Older and younger adults' attributions of responsibility toward rape victims and rapists.

Examined the judgments made by 384 undergraduates and 384 50–74 yr olds of assailant and victim responsibility for a sexual assault. Ss were assigned to 1 of 3 conditions: they viewed slides of an assault, read a passage about the crime, or read the passage and saw photographs of both the assailant and the victim. The rapist was presented as either a well-dressed or poorly dressed young man, and the victim appeared either as a provocative or demure young woman. Ss also learned that the victim either physically resisted or failed to resist the assailant. Young Ss attributed more responsibility to the assailant than did older Ss, and the provocative woman was perceived as more responsible for the victimization than the demure woman. Young Ss attributed greater responsibility to the victim when she resisted the assault of a well-dressed assailant than when she resisted a poorly dressed assailant. Females attributed less responsibility to the demure woman when she was assaulted by a poorly dressed assailant than a well dressed assailant. In contrast to older Ss, young Ss who visually observed the crime held the victim more responsible for her victimization. Results are interpreted in terms of the defensive attribution hypothesis of E. Walster (see record 1966-02829-001) and the discounting principle of attribution presented by H. H. Kelley (see record 1973-24800-001). (French abstract) (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attitudes toward rape: A comparative analysis of police, rapists, crisis counselors, and citizens.

This study was designed to (a) examine the dimensionality of rape attitudes; (b) explore the relationships between perceptions of rape and background characteristics of rapists, police, female rape crisis counselors, and citizens; and (c) determine how these groups might differ with regard to rape attitudes. Data were collected from 1,448 Ss from the aforementioned groups using measures of Ss' attitudes toward and knowledge of rape, the Attitudes Toward Women Scale, and a personal data form. Results show that the groups were similar in their structures of rape attitudes. As predicted, sex, race, and marital status were the most important characteristics for predicting rape attitudes; within the respondent groups, however, other characteristics were found to be important. Significant differences were also found among the groups in their perceptions of rape. The counselors differed from the police, citizens, and rapists in their views of rape, while citizens and police were most similar. No differences were found between the police and rapists on half of the attitudinal dimensions. Implications of the results are discussed in terms of attitudes toward rape. (82 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychotherapy with rape victims.

Reviews literature on psychological response and treatment of rape victims. A model of victim response is presented that posits 5 phases: initial, denial, symptom formation, anger, and resolution. It is predicted that psychotherapists will be treating rape victims with greater frequency in the future. Attitudes of the public and law enforcement officers are changing; there is a lessening of the stigma and insensitive treatment rape victims experienced in the past. Rape crisis centers are proliferating across the US, and more and more victims are coming forward to report the assault. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The psychological impact of rape victims.

This review article examines rape victims' experiences seeking postassault assistance from the legal, medical, and mental health systems and how those interactions impact their psychological well-being. This literature suggests that although some rape victims have positive, helpful experiences with social system personnel, for many victims, postassault help seeking becomes a "second rape," a secondary victimization to the initial trauma. Most reported rapes are not prosecuted, victims treated in hospital emergency departments do not receive comprehensive medical care, and many victims do not have access to quality mental health services. In response to growing concerns about the community response to rape, new interventions and programs have emerged that seek to improve services and prevent secondary victimization. The contributions of rape crisis centers, restorative justice programs, and sexual assault nurse examiner programs are examined. Strategies for creating more visible and impactful roles for psychologists and allied professionals are also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Processing of threat-related information in rape victims.

We investigated selective processing of threat information in persons with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by using a modified Stroop Color and Word Test. Ss were 15 rape victims with PTSD, 13 rape victims without the disorder, and 16 nontraumatized control Ss. They were asked to name the color of 4 types of words: specific threat (rape-related) words, general threat (related to physical harm and death) words, neutral words, and nonwords. Rape victims with PTSD evidenced a longer response latency for color naming of rape-related words than for other target-word types. Response latencies of non-PTSD victims and nonvictim control Ss did not differ across word types. Possible mechanisms underlying the selective processing of threat material are considered, and clinical implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Visual-kinesthetic dissociation in treatment of victims of rape.

A visual–kinesthetic (V–K) dissociation procedure of neurolinguistic programming (NLP) was used in treating rape-induced anxiety and phobic reactions in 2 18- and 19-yr-old rape victims. NLP theory suggests that anxiety reactions experienced by rape victims is a function of the interrelated processes of synesthesia and anchoring. In these 2 case reports, the use of the V–K dissociation technique is explored. From this preliminary basis, further research entailing the use of this treatment procedure is suggested. Implications for clinical practice are noted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coping ability in women who become victims of rape.

72 18–68 yr old women who had been raped during the previous year and 72 18–72 women who had never been raped were administered the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, a locus of control scale, selected subscales of the California Psychological Inventory (CPI), and the Vocabulary subtest of the WAIS-R. The 2 groups, who were matched on demographic characteristics, also completed a biographical measure. Information was also obtained from significant others. The strongest domain of prediction was psychosocial competency, with the rape victim scoring lower on measures of social presence, dominance and assertiveness, and higher on external/social locus of control. A past history of alcohol or drug abuse added to the rape-vulnerability profile. Rape victims were more likely to have a past history of psychiatric hospitalization and suicidal thoughts. They did not differ from controls on the Vocabulary subtest, but they scored lower on the Achievement via Independence scale of the CPI. Physical ability attributes were not associated with rape vulnerability. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A longitudinal examination of fear reactions in victims of rape.

Investigated fear reactions in rape victims for 1 yr following their assaults. 150 female victims, over 15 yrs of age, seen approximately 2 wks after the assault and at 1, 2, 4, 8, and 12 mo postrape, were compared with a matched control group of nonvictims seen at the same intervals. To control for the effects of repeated testing, 3 additional groups of victims were assessed only once at either 2, 4, or 8 mo postrape. All participants completed the Modified Fear Survey Schedule (MFS), which yielded a total fearfulness index as well as 6 subscale scores: rape fears, animal fears, classical fears, social–interpersonal fears, tissue-damage fears, and miscellaneous fears. Following the assault, victims were significantly more fearful than nonvictim controls as indicated by their overall MFS score and most of the subscale scores. Although their overall fearfulness declined somewhat and stabilized by 2 mo postassault, victims remained significantly more fearful than nonvictim controls at 12 mo postassault. The rape fears and classical fears subscales seemed to contribute most to this elevation. Results from the single-testing victim groups indicated that repeated assessment had no effect on participants' scores. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reactions to rape victims: Effects of rape circumstances, victim's emotional response, and sex of helper.

Case reports purported to have come from the records of a sexual abuse care center were presented to 98 female and 107 male undergraduates who then judged the impact of the rape experience on the victims' psychological adjustment and indicated their likely counseling goals for her. Three types of rape circumstances (home blitz, outside blitz, acquaintance) were varied with 3 types of postrape manifest emotional reactions (upset–anger, upset–guilt, calm) and S sex. Upset victims were seen as having more serious and more long-lasting problems, were more likely to be encouraged to try and forget the incident, and were less likely to be encouraged to accept personal responsibility for the assault than were calm victims. Ss, especially men, evaluated victims' degree of emotional upset as a function of rape circumstances, with blitz-type assaults perceived as most upsetting. Consistent sex differences indicated that women were more sympathetic with and more willing to talk with rape victims than were men. Results are discussed in terms of popular assumptions about rape victims and sex differences in identification with and empathy for female rape victims. Implications for training of professional and paraprofessional counselors are noted. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Factors predicting the blaming of victims of physical child abuse or rape.

Examined factors that were hypothesized to predict victim blame in the case of physical child abuse and in the case of rape. Questionnaires were completed by 897 college students. Results suggest that the defensive attribution hypothesis (particularly the notion of harm avoidance motives) was consistent with the current findings. In contrast, just-world theory was not supported. Victim blame in child abuse and victim blame in rape were predicted by similar factors. The factors that best predicted victim blame were empathy, locus of control, and prior physical abuse. Personal similarity was a significant predictor for both child blame and rape victim blame. Just-world beliefs had virtually no predictive power when other factors were taken into consideration. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A model for predicting depression in victims of rape

This article proposes a model for understanding the factors contributing to long-standing depression in women who have been raped. A path analysis of data obtained from 71 women who had been raped revealed that women with generalized beliefs that they could not control events in their lives were more likely to attribute responsibility for their rape to permanent intrapsychic factors and were more likely to be depressed. Women who perceived that they had higher levels of internal control tended to have higher levels of education, were more likely to be employed, and were less likely to be depressed more than one year after having been raped. Childhood sexual abuse was not associated with internal control or attributions of causality or depression in this analysis. Implications for the determination of prognosis and treatment recommendations in civil litigation assessments are discussed.     

Prostatic acid phosphatase. Current assessment in vaginal fluid of alleged rape victims

Although elevated prostatic acid phosphatase activity (ACP) in vaginal fluid is compatible with recent coitus, the finding of spermatozoa in vaginal fluid is usually considered the diagnostic indicator for semen. When 80 alleged rape cases during an 18-month period were reviewed and the results of cytologic examination for the presence of spermatozoa compared with quantitative ACP determinations, the latter appeared to be a more reliable and sensitive indicator of semen. The normal range of ACP in semen, as well as persistence of ACP in vaginal fluid, was also defined. It is concluded that vaginal fluid ACP is a reliable and sensitive method for identification of semen. Furthermore, the results confirm that quantitative ACP determination of vaginal fluid specimens may substantiate the allegation of rape with respect to time.     

Heterosocial perception in rapists.

This research explored the hypothesis that rapists are selectively deficient in their ability to process interpersonal cues from women, especially negative cues. A measure of heterosocial cue-reading accuracy was administered to 11 volunteer subjects in each of three groups of white male inmates from a federal prison: rapists, violent nonrapists, and nonviolent nonrapists. Rapists were significantly less accurate than subjects in either control group when reading cues in simulated first-date interactions; violent nonrapists, in turn, were less accurate than nonviolent nonrapists. Rapists were especially deficient in reading women's cues. Errors associated with negative cues accounted for the largest proportion of variance in these effects. All subjects had more difficulty reading men's cues than women's cues. The demonstration of specific deficits in social cue-reading abilities, or decoding skills, among white inmates with histories of rape is consistent with a social information-processing analysis of rape behavior. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coping ability of rape victims: Comment on Myers, Templer, and Brown.

Discusses a retrospective study of female rape victims by M. Meyers et al (see record 1984-12510-001) that concluded that these women may have projected to their assailants an image of vulnerability and helplessness that increased the probability of assault. These conclusions are criticized on both methodological and sociopolitical grounds. (2 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reply to Wieder on rape victims: Vulnerability does not imply responsibility.

The present authors respond to G. B. Wieder's (see record 1985-25692-001) criticisms of the results of their study (see record 1984-12510-001) on the coping ability of women who become rape victims. It is concluded that vulnerability to rape does not imply responsibility for being raped. Previous research had indicated that victimization in general is not a random process, and the present authors argue that conceptualization of rape victimization is congruent with such a frame of reference. (4 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adolescent attitudes toward victim precipitation of rape

Being able to discern the presence of a central organizing linchpin in a given clinical case represents a highly advantageous state of affairs. One can, by virtue of this, proceed in a very efficient and economical, as opposed to piecemeal, fashion. Further, one can achieve this economy and efficiency without paying the price of superficiality, since one is getting to what might be termed "the heart of the matter" in the client's case. Finally, one has in a linchpin formulation a central blueprint that provides (a) a clear, constant goal for therapist and client; (b) a clarification for clients of both their power and of where and how they would best target their efforts; and (c) a vast heuristic suggestiveness as to how one might proceed therapeutically to bring about important change.     

The developmental origins of a disposition toward empathy: Genetic and environmental contributions.

The authors investigated the development of a disposition toward empathy and its genetic and environmental origins. Young twins' (N = 409 pairs) cognitive (hypothesis testing) and affective (empathic concern) empathy and prosocial behavior in response to simulated pain by mothers and examiners were observed at multiple time points. Children's mean level of empathy and prosociality increased from 14 to 36 months. Positive concurrent and longitudinal correlations indicated that empathy was a relatively stable disposition, generalizing across ages, across its affective and cognitive components, and across mother and examiner. Multivariate genetic analyses showed that genetic effects increased, and that shared environmental effects decreased, with age. Genetic effects contributed to both change and continuity in children's empathy, whereas shared environmental effects contributed to stability and nonshared environmental effects contributed to change. Empathy was associated with prosocial behavior, and this relationship was mainly due to environmental effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Unacknowledged versus acknowledged rape victims: situational factors and posttraumatic stress

Investigators of sexual assault have found that a substantial number of women who have been raped do not conceptualize their experiences as such. The present investigation examined differences between 40 unacknowledged rape victims and 20 women who acknowledged their experience as rape in a sample of college women, as well as a control group of 23 nonvictims. Groups were compared in terms of situational factors, postassault symptomatology, defense mechanisms, dissociative disorders, and sexual revictimization. In comparison to unacknowledged victims, acknowledged victims reported more forceful assaults and indicated more resistance and clearer refusal. Acknowledged victims exhibited more posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms than unacknowledged victims, who exhibited more symptoms than nonvictims, as measured by clinical interview. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Prior interpersonal trauma: The contribution to current PTSD symptoms in female rape victims.

The purpose of the current study was to disentangle the relationship of childhood sexual abuse and childhood physical abuse from prior adult sexual and physical victimization in predicting current posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in recent rape victims. The participants were a community sample of 117 adult rape victims assessed within 1 month of a recent index rape for a history of child sexual abuse, child physical abuse, other adult sexual and physical victimization, and current PTSD symptoms. Results from path analyses showed that a history of child sexual abuse seems to increase vulnerability for adult sexual and physical victimization and appears to contribute to current PTSD symptoms within the cumulative context of other adult trauma. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sexual abuse prevention with high-risk males: the roles of victim empathy and rape myths

The outcome of two sexual abuse prevention programs, one emphasizing victim empathy and the other stressing modifying rape myths, was evaluated with high-risk males. Sixty-eight high-risk males, as determined by self-reported likelihood of committing sexual abuse, were randomly assigned to an empathy-treatment, a facts-treatment, or a no-treatment control group. Treatment effects were assessed using subjects' pre- and post-treatment scores on the Likelihood of Sexually Abusing scale, the Rape Empathy Scale, the Acceptance of Interpersonal Violence scale, the Adversarial Sexual Beliefs Scale, and a test of self-reported sexual arousal to forced versus consenting sex. In addition, posttest scores on an Asch-type conformity measure were obtained. Results of validity checks indicated that high-risk subjects differed from low-risk subjects on a number of rape-related variables, that the victim-empathy condition increased subjects' empathy, and that subjects found both treatments to be credible and helpful. Comparisons between the empathy-, facts-, and no-treatment group contraindicated the practice of dispelling rape myths as a method of preventing rape among high-risk males.