Edwards Madison E, Howard Valdivia Rebecca L, Blayney Jessica A, Jaffe Anna E
Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, Lincoln, NE.
Women's and Gender Studies, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, Lincoln, NE.
Sex Roles. 2025 Apr;91(4). doi: 10.1007/s11199-025-01576-4. Epub 2025 Apr 11.
How survivors label victimization experiences that meet the definition of sexual assault can change over time. The current study more closely examines how and why survivors' labeling of victimization experiences changes over time. Participants were 380 college students (83.7% cisgender women) with a history of sexual assault victimization since age 14. Participants reported the extent to which they considered their most recent sexual victimization experience to be one-month post-assault (i.e., retrospectively) and currently (i.e., during participation), then explained their reasons for label changes via open-ended responses. Over half (56.0%) of participants were consistent in their labeling across timepoints, 36.1% increased the extent to which they labeled the experience a , and 7.9% decreased the extent to which they labeled the experience a . Notably, queer (i.e., LGBTQ+) survivors evidenced the greatest labeling change, and cisgender heterosexual men survivors evidenced the lowest current sexual assault labeling. Using qualitative content analysis, we identified five reasons for broad label change by participants: 1) meaning-making, 2) attributions, 3) (un)certainty, 4) assault characteristics, and 5) emotional and cognitive consequences. These findings demonstrate that survivors' use of the label can decrease over time, and that reasons for broad label change are influenced by event-, individual-, interpersonal-, and societal-level factors. Individuals who support sexual assault survivors are encouraged to recognize that labeling can be a flexible, bidirectional process and validate survivors' evolving perceptions of their victimization experiences.
性侵犯幸存者如何对符合性侵犯定义的受害经历进行标签分类可能会随时间而变化。当前的研究更深入地考察了幸存者对受害经历的标签分类是如何以及为何随时间变化的。研究参与者为380名大学生（83.7%为顺性别女性），她们自14岁起就有性侵犯受害史。参与者报告了他们在性侵发生后一个月（即回顾性地）以及当前（即参与研究期间）认为自己最近一次性侵受害经历属于[具体分类]的程度，然后通过开放式回答解释他们标签变化的原因。超过一半（56.0%）的参与者在不同时间点的标签分类是一致的，36.1%的参与者增加了他们将该经历归为[具体分类]的程度，7.9%的参与者降低了他们将该经历归为[具体分类]的程度。值得注意的是，酷儿（即LGBTQ+）幸存者的标签变化最大，而顺性别异性恋男性幸存者当前对性侵犯的标签分类最低。通过定性内容分析，我们确定了参与者广泛标签变化的五个原因：1）意义建构，2）归因，3）（不）确定性，4）侵犯特征，以及5）情感和认知后果。这些发现表明，随着时间的推移，幸存者对[具体分类]标签的使用可能会减少，而且广泛标签变化的原因受到事件、个人、人际和社会层面因素影响。鼓励支持性侵犯幸存者的人认识到标签分类可能是一个灵活的、双向的过程，并认可幸存者对其受害经历不断变化的认知。
