PTSD Symptomatology and Hazardous Drinking as Risk Factors for Sexual Assault Revictimization: Examination in European American and African American Women

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Abstract
A sexual victimization history is a risk factor for experiencing further sexual victimization. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms have been posited as predictors of revictimization through multiple pathways, including through their association with risk recognition and alcohol use. There is, however, limited longitudinal research examining these revictimization risk factors, including the extent to which they predict risk for forcible rape (rape involving threat or force) and incapacitated rape (rape of a victim incapacitated by substances). Additionally, there is no research evaluating ethnic differences in revictimization risk pathways. The current study examined PTSD symptoms and hazardous drinking as predictors of new forcible and incapacitated rape over 1 year in a community sample of European American (n = 217) and African American (n = 272) sexual assault victims (M = 34 years; 84% high school education or above). We hypothesized that PTSD symptoms would predict both types of revictimization and hazardous drinking would predict incapacitated rape. Results supported that PTSD symptoms predicted both types of rape (forcible rape, β = .34; incapacitated rape, β = .20), and hazardous drinking predicted incapacitated rape (β = .24). PTSD symptoms predicted hazardous drinking in African American women only (β = .20). Thus, there is a need to evaluate risk pathways for specific types of victimization among diverse samples.
Funding Information
  • NIAAA (#13455)

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