Date of Award

2018

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Cottrell, Catherine

Area of Concentration

Psychology

Abstract

Although sexual assault is one of the most prevalent crimes in America, it is also the most underreported with only 310 out of every 1000 rapes reported to police. In this study 201 written accounts from survivors of sexual assaults were coded using the newly developed Sexual Assault Variables Scale in order to answer the question: How are reporting behaviors related to survivors’ perceptions and internalization of social and institutional reception of sexual violence? Results indicated that survivors’ relationship to their assailant, feelings of self blame, the presence of visible injuries, reaction received by the first individual the survivor disclosed their assault to, and negative experiences with the criminal justice system all directly related to survivors’ reporting behaviors. Findings from this study provide a better understanding of what variables may contribute to survivors’ healing and reporting experience, which could have future implications for policy and legislature change.

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