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This longitudinal study on rape victims looks at four life stress events and their association with recovery from rape. Data from 88% of the original sample of 92 adult victims 4 to 6 years after rape suggest that life stress before rape may act to hasten or to inhibit the recovery process. Stress is not uniform in its effect. Different types of stress have different effects. Earlier victimization and chronic life stressors such as economic hardship, lack of social support, and pre‐existing biopsychosocial problems tend to delay recovery. In contrast, family grief stress may act as an energizing factor in that coping skills may have been developed through experiencing the grief process and are available to the victim for settlement of rape trauma. Recent life changes have a lack of association with recovery although they may be important in some individual cases.

In a longitudinal study of 81 adult rape victims reinterviewed four to six years later, effects of the rape on subsequent sexual functioning are analyzed. Most victims who had been sexually active were found to experience changes in frequency of sexual activity and in sexual response. Interview responses of victims are reported, and suggestions are offered for the counseling of rape victims and their sexual partners.

The present study reports on the forced sexual, excretory, and sadistic acts that occur during rape. The main sample consisted of 115 adult, adolescent, and child rape victims that were admitted during a 1-year period to the emergency wards of a large municipal hospital. Forced vaginal intercourse was the most frequent act reported, but many other acts also occurred, ranging from fellatio and cunnilingus to urinating on the victim. It is argued that various social-psychological meanings are attached to forced sexual acts, most notably power, anger, and male camaraderie. Pair/group rape differs from single-assailant rape in the emphasis placed on watching and taking turns. Analyzing the social meanings attached to forced sex makes a contribution to our knowledge about the use of sex to express nonsexual issues.