Date of Thesis

Spring 2026

Description

With research demonstrating increasing rates of sexual victimization on college campuses (Koss et al., 1987; Koss et al., 2022), sexual assault disclosure has become a critical construct with implications for victim-survivors’ posttraumatic stress (PTS) and healing. In the present mixed-methods study, college students (N = 558) at Bucknell University completed a survey assessing sexual victimization, disclosure, peer responses, institutional betrayal and support, and PTS; a subset (n = 9) participated in qualitative interviews examining social reactions, barriers to disclosure, and present functioning. Consistent with hypotheses, women reported significantly higher rates of sexual victimization than men; disclosure was relatively infrequent (26.5%) and of the 86 participants who disclosed, 97.7% disclosed to informal resources and 20.9% to formal resources. Women were more likely than men to disclose to informal resources, although no gender differences emerged for formal disclosure. Contrary to hypotheses, individuals who disclosed scored significantly higher on posttraumatic stress (PTS) than those who did not disclose. Victim-survivors experienced positive peer responses more frequently than negative ones, and consistent with hypotheses, negative peer responses were positively correlated with PTS. Qualitative findings further highlighted the complexity of disclosure and the impact of social reactions.

Keywords

campus sexual assault, sexual assault disclosure, social reactions, posttraumatic stress

Access Type

Honors Thesis

Degree Type

Bachelor of Arts

Major

Psychology

First Advisor

Bill Flack

Second Advisor

Erica Delsandro

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