Survivor- and Informal Support-Initiated Disclosures of Alcohol/Drug Sexual Assaults

Ample research exists on sexual assault (SA) disclosure from the survivor perspective, yet studies with dyadic data, including their informal support providers (SPs), remain scarce. This is particularly true for substance-involved assaults which have been less studied. The present study of 29 survivors, 13 of whom were survivor-SP dyads, used interview data to address this gap. We examine how romantic partners, family, and friends experience SA disclosures from survivor and informal SP perspectives. SP-initiated disclosure themes include a) SPs prompting survivors to disclose after noticing mood/behavioral changes that gave them concern about the survivor, and b) SPs specifically disclosing their own past traumatic experience, which led to survivor SA disclosure. Survivor-initiated disclosure themes include a) survivor fear/anxiety related to disclosing due to fear of receiving negative reactions from SP, b) survivor disclosure prompting SP trauma disclosure, and c) positive and negative disclosure experiences affecting survivor perceptions of whether to disclose to other people. Implications are drawn for how to provide advice to survivors and SPs on improving disclosure experiences of substance-involved assaults, whether survivor or SP-initiated. Survivor anxiety regarding disclosure and feared negative social reactions are common, which requires improving societal culture to support victims and reduce social stigma via education on responding to survivors of diverse familial and cultural backgrounds. The role of survivor and SP disclosures of assault/trauma in facilitating/eliciting disclosures from the person they tell, and motivations for disclosing, are addressed to better understand mutual disclosure in dyadic relationships.