The Psychological Consequences of Sexual Trauma

VAWnet is a project of the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence. “Women’s responses to childhood and adulthood sexual violence are complex and highly individualized. Some survivors experience severe and chronic psychological symptoms, whereas others experience little or no distress. The wide range of consequences may be attributed to assault characteristics, environmental conditions, survivor attributes, and availability of social support and resources. The use of different methodologies may also contribute to mixed findings across studies.” The psychological consequences of sexual trauma among survivors have been widely studied, but research investigations continue, in part, because rates of violence against girls and women remain high. The National Violence Against Women Survey found that 18% of women reported experiencing a completed or attempted rape during their lifetime (Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000). More than half (54%) of the rape survivors that responded to the survey were younger than age 18 when they experienced their first attempted or completed rape. Ongoing research attention to mental health outcomes is also driven by evidence that survivors’ responses are largely complex and unique to each individual (Briere & Jordan, 2004). Some individuals experience severe symptoms or longterm distress, whereas others do not (e.g., Kendall-Tackett, Williams, & Finkelhor, 1993). The diversity in outcomes may be attributed to characteristics of the violent acts, environmental conditions, survivor attributes, and availability of social support and resources. Another contributing factor is the use of different methodologies across research investigations. Although some individuals may be resilient to the negative effects of sexual trauma, it does not minimize the observation that for other women sexual victimization is the most devastating event they will experience.