Resilience to Adult Revictimization Among Survivors of Child and Adolescent Sexual Assault

项目总结

Project Summary Researchers have made considerable progress in understanding mechanisms responsible for adult revictimization. Although a variety of factors have been implicated, posttraumatic stress symptoms stemming from child or adolescent sexual assault (CASA) are an especially prominent risk factor for later revictimization. By contrast, little attention has been given to factors that may buffer associations between CASA and adult revictimization. Recent research identifies high levels of social support as a key interpersonal factor that may buffer relations between CASA and adult revictimization. Other literature suggests that certain intrapersonal processes may also buffer against the ill effects of trauma. In particular, gratitude, self-compassion, and optimism are constructs known to promote resilience in response to adversity. Drawing on these findings, our central hypothesis is that social support and these key psychological strengths will, independently and together, moderate relations between PTSD symptoms and adult revictimization among survivors of CASA. To test this hypothesis, a sample of 250 college women with a history of CASA will complete self-report questionnaires assessing symptoms of PTSD linked to CASA, social support, psychological strengths (i.e., gratitude, self-compassion, and optimism), and occurrences of sexual revictimization at three time points over the course of 12 months. This methodology will permit a prospective examination of social support and psychological strengths as possible buffers against subsequent sexual revictimization. Findings from this study are expected to clarify key interpersonal and intrapersonal processes that may promote resilience to revictimization among CASA survivors. These results may inform the development of effective intervention strategies to reduce CASA-related PTSD and adult revictimization.