The Trauma Symptom Checklist-33 measured the amount of emotional trauma symptomatology. The Personal View Survey assessed hardiness, and the Severity of Abuse Scale measured the severity of the sexual assault. Three survey questions measured the frequency, duration, and identity of the abuser. Path analysis was used to test the relationship of adjustment to hardiness, severity of abuse, frequency, duration, and the identity of the perpetrator. Hardiness was found to be a successful coping mechanism and buffer for severity, frequency, and duration of sexual abuse, as well as the identity of the perpetrator. Hardiness is a learned transformational coping method that mitigates stressful life events. Also, severity was found to contribute significantly to overall adjustment. Preliminary analyses showed the following: longer duration and more frequent abuse resulted in higher severity scores; the women who showed higher levels of commitment, control, and challenge were better adjusted; women whose abuse was more frequent and of longer duration had more emotional trauma symptoms; and father/stepfather abuse was related to poorer adjustment. Implications of the findings for treatment are explored. 22 references