The purpose of this thesis was to explore whether the gender of a sexual assault survivor influenced to whom they disclosed the sexual assault. Previous research indicates that barriers to disclosure could differ based both on the gender of a sexual assault survivor and characteristics of the disclosure recipient. Examining how disclosure is influenced by survivor gender could help better identify which groups could benefit most from educational resources. Participants (n = 160) were college students who experienced a sexual assault in adolescence or adulthood. Disclosure to a range of different formal and informal supports was assessed. Findings indicated that male survivors were significantly less likely to disclose to female friends than female survivors. Both male and female survivors reported low rates of disclosure to formal support providers (such police, therapists, medical professionals). These findings suggest that both men and women who experience sexual assault are unlikely to report the incident to police and campus offices, and they are unlikely to disclose the incident to medical and mental health providers. Therefore, it is important that barriers to disclosure to formal support providers be examined in future research.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ucf.edu/oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:honorstheses-1779 |
| Date | 01 January 2020 |
| Creators | Clevenger, Christian Thomas |
| Publisher | STARS |
| Source Sets | University of Central Florida |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Honors Undergraduate Theses |
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