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Ecological Approach to Understanding Sexual Revictimization: Linking Personal, Interpersonal, and Sociocultural Factors and Processes

NCJ Number
181612
Journal
Child Maltreatment Volume: 5 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2000 Pages: 5-17
Author(s)
Liz Grauerholz
Editor(s)
Mark Chaffin
Date Published
2000
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This article applies an ecological model to the problem of sexual revictimization to advance the understanding of how personal, interpersonal, and sociocultural factors contribute to the increased risk of child sexual abuse victims of being sexually victimized later in life.
Abstract
The model explores how sexual revictimization is determined by multiple factors related to the victim's personal history (traumatic sexualization), the relationship in which victimization occurs (decreased ability to resist unwanted sexual advances), the community (lack of family support), and the larger culture (blaming the victim attitudes). Effects of child sexual abuse are reviewed that concern traumatic sexualization, drug and alcohol abuse, low self-esteem, powerlessness, stigmatization, learned expectancy related to victimization, and social isolation. The article represents a step toward integrating findings on sexual revictimization and providing directions for future empirical work. 72 references, 4 notes, 1 table, and 1 figure