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)…

Assessed prevalence of traumatic events, lifetime posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and PTSD in past 6 months in 4,008 adult women. Lifetime exposure to any type of traumatic event was 69%, whereas exposure to crimes that included sexual or aggravated sexual assault or homicide of close relative of friend occurred among 36%. (Author/NB)

Log-linear chi-square analyses were conducted to examine potential interactions between presence of pre-crime Axis I psychiatric diagnoses and differential levels of crime stress in association with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a community sample of 295 female crime victims. High crime stress was defined as crime that included either…

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…