Predictors of Postrape Trauma.

Women exhibit a wide range of responses to a sexual assault. This study focused on two factors that may either hinder or facilitate postrape recovery and which are potentially modifiable: (1) causal attributions; and (2) coping strategies. Rape survivors (n=105) seen at a sexual assault resource service in Minneapolis, Minnesota, completed measures of attributions, coping strategies, and recovery at seven time points. Attributions were measured by the Rape Attribution Questionnaire (RAQ), which was developed for this research and which contains three seven-item scales assessing behavioral, characterological, and external (society and rapist) attributions about the cause of the rape. Coping strategies were assessed by four subscales taken from the Coping Strategies Inventory, (CSI) while four different questionnaires gauged recovery. Results showed high distress levels among survivors which remained fairly stable over time.It appears that both blaming one's self and blaming external forces accompanies more distress while a sense of future control and the belief that future assaults can be avoided were associated with recovery. Coping data suggest that the use of cognitive restructuring is associated with less concurrent distress, whereas expressing emotions is connected with higher distress levels. Data summaries appear in four tables. (RJM) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the ,best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** Predictors of Postrape Trauma Patricia Frazier, Terri Harlow, Laura Schauben, and Claudia Department of Psychology University of Minnesota Elliott Hall Minneapolis, MN 55455 'PERMISc,ION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY P. FRA1TE-g TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CEN TER (ERIC). Paper presented at the 1993 meeting of the American Psychological Association, Toronto. Byrne U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office or ti. ;:. cational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) C This document has been reproduced as received Irom the person or organizahon onginating d C Minor changes have been made to Improve reproduction Quality Points of view or opinions stated in this doCument do not necessardy represent official OERI position or Policy Sexual violence against women is a major social problem in the U. S. , with one in five women being raped in their lifetime (Koss, 1993). Studies of the effects of rape illustrate the toll such assaults can take, with victims experiencing heightened fear, anxiety, and depression for several months, and sometimes years, following an assault (Resick, 1993). Nonetheless, there also is tremendous variability in the extent to which women are affected by a sexual assault, with some women experiencing more severe and prolonged trauma than others. The purpose of this research is to identify factors that may either hinder or facilitate the postrape recovery process. We have focused on identifying factors associated with recovery that potentially are modifiable and that could inform treatment programs for rape survivors. Specifically, we have focused on the role of both causal attributions and coping strategies in the postrape recovery process. Following a brief summary of the research on attributions and coping, I will describe the results of a longitudinal study in which we have assessed victim attributions, coping strategies, and recovery from 1 week to 1 year postassault. I will present both the concurrent and across-time relations among these variables, which present rather different pictures. I will conclude with a brief summary of our main findings along with our plans for future research. Attributions and Recovery To date, approximately five studies have examined the relations between attributions and postrape recovery (Frazier, 1990; Frazier & Schauben, in press; Hill & Zautra, 1989; Katz & Burt, 1987; Meyer & Taylor, 1986). These studies have tended to focus on the relations between self-blame and recovery, and have consistently found that both behavioral and characterological self-blame are associated with a wide range of postrape adjustment problems (Frazier, 1990; Frazier & Schauben, in press; Hill & Zautra, 1989; Meyer & Taylor, 1986). The studies that have examined external blame have been less consistent, with one study finding societal blame to be unrelated to recovery (Meyer & Taylor, 1986) and one study finding societal blame to be associated with more depression (Frazier, 1990). In the latter study, ll types of attributions were associated with more depression and more often thinking about why the assault occurred was itself associated with higher depression scores (see also Frazier & Schauben, in press). In sum, research to date consistently has shown that self-blame is associated with poorer recovery, although the relations between external blame and recovery are less clear-cut. In addition, focusing on "why" may itself be associated with poorer adjustment (see Downey, Silver, & Wortman, 1990). However, one limitation of these studies is that they are all cross-sectional. As a result, we have no information on the direction of the relations among attributions and recovery; that is, whether attributions are a predictor or symptom of recovery.