Coping Appraisals and Adjustment to Nonstranger Sexual Assault

Abstract

A sample of 299 female victims of nonstranger sexual assault was used to examine the relationship between appraisals of blame, coping strategies, and current symptomatology. Subjects completed a revised version of the Sexual Experiences Survey, the Coping Strategies Scales, the Symptom Checklist 90-Revised, and an attributional questionnaire designed by Meyer and Taylor (1986) to assess attributions of blame. Participants reporting clinically significant levels of current symptomatology were compared to those reporting nonsignificant levels of symptoms. Symptomatic victims were more likely to engage in characterological and behavioral self-blame. They also made greater use of active coping strategies involving emotional expressiveness, social support seeking, cognitive restructuring, and coping behaviors. Victims of rape were somewhat more likely to blame themselves than were victims of noncoital sexual assaults. Overall, the findings suggest the importance of examining cognitive appraisals and coping strategies in research and intervention with sexual assault victims.