{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/92685"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/92685","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"The process and context of help-seeking after sexual assault","abstract":"Sexual assault is a common experience that has been associated with a number of problematic psychosocial outcomes. To cope with the trauma of sexual assault and mitigate these negative outcomes, survivors may reach out for services and support. However, the responses that they receive vary in their quality and helpfulness. While a theoretical model of help-seeking from the sociology literature—the network episode model—calls attention to aspects of the social context in which help-seeking occurs and the sequence of steps that help-seekers may undertake, such a perspective is missing from the literature on help-seeking after sexual assault. Better understanding the process and context of these help-seeking experiences may inform strategies to improve help-seeking experiences for survivors. The current study involves mixed-method data collection and analysis from a large sample of undergraduates in order to address this gap in the literature. We investigated a) how the social contexts surrounding help-seeking are associated with whom is contacted for help and b) the association between help-seeking experiences and the likelihood of ending help-seeking. Results suggest that the structure of social networks (a measure of social context) is important to consider when understanding to whom survivors disclose sexual assault. In a mixed effects logistic regression, structural characteristics of the network (e.g., degree centrality, number of components) were significant predictors of the proportion of network members told as well as which network members received disclosures, above and beyond variables commonly associated with disclosure likelihood (e.g., social support, self-blame), which complement qualitative findings that characteristics of social networks can both facilitate and place limits on disclosure. Further, in an investigation of predictors of help-seeking dropout, we identified associations between characteristics of each contact with a responder (e.g., the degree to which responders communicated rape myths) and survivors’ likelihood of dropping out of help-seeking. After presenting these analyses, we summarize and interpret the results in light of the network episode model.","abstract_html":"Sexual assault is a common experience that has been associated with a number of problematic psychosocial outcomes. To cope with the trauma of sexual assault and mitigate these negative outcomes, survivors may reach out for services and support. However, the responses that they receive vary in their quality and helpfulness. While a theoretical model of help-seeking from the sociology literature—the network episode model—calls attention to aspects of the social context in which help-seeking occurs and the sequence of steps that help-seekers may undertake, such a perspective is missing from the literature on help-seeking after sexual assault. Better understanding the process and context of these help-seeking experiences may inform strategies to improve help-seeking experiences for survivors. The current study involves mixed-method data collection and analysis from a large sample of undergraduates in order to address this gap in the literature. We investigated a) how the social contexts surrounding help-seeking are associated with whom is contacted for help and b) the association between help-seeking experiences and the likelihood of ending help-seeking. Results suggest that the structure of social networks (a measure of social context) is important to consider when understanding to whom survivors disclose sexual assault. In a mixed effects logistic regression, structural characteristics of the network (e.g., degree centrality, number of components) were significant predictors of the proportion of network members told as well as which network members received disclosures, above and beyond variables commonly associated with disclosure likelihood (e.g., social support, self-blame), which complement qualitative findings that characteristics of social networks can both facilitate and place limits on disclosure. Further, in an investigation of predictors of help-seeking dropout, we identified associations between characteristics of each contact with a responder (e.g., the degree to which responders communicated rape myths) and survivors’ likelihood of dropping out of help-seeking. After presenting these analyses, we summarize and interpret the results in light of the network episode model.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Dworkin, Emily Raphael"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Psychology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Allen, Nicole E.","Berenbaum, Howard","Greene, Jennifer","Kral, Michael","Newman, Daniel A.","Todd, Nathan"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2016,"date_issued":"2016-11-10T17:49:17Z","date_published":"2016-11-10T17:49:17Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:26:35Z","subjects":["rape","disclosure","sexual assault","help-seeking","trauma","violence","mixed methods","social contexts","social networks"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright 2016 Emily Dworkin"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/92685","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Allen, Nicole E.","Berenbaum, Howard","Greene, Jennifer","Kral, Michael","Newman, Daniel A.","Todd, Nathan"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Dworkin, Emily Raphael"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2016-11-10T17:49:17Z","2016-04-22","2016-08"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Psychology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["rape","disclosure","sexual assault","help-seeking","trauma","violence","mixed methods","social contexts","social networks"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2016 Emily Dworkin"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/92685"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Sexual assault is a common experience that has been associated with a number of problematic psychosocial outcomes. To cope with the trauma of sexual assault and mitigate these negative outcomes, survivors may reach out for services and support. However, the responses that they receive vary in their quality and helpfulness. While a theoretical model of help-seeking from the sociology literature—the network episode model—calls attention to aspects of the social context in which help-seeking occurs and the sequence of steps that help-seekers may undertake, such a perspective is missing from the literature on help-seeking after sexual assault. Better understanding the process and context of these help-seeking experiences may inform strategies to improve help-seeking experiences for survivors. The current study involves mixed-method data collection and analysis from a large sample of undergraduates in order to address this gap in the literature. We investigated a) how the social contexts surrounding help-seeking are associated with whom is contacted for help and b) the association between help-seeking experiences and the likelihood of ending help-seeking. Results suggest that the structure of social networks (a measure of social context) is important to consider when understanding to whom survivors disclose sexual assault. In a mixed effects logistic regression, structural characteristics of the network (e.g., degree centrality, number of components) were significant predictors of the proportion of network members told as well as which network members received disclosures, above and beyond variables commonly associated with disclosure likelihood (e.g., social support, self-blame), which complement qualitative findings that characteristics of social networks can both facilitate and place limits on disclosure. Further, in an investigation of predictors of help-seeking dropout, we identified associations between characteristics of each contact with a responder (e.g., the degree to which responders communicated rape myths) and survivors’ likelihood of dropping out of help-seeking. After presenting these analyses, we summarize and interpret the results in light of the network episode model.","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2016-11-09 without embargo terms","The student, Emily Dworkin, accepted the attached license on 2016-04-09 at 15:53.","The student, Emily Dworkin, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2016-04-09 at 16:33.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2016-04-22 at 08:17.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #9179 on 2016-11-09 at 10:19:04","Made available in DSpace on 2016-11-10T17:49:17Z (GMT). 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We investigated a) how the social contexts surrounding help-seeking are associated with whom is contacted for help and b) the association between help-seeking experiences and the likelihood of ending help-seeking. Results suggest that the structure of social networks (a measure of social context) is important to consider when understanding to whom survivors disclose sexual assault. In a mixed effects logistic regression, structural characteristics of the network (e.g., degree centrality, number of components) were significant predictors of the proportion of network members told as well as which network members received disclosures, above and beyond variables commonly associated with disclosure likelihood (e.g., social support, self-blame), which complement qualitative findings that characteristics of social networks can both facilitate and place limits on disclosure. Further, in an investigation of predictors of help-seeking dropout, we identified associations between characteristics of each contact with a responder (e.g., the degree to which responders communicated rape myths) and survivors’ likelihood of dropping out of help-seeking. After presenting these analyses, we summarize and interpret the results in light of the network episode model.","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2016-11-09 without embargo terms","The student, Emily Dworkin, accepted the attached license on 2016-04-09 at 15:53.","The student, Emily Dworkin, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2016-04-09 at 16:33.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2016-04-22 at 08:17.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #9179 on 2016-11-09 at 10:19:04","Made available in DSpace on 2016-11-10T17:49:17Z (GMT). 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