Background: Studies indicate that a small percentage of rapes are reported to law enforcement officials. Research also suggests that rapes perpetrated by a stranger are more likely to be reported and that rapes involving drugs and/or alcohol are less likely to be reported. College women represent a unique and understudied population with regard to…

Rape is a well-established risk factor for mental health disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. However, most studies have focused on forcible rape tactics and have not distinguished these from tactics that involve drug or alcohol intoxication. The authors' aim was to examine correlates of PTSD and depression in a…

Objective: The purpose of this study was to employ a multivariate approach to examine the correlates of self-rated health in a college sample of women, with particular emphasis on sexual assault history and related mental health outcomes. Participants: A national sample of 2,000 female college students participated in a structured phone interview…

Rape affects one in seven women nationwide. Historically, most rape victims do not report rape to law enforcement. Research is needed to identify barriers to reporting and correlates of reporting to guide policy recommendations that address such barriers. We investigated the prevalence of reporting rape among a national sample of women (N = 3,001)…

Because violent crime may produce persistent stress-related problems for many victims, it is important to determine what factors best predict development and persistence of stress-related problems. A study was conducted to examine the extent to which development and persistence of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) could be predicted on the…

Crime victims and their problems have become the focus of considerable attention. In order to determine the effects of sexual assault versus other types of violent crime, and of completed crimes versus those attempted but not completed, 2,004 adult women (a response rate of 84.1%) completed telephone inteviews with female interviewers. Subjects…

Approximately 683,000 adult women are raped each year. Only one in seven of these victims report the assault to police and receive forensic exams and other professional services. For many rape victims, this may be the only professional contact with service providers; however these services are typically limited to evidence collection and…

Women (N=3,213) were interviewed initially, and again a year later, concerning childhood rape history, lifetime symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and lifetime alcohol use. Analysis found a history of childhood rape doubled the number of alcohol-abuse symptoms that women experienced in adulthood, suggesting that PTSD symptomatology…

A longitudinal study found that victims of rape are significantly more anxious, fearful, suspicious, and confused than nonvictims for at least a year after they were assaulted. However, there was improvement on those and on other measures of personality and emotional state over time. (Author/MJL)