The literature has documented the widespread nature of sexual assault victimization among college women. While the aftermath of violence against university women has also received focus, that is, documenting trauma-related sequelae; risk factors; reporting patterns; and legal interventions, the impact on academic performance has not received adequate attention in the literature. The primary purpose of this study was to explore the association of rape and sexual assault with academic performance among college women. Its specific aims included the following: to compare high school and college sexual assault experiences with collegiate grade point averages (GPAs) at key points in time; to examine any differences in GPA by type of sexual assault; to urge researchers studying retention and persistence patterns or sexual assault among college students to ensure that the relationship between the two is included in research designs; and to recommend that academic institutions expand programming on retention to include rape and sexual assault among the risk factors associated with a lack of persistence.

A significant proportion of survivors of rape do not utilize formal services to cope with the aftermath of rape. Understanding victimization experiences in environments that differ on resources, such as rural versus urban areas, may be an important dimension to consider in understanding barriers. Thirty women (18 rural and 12 urban) were recruited from rape crisis centers to participate in focus groups. Study results suggest that (a) survivors of rape experience many barriers to service utilization, (b) there were some differences in barriers to service utilization that were mentioned only in rural areas and some that were mentioned only in urban areas that may suggest that community context is important to consider in understanding barriers to service use, and (c) barriers to health and mental health services overlap with barriers to criminal justice system services.

The reach of violence against women (VAW) has been profoundly felt by women across the United States and around the globe. VAW has been documented for decades as a legal and social justice problem, but as illuminated in this review, it is also a substantial mental health concern. A full understanding of the phenomenon must include discussion of how often it occurs, in what forms, and to whom. This review defines violence against women in its variant forms and examines the literature on the mental health effects associated with these abuse experiences. The effectiveness of the mental health system's response to the complex needs of women suffering battering, rape, stalking, and psychological aggression is also examined. The future of research and the important role of the discipline of psychology in the future of this field of study are discussed.

Violence against women has been studied in thousands of research articles and books across multiple disciplines. The extraordinary range of subtopics alone makes it difficult for clinicians, teachers, and researchers to form a coherent picture of the phenomena. Women and Victimization: Contributing Factors, Interventions, and Implications comprehensively examines and integrates a vast research literature on the antecedents and consequences of victimization among women. The book draws together research from over 2,000 sources as it explores mental health, substance abuse, social, and cultural factors relating to victimization as well as internal factors such as risk appraisal processes. In addition, the book reviews research on the effectiveness of clinical and legal interventions for women with victimization. Going beyond just a literature review, this book gives readers a comprehensive course in many aspects of adult victimization. Using a heuristic model to help draw together the wide range of findings, the authors explore research literature on adult victimization to summarize what is known presently. The authors also suggest directions for future research and for research on intervention outcomes. Women and Victimization is an excellent resource for clinicians, researchers, teachers and trainers, students, and persons with an interest in victimization policies.

This article reviews the complex relationship between child maltreatment and later psychosocial difficulties among adult women. Specifically addressed are (a) the various forms of childhood maltreatment, (b) the range of potential long-term psychological outcomes, and (c) important contextual variables that mediate or add to these maltreatment-symptom relationships. Among the latter are characteristics of the abuse and/or neglect; effects of impaired parental functioning; premaltreatment and postmaltreatment psychobiology; qualities of the parent-child attachment; abuse and/or neglect-related affect dysregulation that may lead to further symptomatology; the extent to which the child responds with significant emotional or behavioral avoidance; and whether later traumas are also present. Also relevant are sociocultural contributors to both child maltreatment and maltreatment effects, especially poverty and marginalization. Clinical and research implications are considered.