Formal support providers can play a critical role in sexual assault survivors’ well-being (e.g., providing resource referrals). In a university setting, resident assistants (RAs) are key support providers with a unique relationship to survivors based on their dual roles as help-provider and peer. We examined 305 RAs’ responses to student sexual assault disclosure scenarios. Employing a critical discourse analysis, we identified four discourses used by RAs in their discussion of resources: controlling, gatekeeping, minimizing, and empowering. Due to power dynamics between RAs and residents, we conclude that empowering discourses would facilitate survivors’ access to other resources (e.g., sexual assault center).
AhrensC. E. (2006). Being silenced: The impact of negative social reactions in the disclosure of rape. American Journal of Community Psychology, 38, 236-274. doi:10.1007/s10464-006-9069-9
2.
AhrensC. E.CabralG.AbelingS. (2009). Healing or hurtful: Sexual assault survivors’ interpretations of social reactions from providers. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 33, 81-94. doi:10.1111/j.1471-6402.2008.01476.x
3.
BlimlingG. (2003). The resident assistant: Applications and strategies for working with college students in residence halls. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt Publishing Company.
4.
BorjaS. E.CallahanJ. L.LongP. J. (2006). Positive and negative adjustment and social support of sexual assault survivors. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 19, 905-914. doi:10.1002/jts.20169
5.
BowmanR. L.BowmanV. E. (1995). Academic courses to train resident assistants. Journal of College Student Development, 36, 39-46.
6.
BrownmillerS. (1975). Against our will: Men, women and rape. New York: Simon Schuster.
7.
CampbellR. (2006). Rape survivors’ experiences with the legal and medical systems: Do rape victim advocates make a difference?Violence Against Women, 12, 30-45. doi:10.1177/1077801205277539
8.
CampbellR. (2008). The psychological impact of rape victims’ experiences with the legal, medical, and mental health systems. American Psychologist, 63, 702-717. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.63.8.702
9.
CampbellR.WascoS. M.AhrensC. E.SeflT.BarnesH. E. (2001). Preventing the “second rape”: Rape survivors’ experiences with community service providers. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 16, 1239-1259. doi:10.1177/088626001016012002
10.
ChangE. C.YuT.JilaniZ.FowlerE. E.ElizabethA. Y.LinJ.HirschJ. K. (2015). Hope under assault: Understanding the impact of sexual assault on the relation between hope and suicidal risk in college students. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 34, 221-238. doi:10.1521jscp2015343221
11.
ConleyA. H.GriffithC. (2016). Trauma-informed response in the age of Title IX: Considerations for college counselors working with survivors of power-based personal violence. Journal of College Counseling, 19, 276-289. doi:10.1002/jocc.12049
12.
DeLovehH. L.CattaneoL. B. (2017). Deciding where to turn: A qualitative investigation of college students’ helpseeking decisions after sexual assault. American Journal of Community Psychology, 59, 65-79. doi: 10.1002/ajcp.12125
13.
DemersJ.RobertsA. P.BennettS.BanyardV. (2017). Victim motivations for disclosing unwanted sexual experiences and partner abuse. Affilia: Journal of Women and Social Work, 32, 327-343. doi:10.1177/0886109917704936
14.
DworkinE. R.NewtonE.AllenN. E. (2016). Seeing roses in the thorn bush: Sexual assault survivors’ perceptions of social reactions. Psychology of Violence, 8, 100-109. doi:10.1037/vio0000082
15.
EdwardsK. M.TurchikJ. A.DardisC. M.ReynoldsN.GidyczC. A. (2011). Rape myths: History, individual and institutional-level presence, and implications for change. Sex Roles, 65, 761-773. doi:10.1007/s11199-011-9943-2
16.
FedinaL.HolmesJ. L.BackesB. L. (2018). Campus sexual assault: A systematic review of prevalence research from 2000 to 2015. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 19, 76-93. doi:10.1177/1524838016631129
17.
FisherB. S.CullenF. T.TurnerM. G. (2000). The sexual victimization of college women. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics.
18.
GreesonM. R.CampbellR. (2011). Rape survivors’ agency within the legal and medical systems. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 35, 582-595. doi:10.1177/0361684311418078
19.
HollandK. J.CortinaL. M. (2017). “It happens to girls all the time”: Examining sexual assault survivors’ reasons for not using campus supports. American Journal of Community Psychology, 59, 50-64. doi:10.1002/ajcp.12126
20.
HollandK. J.CortinaL. M.FreydJ. J. (2018). “Compelled disclosure of sexual assault.”American Psychologist, 73, 256-268. doi:10.1037/amp0000186
21.
JacksonC. (2017). Dear colleague letter. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights.
22.
JordanC. E.CombsJ. L.SmithG. T. (2014). An exploration of sexual victimization and academic performance among college women. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 15, 191-200. doi:10.1177/1524838014520637
23.
KaltmanS.KrupnickJ.StocktonP.HooperL.GreenB. L. (2005). Psychological impact of types of sexual trauma among college women. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 18, 547-555. doi:10.1002/jts.20063
24.
KirknerA.LorenzK.UllmanS. E. (2017). Recommendations for responding to survivors of sexual assault: A qualitative study of survivors and support providers. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. Advance online publication. doi:10.1177/0886260517739285
25.
KochV. A. (2012). An exploration of current practices in curricular design of resident assistant training programs (Doctoral dissertation). Loyola University, Chicago, IL.
26.
LetarteC. M. (2014). Keepers of the night: The dangerously important role of resident assistants on college and university campuses. Kentucky Journal of Higher Education Policy and Practice, 2, 1-24.
LonswayK. A.FitzgeraldL. F. (1994). Rape myths in review. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 18, 133-164. doi:10.1111/j.1471-6402.1994.tb00448.x
29.
MengoC.BlackB. M. (2016). Violence victimization on a college campus: Impact on GPA and school dropout. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, 18, 234-248. doi:10.1177/1521025115584750
30.
MooreB. M.BakerT. (2018). An exploratory examination of college students’ likelihood of reporting sexual assault to police and university officials: Results of a self-report survey. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 13, 3419-3438. doi:10.1177/0886260516632357
31.
OrchowskiL. M.GidyczC. A. (2015). Psychological consequences associated with positive and negative responses to disclosure of sexual assault among college women: A prospective study. Violence Against Women, 21, 803-823. doi:10.1177/1077801215584068
32.
OrchowskiL. M.UntiedA. S.GidyczC. A. (2013). Social reactions to disclosure of sexual victimization and adjustment among survivors of sexual assault. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 28, 2005-2023. doi:10.1177/0886260512471085
33.
PayloM. J.ProtivnakJ. J.ChoiK. M.WalkerM. (2017). Preparing mental health first responders: College counselors supporting residence life professionals. The Practitioner Scholar: Journal of Counseling & Professional Psychology, 6, 63-78.
34.
Peter-HageneL. C.UllmanS. E. (2014). Social reactions to sexual assault disclosure and problem drinking: Mediating effects of perceived control and PTSD. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 29, 1418-1437. doi:10.1177/0886260513507137
35.
ReingleJ.ThombsD.OsbornC.SaffianS.OltersdorfD. (2010). Mental health and substance use: A qualitative study of resident assistants’ attitudes and referral practices. Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 47, 325-342. doi:10.2202/1949-6605.6016
36.
RichardsT. N. (2019). An updated review of institutions of higher education’s responses to sexual assault results from a nationally representative sample. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 34, 1983-2012. doi:10.1177/0886260516658757
37.
SitV.SchullerR. A. (2018). Understanding support providers’ views of “helpful” responses to sexual assault disclosures: The impacts of self-blame and physical resistance. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 33, 1236-1259. doi:10.1177/0886260515614563
38.
TaubD. J.Servaty-SeibH. L. (2010). Training resident assistants to make effective counseling referrals. Journal of College and University Student Housing, 37, 10-24.
39.
UllmanS. E. (1996a). Correlates and consequences of adult sexual assault disclosure. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 11, 554-571. doi:10.1177/088626096011004007
40.
UllmanS. E. (1996b). Do social reactions to sexual assault victims vary by support provider?Violence and Victims, 11, 143-157. doi:10.1891/0886-6708.11.2.143
41.
UllmanS. E. (1999). Social support and recovery from sexual assault: A review. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 4, 343-358. doi:10.1016/S1359-1789(98)00006-8
42.
UllmanS. E. (2000). Psychometric characteristics of the social reactions questionnaire: A measure of reactions to sexual assault victims. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 24, 257-271. doi:10.1111/j.1471-6402.2000.tb00208.x
43.
UllmanS. E. (2010). Talking about sexual assault: Society’s response to survivors. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association Press.
44.
UllmanS. E.RelyeaM. (2016). Social support, coping, and posttraumatic stress symptoms in female sexual assault survivors: A longitudinal analysis. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 29, 500-506. doi:10.1002/jts.22143
45.
U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education. (2016). The handbook for campus safety and security reporting (2016 ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
46.
van DijkT. A. (1993). Principles of critical discourse analysis. Discourse & Society, 4, 249-283. doi:10.1177/0957926593004002006
47.
van DijkT. A. (2009). Critical discourse studies: A sociocognitive approach. In WodakR.MeyerM. (Eds.), Methods for critical discourse analysis (pp. 62-84). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
48.
van DijkT. A. (2015). Critical discourse analysis. In TannenD.HamiltonH. E.SchiffrinD. (Eds.), The handbook of discourse analysis (pp. 466-485). Chichester, UK: John Wiley.
