Project Summary
Problem drinking is rising among women and particularly prevalent in women with rape histories. PTSD is
commonly associated with rape and often leads to problem drinking, particularly in women with sexual
victimization histories. Social networks influence women’s risk for both problem drinking and rape recovery,
with low social support being one of the biggest risk factors for PTSD. Thus, interventions are needed to
improve support networks. Negative social reactions such as victim blame are commonly experienced by rape
victims following disclosure and have negative mental and physical health effects. Support interventions
typically focus on improving positive support, but not on reducing negative social reactions, and have yet to
be developed for rape victims specifically. Thus, interventions are needed that focus on reducing negative
social reactions that victims receive from their support networks. Even so, few studies of support dyads (i.e., a
victim and a social network member) exist in the rape literature, so little is known about the dynamics of
victims’ disclosures to support providers. The proposed study will fill this gap by examining support
processes from both victims’ and support providers’ perspectives in relation to adjustment of both parties. In
addition, for the first time, it will use quantitative and qualitative dyadic data to: a) test a theoretical
model of support- adjustment relations, and b) examine alcohol-specific social reactions in response to
disclosure of alcohol-related assaults. A sample of victim-informal supporter (family, friend, or intimate
partner) dyads will be recruited from the community to complete surveys and a subset of follow-up interviews.
Women 18 or older, with past-year attempted or completed rape, who disclosed the assault, will be recruited.
Victims will provide contact information for informal network members, who will then be contacted by the
researcher to complete surveys about hearing about and responding to the sexual assault disclosure. A subset
of victim-provider matched pairs will participate in follow-up interviews regarding alcohol/drug-related assaults.
The proposed study has three aims. Aim 1: Social support from informal support providers following rape
disclosures will be studied, including its effects on victims’ adjustment (PTSD, depression, problem
drinking/drug use). Aim 2: Perceptions of the provider’s assault-specific social support and dyad
relationship quality from both victims and informal network members will be compared. Aim 3: Victims of
alcohol-related rapes will be studied to determine if they are unique in terms of how support processes relate
to their adjustment. Knowledge garnered from this study will lay the groundwork for development of a
support intervention for rape victims and their informal support providers. Ultimately, such interventions
have the potential to improve assault-specific social support (i.e., support received by victims disclosing
rapes ) by (a) reducing related negative adjustment in victims; (b) reducing secondary traumatic stress for
support providers; and (c) improving relationships between victims and informal support network members.