Sexual Assault Literature Review

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Sexual assault, one of the most horrendous crimes one can endure in their lifetime. Yet many do experience the excruciating victimization, particularly women. At one point it time, without knowing it, a person will have met someone who has been a victim of a sexual assault. With the rates consistently increasing, many assaults will go unknown to law enforcement as many women are afraid to come forward as they fear little will be done to help them. Sexual assault does not end after the assault; it can bring years of psychological consequences on the women's life. This literary review will compare and contrast academic articles dealing with the psychological influences effecting sexual assault victims after their victimization. It is important …show more content…
No matter what point in a persons life they were attacked, it will have a lifelong effect on they way they live their life. Although there are many physical effects survivors must go through, the psychological effects have substantial impacts. All five articles being reviewed have connected the risk of mental-health problems after sexual abuse. Of the mental-health problems discussed, the most prevalent were post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety and self-blame issues. Campbell (2002), states, “Depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, which have substantial comorbidity, are the most prevalent mental-health sequelae of intimate partner violence” which was also found in Goodman et al., (1993) study. Although both of these articles draw on the fact that depression and PTSD are likely predictors of mental-health effects after a sexual assault, Goodman et al., goes into further discussion stating that there are a magnitude of situational factors that may lead to different effects after the assault. For example, a particular victim may have more resources than others to find help after an attack. During ones recovery after a sexual assault, much must be done to help the victims overcome their fears. As such, social reactions to those who have experienced a sexual …show more content…
However, the study presented in Rabinovitch et al., (2015) article draws their results from a sample juvenile delinquents who have been sexually assaulted and not from the general public. This creates more questions comparing childhood sexual assault and deviant behaviour yet never discusses the relationship. Although this study concentrated on girls in the juvenile systems, the number of girls sexually abused were outrageously high, “nearly 70% of our sample reported a forced sexual experience prior to age 13, 55% had a documented history of sexual abuse” (Rabinovitch et al., 2015, p. 441). It is important to focus attention on girls who are not paid attention to yet show high rates of sexual abuse. Furthermore, findings dealing with childhood sexual abuse corresponded with previous research that indicates a greater level of depression and anxiety found later in life in shown in both Rabinovitch et al., (2015) and Campbell (2002) study. As some of the other studies being represented in this literature review, substance abuse was not discussed as a link to sexual abuse. The findings are exceptionally shocking, learning of the amount young females who fall victim to sexual abuse. This topic does not pertain to adult women, and the psychological effects prove to

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