Factors related to the psychological impacts of rape on the victim.

Abstract

One hundred seventy-nine adult rape victims completed a questionnaire that assessed (a) whether they reported the rape to a public agency, (b) victim vulnerability to claims of responsibility, (c) presence of understanding others, and (d) severity of the assault. The purpose of the study was to determine the extent to which these variables were related to adverse psychological impacts. The impacts assessed by the questionnaire included psychosomatic symptoms, decreased sexual frequency and satisfaction, and reclusiveness. With the exception of reporting versus nonreporting, each of the predictor variables was significantly related to a negative psychological impact. To date almost all of the research on psychological impacts of rape on the victim has focused on identifying the nature and duration of the impacts. Thus, researchers have identified impacts on self-esteem (Burgess & Holmstrom, 1974), feelings of fear and vulnerability (Kilpatrick, Veronen, & Resick,