Assault-related shame mediates the association between negative social reactions to disclosure of sexual assault and psychological distress.

OBJECTIVE

Several studies have identified associations between social reactions to disclosure of sexual assault and psychological distress; however, no studies have evaluated shame as a mediator of this association. This study evaluated assault-related shame as a mediator of the associations between negative social reactions to disclosure of sexual assault and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and global distress and hypothesized that there would be an indirect effect of social reactions to disclosure upon symptoms of psychopathology via assault-related shame.

METHOD: Participants were 207 female psychology undergraduates who reported past history of completed or attempted sexual assault and had disclosed the assault to at least 1 other person. Participants completed self-report measures of social reactions to sexual assault disclosure, assault-related shame, and symptoms of psychopathology.

RESULTS

Participants reported significant histories of attempted or completed sexual assault and indicated clinically significant symptoms of depression and subthreshold symptoms of PTSD and global distress, on average. Evaluation of structural models confirmed the hypothesized indirect effect of negative social reactions to sexual assault disclosure upon symptoms of PTSD (z = 5.85, p < .001), depression (z = 4.56, p < .001), and global distress (z = 4.82, p < .001) via assault-related shame.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings offer new insight concerning the intervening role of assault-related shame and highlight the importance of shame as a target for therapeutic intervention. This study suggests the need for future research concerning the role of shame in the etiology of PTSD and process of disclosure among survivors of attempted or completed sexual assault. (PsycINFO Database Record