Stigma-Threat Motivated Nondisclosure of Sexual Assault and Sexual Revictimization

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to assess sexual assault survivors' nondisclosure motivations, including stigma threat, and their impact on revictimization risk. The authors describe data from a prospective study of 144 female, undergraduate sexual assault survivors, most of whom had been assaulted by acquaintances and only one of whom had officially reported her experience to police. As part of a large-scale investigation, participants described during individual interviews why they had not reported their experiences to law enforcement authorities. Open-ended responses were coded into five reliable content themes, one of which was stigma-motivated nondisclosure, or stigma threat. Results indicated that stigma threat prospectively predicted sexual revictimization during a 4.2-month follow-up period. Moreover, results of mediation analyses suggested that decreased posttraumatic growth during the course of the study accounted for the relationship between stigma threat and survivors' revictimizations. Discussion focuses on advances to the sexual revictimization research (e.g., the importance of assessing subjective/perceptual in addition to objective/factual characteristics of assaults and their social repercussions) and to posttraumatic growth research, with data highlighting for the first time an important health correlate (i.e., sexual revictimization) of sexual assault survivors' perceived (lack of) posttraumatic growth. In addition, recommendations are provided for primary (social-level) prevention as well as for secondary prevention, that is, formal and informal support provided to sexual assault survivors.