Ullman Sarah E, O'Callaghan Erin, Shepp Veronica, Harris Casey
University of Illinois at Chicago.
J Fam Violence. 2020 Nov;35(8):839-851. doi: 10.1007/s10896-020-00141-9. Epub 2020 Mar 4.
After a sexual assault (SA), victims often disclose their SA to an informal support provider (SP) to receive social support; however, many survivors do not disclose or wait months or years to tell anyone. While research exists on disclosure, social reactions of informal SPs to disclosure, and how those reactions affect the victim both positively and negatively, little research exists on reasons for and impact of adult SA survivors' nondisclosure to informal social network members.
This qualitative interview study examined 42 ethnically diverse women who had disclosed SA to an informal SP (e.g., friend, family, significant other). For this study, nondisclosure of SA mentioned by survivors was examined.
Various reasons for not telling people in their lives and/or delaying doing so were uncovered including fear of negative social reactions, lack of perceived available support and fear of burdening others, family and social norms expectations, and anticipated problematic gendered responses by both men (e.g., violence) and women (e.g., overwhelmed) SPs.
Implications for future SA disclosure research and supporting survivors in their choice to selectively/not disclose are discussed.
遭受性侵犯（SA）后，受害者常常会向非正式支持提供者（SP）披露自己的遭遇以获得社会支持；然而，许多幸存者并未披露，或者要等数月乃至数年之后才会告诉他人。虽然已有关于披露情况、非正式支持提供者对披露的社会反应，以及这些反应如何对受害者产生正面和负面影响的研究，但关于成年性侵犯幸存者不向非正式社交网络成员披露的原因及影响的研究却很少。
这项定性访谈研究调查了42名向非正式支持提供者（如朋友、家人、重要他人）披露过性侵犯经历的不同种族女性。本研究考察了幸存者提到的未披露性侵犯经历的情况。
发现了不向生活中的人讲述和/或推迟讲述的各种原因，包括担心负面的社会反应、感觉缺乏可用的支持以及害怕给他人造成负担、家庭和社会规范期望，以及预计男性（如暴力）和女性（如不堪重负）支持提供者会做出有问题的性别化反应。
讨论了对未来性侵犯披露研究的启示，以及支持幸存者选择选择性披露/不披露的相关问题。
