Rape Acknowledgement, Blame Attributions and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms Among College Students

A substantial proportion of people who experience incidents that meet definitions of rape do not acknowledge their experiences as rape. Rape acknowledgement has been associated with mixed outcomes for survivors, including increased risk for negative post-assault appraisals and posttraumatic stress symptoms. No study to our knowledge has examined these outcomes simultaneously, and most research has been conducted in small, single-gender samples at single universities. The current study examined the prevalence of unacknowledged rape and its associations with demographic characteristics, self- and perpetrator-blame and posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms among 334 college students from two universities who self-reported experiencing a rape since age 14. Findings indicated that 59% of those who experienced rape did not acknowledge their experiences as rape. In multivariate models, sexual minority students and those who experienced vaginal penetration, force and had a male assailant were more likely to acknowledge their rapes. Rape acknowledgement was associated with greater self-blame, higher PTS symptoms and lower rapist blame compared to non-acknowledgement. Findings underscore a persistently high prevalence of unacknowledged rape and robust associations between rape acknowledgement and distorted blame attributions that may underlie and/or maintain PTS symptoms.