Disclosure Recipients’ Perceptions Related to Helping Victims of Dating and Sexual Violence

Abstract

To date, research on social reactions to dating and sexual violence (DSV) disclosure has largely neglected the perspective of disclosure recipients. Moreover, few studies have explored disclosure recipients’ perceptions of the victim and perceptions of their own effectiveness in helping as well as the correlates of these perceptions. The purpose of this study was to address these gaps in the literature. Participants were 783 college students (73.0% female) who reported receiving a DSV disclosure in the past 6 months. Participants who provided more negative social reactions to victim disclosures were less likely to empathize with the victim and more likely to feel victim blame/burdensomeness and confusion/ineffectiveness in their responses. Conversely, those providing more positive social reactions were more likely to empathize with the victim and were less likely to report victim blame/burdensomeness and confusion/ineffectiveness. Further, recipients with a DSV victimization history were more likely to report empathy for the victim. Being a man and having higher post-traumatic stress symptoms were associated with greater victim blame/burdensomeness, while the victim approaching the recipient to disclose and DSV experiences that occurred long ago were associated with lower victim blame/burdensomeness. Finally, depressive symptoms, receiving disclosures from a stranger/casual friend, and less frequent discussion about the incident were significantly associated with increased confusion/ineffectiveness. These findings suggest that perceptions of the victim and helping effectiveness, and factors associated with them, may be promising targets of programs seeking to reduce negative and increase positive social reactions to DSV disclosures.

Aspects of Selective Sexual Assault Disclosure: Qualitative Interviews With Survivors and Their Informal Supports

“…Yet, beyond whether or not survivors disclose, there are various factors related to survivors’ disclosures including motivating factors that facilitate disclosure, selectivity of what and whom is told, and disclosure decisions. Limited dyadic research exists on how informal supports deal with survivors’ disclosures and navigate supporting them post-assault (but see Mauer et al, 2022). Therefore, this study sought to address this gap by exploring women’s sexual assault disclosure experiences with data from both survivors and their informal supports’ perspectives.…”

“…This can include prompted disclosures by others, circumstances, or people who coerce disclosures out of survivors and were told by others or tell others without the survivor’s permission. Specifically, research on sexual assault and abuse shows this voluntary or prompted aspect of the nature of disclosures can be important in affecting how and whether disclosures occur as well as their impacts (Mauer et al, 2022). On the positive side, when informal support network members ask if the survivor is okay when sensing something is wrong, this can open the door to the survivor feeling safe to tell that person.…”

Are They Really Helping Them to “Get Over It”? Bystander Behavior After Sexual Harassment Incidents in the Fashion Industry

“…3 Bystanders at the tertiary level of prevention will generally either be personal associates of the victims, or much more commonly the models’ agencies, which represent them via agents and bookers in the industry. Personal associates can include friends, family members, significant others, therapists, as well as others (Edwards et al, 2023; Mauer et al, 2022; Ullman et al, 2023). Modeling agencies act more as employment-like institutions where frameworks can exist for potential action (Smidt et al, 2023; Smith & Freyd, 2013).…”