TY - JOUR
T1 - Fostering Resilience and Countering Stigma
T2 - A Qualitative Exploration of Risk and Protective Factors for Negative Psychological Consequences Among Alcohol-Involved Sexual Assault Survivors
AU - Strickland, Noelle J.
AU - Tang, Karen T.Y.
AU - Wekerle, Christine
AU - Stewart, Sherry H.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022. American Psychological Association
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - The social-ecological resilience framework posits that the development of negative psychological outcomes (NPO) following alcohol-involved sexual assault (AISA) is influenced by the interaction of sociocultural and individual risk and protective factors. AISA survivors may be particularly vulnerable to AISA stigma (e.g., victim-blaming rape myths), a sociocultural risk factor which, if internalized, may increase individual risk factors such as self-blame, low-self-compassion, and fear of self-compassion (FOSC), in turn contributing to subsequent NPO. Objective: This qualitative study explored AISA survivors’ lived experiences regarding AISA stigma, self-blame, self-compassion, and FOSC as interrelated risk and protective factors in fostering or impeding resilience. Method: Eight participants (M = 25.8 years old) who survived AISA completed individual qualitative interviews that were later coded using thematic analysis. Results: Analyses produced three interrelated main themes, where AISA survivors described experiencing: (a) various NPO corresponding to PTSD, anxiety, and depression symptoms; (b) risk factors that undermined resilience, including internalized self-blame secondary to sociocultural AISA stigma, low self-compassion, FOSC, and preexisting maladaptive tendencies; and (c) protective factors contributing to resilience, including resisting self-blame and facilitating self-compassion by living according to one’s values and challenging FOSC. Conclusions: Consistent with the social-ecological framework, AISA survivors’ resilience toward NPO was undermined by the interrelated constructs of AISA stigma, internalized self-blame, and low self-compassion. In contrast, survivors’ values, including being empathic and committed to feminism, fueled motivation to resist victim-blaming stigma and internalized self-blame and to practice self-compassion, ultimately countering the negative psychological effects of AISA.
AB - The social-ecological resilience framework posits that the development of negative psychological outcomes (NPO) following alcohol-involved sexual assault (AISA) is influenced by the interaction of sociocultural and individual risk and protective factors. AISA survivors may be particularly vulnerable to AISA stigma (e.g., victim-blaming rape myths), a sociocultural risk factor which, if internalized, may increase individual risk factors such as self-blame, low-self-compassion, and fear of self-compassion (FOSC), in turn contributing to subsequent NPO. Objective: This qualitative study explored AISA survivors’ lived experiences regarding AISA stigma, self-blame, self-compassion, and FOSC as interrelated risk and protective factors in fostering or impeding resilience. Method: Eight participants (M = 25.8 years old) who survived AISA completed individual qualitative interviews that were later coded using thematic analysis. Results: Analyses produced three interrelated main themes, where AISA survivors described experiencing: (a) various NPO corresponding to PTSD, anxiety, and depression symptoms; (b) risk factors that undermined resilience, including internalized self-blame secondary to sociocultural AISA stigma, low self-compassion, FOSC, and preexisting maladaptive tendencies; and (c) protective factors contributing to resilience, including resisting self-blame and facilitating self-compassion by living according to one’s values and challenging FOSC. Conclusions: Consistent with the social-ecological framework, AISA survivors’ resilience toward NPO was undermined by the interrelated constructs of AISA stigma, internalized self-blame, and low self-compassion. In contrast, survivors’ values, including being empathic and committed to feminism, fueled motivation to resist victim-blaming stigma and internalized self-blame and to practice self-compassion, ultimately countering the negative psychological effects of AISA.
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U2 - 10.1037/tra0001300
DO - 10.1037/tra0001300
M3 - Article
C2 - 35901425
AN - SCOPUS:85135566657
SN - 1942-9681
JO - Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy
JF - Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy
ER -