NCJ Number
104785
Journal
Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume: 2 Issue: 1 Dated: (March 1987) Pages: 57-81
Date Published
1987
Length
25 pages
Annotation
Counseling and research relating to victims' recovery from rape should focus not only on the negative symptoms of fear, anxiety, depression, and sexual dysfunction but also on the ways that women grow and change in constructive ways as a result of having to cope with a rape and its aftermath.
Abstract
Factor analysis of information from a sample of 113 rape victims produced 14 dimensions in which growth and change occurred during the recovery from rape. The subjects were recruited from five rape crisis centers in the Washington-Baltimore area and by means of newspaper announcements. They each spent about 2 hours completing a questionnaire that asked about attitudes toward sexuality, violence, and rape and that also gathered information on self-concept, fear, locus of control, and moods. The questionnaire also included three new instruments that measured growth outcomes in terms of self-concept, coping styles, and perceptions of well-being compared to feelings before the rape. The factor analysis yielded six dimensions of self-concept, five dimensions of coping techniques, and three dimensions of self-reported change. The research approach did not imply that rape is good for women, but it assumed that women meet the crisis of a rape with strengths and resources that help them cope and to integrate their feelings and reactions to the experience in new ways. Rape crisis counselors and others need to know how well many women do recover to aid victims reach the state of mind in which rape is no longer the controlling factor in their lives. Data tables, 1 note, and 27 references.