Sexual Assault Disclosures and Meaning Making in the Lives of Significant Others

• In Event: 3481 - Section on Social Psychology Refereed Roundtables (cosponsored with Section on Sociology of Emotions)
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 02. Sociology of Sympathy

Abstract

Sexual assault disclosures are associated with a range of outcomes impacting victim's health and recovery. However, relatively few studies have explored how individuals receiving disclosures from victims make sense of them. To extend past research that focused on reactions from significant others, this study aims to identify how those disclosed to are impacted and the processes by which some disclosures are interpreted as meaningful experiences while others are not. Analyzing data from in-depth interviews with friends, family members and partners of sexual assault victims, I show that disclosures may result in a number of turning points within their personal lives and relationships following a disclosure. Whether a disclosure results in turning points is in part governed by sociocultural expectations and norms around legitimate victimhood, sympathy claims and moral identity.

Author

• Wayne Clifford Rivera-Cuadrado, Florida State University