Date of Conferral

2022

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Psychology

Advisor

Sharon Xuereb

Abstract

Nearly 20% of all women will be the victim of an attempted or completed sexual assault within the United States, yet less than one quarter of victims will report their experienced crime to law enforcement (LE). Many survivors of sexual violence experience apprehension about reporting sexual assault, due to fear of social consequences, relational consequences, and fear of the reprisal from LE officers. The purpose of this interpretive descriptive qualitative study was to describe and interpret the experiences of adult, female sexual assault survivors when they make a LE report about their victimization. Resilience theory, which is the study of how individuals survive and thrive after a trauma, was the theoretical framework for this study. Nine female sexual assault survivors who reported their sexual assault at least 3 years ago were interviewed. The data collected were hand-coded and analyzed using thematic analysis. The results of the study were that each participant experienced resilience but reported negative experiences. Participants believed that the environment where they were interviewed in, the method of interview the LE officers used, as well as the demeanor of the LE officer mattered in their experience. The findings indicated that more training and experience is was needed by responding LE. Understanding resilience in reporting survivors of sexual violence can create meaningful positive social change because when more is known about how resilience occurs in reporting sexual assault survivors, LE agencies, mental health therapists, and other public social agencies can create protocols and services that further promote resilience in survivors of sexual assault. Further, reporting experiences can be improved, which in turn could increase sexual assault survivor reporting.

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