Unacknowledged Rape and Re-Victimization Risk

Abstract

The majority of college women who experience rape do not conceptualize their experience as a victimization, that is, they are unacknowledged victims. There is some initial evidence that unacknowledged victims are at elevated re-victimization risk relative to acknowledged victims. In the current study, we sought to identify mediators of the association between acknowledgment of rape and re-victimization in a sample of 319 college rape victims; 187 (58.6%) participants completed a 2-month follow-up study. We examined regular drinking, number of sexual partners, and continuing a relationship with the assailant as potential mediators of the relation between acknowledgment and re-victimization. At follow-up, unacknowledged victims reported higher rates of new attempted (16.2%) and completed rape (11.9%), relative to acknowledged victims (attempted: 7.9%; completed: 3.0%). Number of sexual partners mediated the relation between acknowledgment and attempted rape. Both number of partners and regular drinking mediated the relation between acknowledgment and completed rape. Thus, not acknowledging rape may be associated with re-victimization in part because unacknowledged victims may be more likely to engage in behaviors that increase vulnerability. We believe there is a need for longitudinal, theoretically grounded research examining risky behaviors, victimization, and acknowledgment status over time to delineate the relations among these variables.

Typologies of Rape Victimization Experiences Among Women Attending College: A Latent Class Analysis

“…This questionnaire was initially developed by Koss (1985) and then modified by Layman and colleagues (1996); it was later expanded by Littleton and colleagues (2006). Responses to these items were coded using the categories developed in later work (Littleton et al, 2017).…”

“…Further, resistance behaviors are both a response to the perpetrator’s tactics, as well as likely influence perpetration strategies (e.g., threats of harm, intimidation, physical force) used by the perpetrator (e.g., Balemba & Beauregard, 2012). In addition, given the frequency of pre-assault alcohol and other substance use by the perpetrator and survivor among college women who experienced sexual assaults prior to or during college, and the frequency with which college women who are survivors of sexual assaults are impaired or incapacitated by substances, we included multiple substance-related variables in the LCA (e.g., Krebs et al, 2009; Littleton, Grills-Taquechel, & Axsom, 2009; Littleton et al, 2017). Specifically, we included whether the survivor and perpetrator engaged in binge or non-binge drinking, the level of substance-related impairment experienced by the survivor, and whether the survivor and perpetrator used other drugs prior to the assault.…”

The Role of Women's Traditional Gender Beliefs in Depression, Intimate Partner Violence and Stress: Insights from a Spanish Abbreviated Multicultural Measure

“…Unfortunately, many young women who suffered gender violence are unacknowledged victims who do not view their experience as a form of victimization (Littleton et al, 2017). Any phenomenon with a gendered view implies observing what is invisible (Salvai, 2013) and requires questioning mental patterns such as TGBs that may have been established and naturalized over centuries (Wolfe and Naimark, 1991).…”

Young Women’s Acknowledgment of Reproductive Coercion: A Qualitative Analysis

“…Other studies have identified barriers and factors that impede acknowledgment of SV by victimized women. Littleton et al (2017) found that a closer relationship with the assailant strongly influenced the failure to acknowledge sexual aggression. For example, when the perpetrator was a romantic partner, there was much less acknowledgment of sexual aggression compared with casual or non-romantic partners.…”