Victims and Survivors of Sexual Assault: The Role of Identity in Distress and Well-being

• In Event: 145 - Regular Session. Mental Health: Social Antecedents

Abstract

Sexual assault has a number of negative health-related consequences, ranging from physical injury, to depression and anxiety, to substance use and abuse. Studies of rape acknowledgment partially explain variation in these important assault outcomes, finding that women who acknowledge as “victims of rape” experience heightened levels of stigma and psychological distress—though results are mixed. Also, these studies do not explore the effects of identification as a “survivor,” a more commonly used term, on mental health. The current study utilizes identity theory to demonstrate the relationship between “victim” and “survivor” identities on assault-specific distress and general well-being. The victim identity is linked to post-traumatic stress, stigma, depression, and lower self-esteem, consistent with previous studies and theoretically-driven hypotheses. However, findings related to the survivor identity complicate cultural understandings of this identity and identity theory itself. Most notably, the salience of the survivor identity is linked to increased depression and decreased self-esteem, which is contrary to predictions and suggests that impaired well-being among victim/survivors may be driven by conflicts between public and private selves or identity disruption.

Author

• Kaitlin M. Boyle, Virginia Tech