NCJ Number
147490
Journal
Violence and Victims Volume: 8 Issue: 2 Dated: (Summer 1993) Pages: 121-134
Date Published
1993
Length
14 pages
Annotation
Data collected from a sample of 3,132 adults from two cachement areas of Los Angeles were used to document victim- offender relationships, assault characteristics, and support seeking to sexual assault outcome and psychological symptoms of victims.
Abstract
Adult sexual assault was reported by nearly 15 percent of all women in this community sample. There were virtually no differences in the demographic characteristics of victims, victim resistance, sexual assault outcome, or psychological symptoms in comparisons of assaults perpetrated by strangers or acquaintances. But there were key differences in assaults committed by intimates and those committed by acquaintances. Strangers and intimate offenders both used higher levels of violence than acquaintances. Women who actively resisted were more likely to avert intercourse during a sexual assault. Sexual assault outcome could be differentiated by victim- offender relationship, with intimates most likely to experience intercourse and acquaintances least likely. Women sexually assaulted by strangers and intimates reported higher levels of psychological distress than those assaulted by acquaintances. 2 tables, 3 notes, and 23 references