Trauma History as a Significant Predictor of Posttraumatic Growth Beyond Mental Health Symptoms in Women-Identifying Survivors of Undergraduate Non-Consensual Sexual Experiences

Abstract

There is little data on what influences posttraumatic growth for women who experienced non-consensual sexual contact (NCSC) as an undergraduate college student. The purpose of this study is to garner a better understanding of posttraumatic growth among women-identifying survivors of undergraduate NCSC by addressing the following aims: 1) evaluate the mediating role of NCSC-related shame on the relationship between perceived peer rape myth acceptance and posttraumatic growth (n = 174); and 2) evaluate the shared and independent variance contributions of mental health symptoms and trauma history clusters on posttraumatic growth (n = 151).NCSC-related shame did not mediate the relationship between perceived peer rape myth acceptance and posttraumatic growth. Mental health symptoms and trauma history significantly contributed to 35.27% of posttraumatic growth variance, with the trauma history cluster significantly influencing posttraumatic growth scores beyond mental health symptoms. Based on these findings, it is important that clinicians assess for a history of trauma and the impact of that trauma in addition to mental health symptoms when trying to understand posttraumatic growth after campus sexual violence.