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First published online May 19, 2021

Correlates of Social Reactions to Victims’ Disclosures of Sexual Assault and Intimate Partner Violence: A Systematic Review

Sarah E. Ullman https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9530-5389 [email protected]View all authors and affiliations
Volume 24, Issue 1
https://doi.org/10.1177/15248380211016013

Abstract

Sexual assault and intimate partner violence (IPV) are common experiences in women, but few studies have examined correlates of social reactions experienced by victims telling others about assault. This systematic review identified 30 studies through searches of research databases on correlates of social reactions to disclosure of sexual assault or IPV in samples of adult victims or disclosure recipients. Studies showed evidence of greater negative social reactions for Black and Hispanic victims, less educated, and bisexual victims. More extensive trauma histories in victims were related to receipt of greater negative social reactions, whereas assault characteristics (e.g., victim–offender relationship, alcohol use, perpetrator violence during assault) were sometimes associated with negative reactions. In terms of postassault factors, more psychological symptoms, self-blame, avoidance coping, less perceived control, and less posttraumatic growth were related to more negative social reactions. Disclosure characteristics, telling informal sources, and telling more sources were related to more positive reactions, whereas telling both formal and informal sources was related to negative reactions. Demographic, attitudinal, and relational factors were related to disclosure recipients’ intended social reactions. Future research needs to examine how various factors relate to social reactions in the context of theory, and clinical treatment and interventions should use this information to identify and intervene with victims to reduce negative social reactions and their psychological impacts and to increase positive social reactions particularly from informal support sources.

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Biographies

Sarah E. Ullman, PhD, is a professor of Criminology, Law, and Justice at University of Illinois at Chicago and a social psychologist whose research concerns the impact of sexual assault and traumatic life events on women’s health and substance abuse outcomes and rape avoidance/prevention. She conducts research on risk and protective factors in sexual assault survivors related to the risk of revictimization, mental health, substance abuse, and post-traumatic growth outcomes and correlates and consequences of social reactions to sexual assault disclosure.

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Published In

Volume 24, Issue 1
Pages: 29 - 43
Article first published online: May 19, 2021
Issue published: January 2023

Keywords

  1. sexual assault
  2. support seeking
  3. adult victims
  4. reporting/disclosure

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PubMed: 34008446

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Sarah E. Ullman
Department of Criminology, Law & Justice, University of Illinois at Chicago, IL, USA
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9530-5389
[email protected]
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Notes

Sarah E. Ullman, Department of Criminology, Law & Justice (m/c 141), University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607, USA. Email: [email protected]

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