Do Survivor and Supporter Perceptions of Supporter Helpfulness and Social Reactions Affect Survivor PTSD Symptoms?

Abstract

Prior studies indicate that sexual assault survivor posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is influenced by the social reactions (e.g., belief and blame) and perceived helpfulness (e.g., empathy, effectiveness) of informal support providers (SPs; i.e., family, friends, and partners). This study examined how SPs’ social reactions and perceived helpfulness impacted female sexual assault survivor PTSD among an ethnically diverse sample of 432 pairs of sexual assault survivors and their SPs. Path models were run separately for survivors and SPs. In the survivor model, SP’s perceived ineffectiveness was significantly related to more unsupportive acknowledgment and turning against reactions, and perceived empathy was significantly related to more unsupportive acknowledgment reactions. Both turning against and unsupportive acknowledgment reactions were related to greater survivor PTSD. In the SP model, greater SP confusion about how to help the survivor was related to marginally less SP unsupportive acknowledgment and more turning against social reactions made to survivors. Greater SP empathy toward the survivor was also related to significantly less SP unsupportive acknowledgment and turning against social reactions. Finally, SP turning against social reactions was related to marginally more survivor PTSD symptoms. Results suggest that longitudinal research is needed to explore further how helping perceptions relate to survivor PTSD from both survivor and SP perspectives to inform informal support network interventions. Interventions to increase empathy toward sexual assault survivors and teach SPs how to avoid responding with negative social reactions are needed.

Keywords

sexual assault informal support helping social reactions dyad PTSD

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Ahrens

C. A.

(2006). Being silenced: The impact of negative social reactions on the disclosure of rape. American Journal of Community Psychology, 38, 263–274. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-006-9069-9

Ahrens

C. E.

Aldana

(2012). The ties that bind: Understanding the impact of sexual assault disclosure on survivors’ relationships with friends, family, and partners. Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 13(2), 226–243. https://doi.org/10.1080/15299732.2012.642738

Ahrens

C. A.

Campbell

(2000). Assisting rape victims as they recover from rape: The impact on friends. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 15(9), 959–986. https://doi.org/10.1177/088626000015009004

Banyard

V. L.

Moynihan

M. M.

Walsh

W. A.

Cohn

E. S.

Ward

(2010). Friends of survivors: The community impact of unwanted sexual experiences. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 25(2), 242–256. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260509334407

Davis

R. C.

Brickman

(1996). Supportive and unsupportive aspects of the behavior of others toward victims of sexual and nonsexual assault. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 11, 250–262.

Dworkin

Allen

(2018). Correlates of disclosure cessation. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 24(1), 85–100. http://doi.org/10.1177/1077801216675743

Dworkin

Brill

Ullman

S. E.

(2019). Social reactions to disclosure of interpersonal violence and psychopathology: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 72, 101750. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2019.101750

Edwards

K. M.

Waterman

E. A.

Ullman

S. E.

Rodriguez

L. M.

Dardis

C. M.

Dworkin

E. R.

(2022). A pilot evaluation of an intervention to improve social reactions to sexual and partner violence disclosures. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 37(5–6), 2510–2534. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260520934437

Foa

E. B.

Cashman

Jaycox

Perry

(1997). The validation of a self-report measure of PTSD: The Posttraumatic Stress Diagnostic Scale. Psychological Assessment, 9, 445–451. https://doi.org/10.1037/1040-3590.9.4.445

10.

Foa

E. B.

McLean

C. P.

Zang

Zhong

Powers

M. B.

Kauffman

B. Y.

Rauch

Porter

Knowles

(2016). Psychometric properties of the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale for DSM-5 (PDS-5). Psychological Assessment, 28, 1166–1171. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0000258

11.

Jaffe

A. E.

Blayney

J. A.

Schallert

M. R.

Edwards

M. E.

Dworkin

E. R.

(2022). Social network changes and disclosure responses after sexual assault. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 46(3), 299–315. https://doi.org/10.1177/03616843221085213

12.

Kirkner

Lorenz

Ullman

S.E.

(2021). Recommendations for responding to survivors of sexual assault: A qualitative study of survivors and support providers. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 36, 1005–1028. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260517739285

13.

Koss

M. P.

Gidycz

C. A.

(1985). Sexual experiences survey: reliability and validity. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 53, 422–423. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.53.3.422

14.

Koss

M. P.

Gidycz

C. A.

Wisniewski

(1987). The scope of rape: Incidence and prevalence of sexual aggression and victimization in a national sample of higher education students. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 55, 162–170. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.55.2.162

15.

Lorenz

Ullman

S.E.

Kirkner

Mandala

Vasquez

Sigurvinsdottir

(2018). Social reactions to sexual assault disclosure: A qualitative study of informal support dyads. Violence Against Women, 24, 1497–1520. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801217732428

16.

Mauer

Edwards

Waterman

Dardis

Dworkin

Rodriguez

Ullman

S.E.

(2022). Disclosure recipients’ perceptions related to helping victims of dating and sexual violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 37(23–24), NP21525–NP21548. https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605211063004

17.

Relyea

Ullman

S.E.

(2015). Unsupported or turned against: Understanding how two of negative social reactions to sexual assault relate to post-assault outcomes. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 39, 37–52. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684313512610

18.

Shi

Lee

Maydeu-Olivares

(2019). Understanding the model size effect on SEM fit indices. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 79(2), 310–334. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013164418783530

19.

Silver

Wortman

Crofton

(1990). The role of coping in support provision: Self-presentational dilemmas of victims of life crises. In Sarason

Sarason

Pierce

(Eds.), Social support: An interactional view. Wiley.

20.

Steenkamp

Dickstein

Salters-Pedneault

Hofmann

Litz

(2012). Trajectories of PTSD symptoms following sexual assault: Is resilience the modal outcome ? Journal of Traumatic Stress, 25, 469–474. https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.21718

21.

Testa

VanZile-Tamsen

Livingston

J. A.

Koss

M. P.

(2004). Assessing women’s experiences of sexual aggression using the sexual experiences survey: Evidence for validity and implications for research. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 28(3), 256–265. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-6402.2004.00143.x

22.

Ullman

S.E.

(2000). Psychometric characteristics of the Social Reactions Questionnaire: A measure of reactions to sexual assault victims. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 24, 257–271. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-6402.2000.tb00208.x

23.

Ullman

S.E.

(2023a). Correlates of social reactions to victims’ disclosures of sexual assault and intimate partner violence: A systematic review. Trauma, Violence, and Abuse, 24(1) 29–43. https://doi.org/10.1177/15248380211016013

24.

Ullman

S.E.

(2023b). Talking about sexual assault: Society’s response to survivors (2nd ed.). American Psychological Association Press.

25.

Ullman

S.E.

Relyea

Sigurvinsdottir

Bennett

(2017). A short measure of social reactions to sexual assault: The Social Reactions Questionnaire-Shortened. Violence and Victims, 32, 1096–1115. http://doi.org/10.1891/0886-6708.VV-D-16-00066