related shame on the relationship between perceived peer rape myth acceptance and posttraumatic growth (n = 174); and 2) evaluate the shared and independent variance contributions of mental health symptoms and trauma history clusters on posttraumatic growth (n = 151).NCSC-related shame did not mediate the relationship between perceived peer rape myth acceptance and posttraumatic growth. Mental health symptoms and trauma history significantly contributed to 35.27% of posttraumatic growth variance, with the trauma history cluster significantly influencing posttraumatic growth scores beyond mental health symptoms. Based on these findings, it is important that clinicians assess for a history of trauma and the impact of that trauma in addition to mental health symptoms when trying to understand posttraumatic growth after campus sexual violence.

Language: en

Keywords

sexual violence; campus sexual assault; trauma history; trauma-related shame