NCJ Number
151376
Journal
Journal of Family Violence Volume: 9 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1994) Pages: 249-264
Date Published
1994
Length
36 pages
Annotation
This study compares the interpretive and coping responses of female and male survivors of incest and female survivors of sexual assault by a nonrelative. The findings are discussed in terms of the roles of searching for meaning via account-making and confiding as ways of dealing with long-term, major stressors in people's lives.
Abstract
Twenty-eight persons responded to a questionnaire that asked them to provide an account of the nature of an assault(s), the role of confidants in helping them cope with the assault, how they coped and tried to understand the assault over time, how they felt the assault affected their close relationships, and how they evaluated their current state of recovery. The results for male and female incest groups were similar in revealing great difficulty in coping and in having adult close relationships. These two groups showed more continuing lack of resolution than did the female nonfamilial survivors. The male group of incest survivors showed the greatest overall difficulty. Tables, references