Posttraumatic Growth in Female Sexual Assault Survivors

This study examined factors associated with the development of posttraumatic growth following sexual assault in 11 female survivors, six months to five years after the assault. To broaden our understanding of how survivors cope with the effects and impacts of their assault and how this ultimately leads to the development of posttraumatic growth, this study used grounded theory methodology to develop a causal model of how growth can occur following sexual assault. A mixed-methods qualitative study (utilizing some quantitative features) was used. The data analysis team concluded that participants described a process consisting of four super-clusters that subsumes nine major domains. The four super-clusters were: Preexisting Traits, Responses or Impact from Assault, Coping Strategies, and Growth and Outcomes. Within those super-clusters the nine major domains were: (a) Traits Prior to Sexual Assault, (b) Negative Affective Responses, (c) Symptom Reactions, (d) Negative Relationship Impact, (e) Negative Coping Strategies, (f) Adaptive Coping Strategies, (g) Seeking Support, (h) Positive Personal Growth, and (i) Increasing Knowledge and Speaking Out. Based on our model of posttraumatic growth development and quantitative analyses, sexual assault survivors appear to rely more on avoidance coping or maladaptive coping strategies immediately following their assault and then tend to turn to more approach coping or adaptive coping strategies. Most participants also described seeking social support as an important domain for making positive changes or developing growth in their lives, except those who described preexisting traits that tended to prevent them from opening up to others (i.e., introversion) or those who were treated negatively by others after their assault (e.g., others responded with disbelief or judgment). All participants reported some growth and/or positive changes as a result of coping with their assault. Implications for research on posttraumatic growth and sexual assault and treatment considerations based on these findings are discussed.