Citation

Littleton H, Decker M. Psychol. Violence 2017; 7(4): 583-592.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, American Psychological Association)

DOI

10.1037/vio0000066

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Research supports that sexual assault victims are at high risk for revictimization. One factor potentially contributing to this risk is low self-efficacy to engage in assertive resistance behaviors that could reduce vulnerability to completed assault. However, there is a lack of research on resistance self-efficacy among victims, including the extent to which resistance self-efficacy prospectively predicts revictimization. The objective of the present study was to identify predictors of resistance self-efficacy among rape victims, as well as examine its role as a prospective predictor of revictimization risk.

METHOD: Participants were 366 women with a rape history drawn from a sample of 1,955 college women who completed an online survey of their sexual victimization history, PTSD symptoms, and resistance self-efficacy. Participants also completed an 8-week follow-up survey that assessed new sexual victimization experiences (n = 206).

RESULTS: Both moderately and strongly assertive resistance self-efficacy was predicted by having a childhood sexual abuse history and rape-related PTSD. Moderately assertive resistance self-efficacy prospectively predicted lower risk for a new attempted rape, χ2(1, N = 199) = 5.33, p =.02, OR = 0.63, with a similar pattern of findings for experiencing unwanted touching and completed rape.

CONCLUSIONS: Resistance self-efficacy is a potentially important predictor of revictimization, and its mediating (e.g., the association between general sexual assertiveness and revictimization) and moderating (e.g., the association between binge drinking and revictimization risk) role in revictimization models should be examined. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved)

Language: en