Facilitators of Sexual Assault Disclosure: A Dyadic Study of Female Survivors and their Informal Supports

Abstract

Two-thirds of survivors typically disclose their experience to others at some point following sexual assault, but little in-depth research has addressed factors facilitating disclosure. In the current study, a diverse sample of 45 female sexual assault survivors (75% racial/ethnic minorities) and their 45 informal support providers (SP; e.g., family, friends, romantic partners) were interviewed separately about experiences of disclosure, social reactions, and help-seeking following assault. Disclosure facilitation was expressed by 40 survivors and 31 SPs, of which 28 were matched S/SP dyadic pairs. Narrative data on the overarching thematic category of sexual assault disclosure facilitation was analyzed using descriptive thematic analysis methods. Several themes emerged from analysis of quotes specific to facilitation of disclosure including: individual (e.g., survivor psychological, behavioral, disclosure recipient factors), interpersonal (e.g., SP-solicited disclosures, helping others, mutual disclosures), and societal (e.g., lack of barriers, formal supports, media). Implications are drawn for future research on facilitators of sexual assault disclosure. Clinical practice implications are provided for professionals supporting survivors and their informal support networks.

Most victims eventually disclose sexual assault to others, but the nature and characteristics of disclosure experiences vary (Ullman, 2023a). Most research has examined rates of disclosure, reasons for disclosing or not disclosing, disclosure characteristics (e.g., timing, detail, impact), and social reactions of others to disclosures. Qualitative research has documented a range of survivor experiences with sexual assault disclosure (see Gorrisen et al., 2020; Gueta et al., 2022 for reviews). However, research is still needed regarding how disclosures occur and their ramifications for recovery, relationships, and larger social networks. Most research has focused on barriers to disclosure or reporting to formal supports, including medical, mental health, religious, and police (Stoner & Cramer, 2019; Zinzow et al., 2022).

American society has a highly individual-focused, victim-blaming, rape supportive culture that makes it particularly difficult to facilitate survivor disclosure, due to high odds of being judged, disbelieved, and blamed (Ullman, 2023). It is not surprising that shame, self-blame, not labeling experiences as rape/sexual assault, and anticipated negative social reactions are all noted by survivors as major reasons for not disclosing their assaults, stopping after telling the first person, or only selectively disclosing what occurred to certain people (Ahrens, 2006; Moschella et al., 2020; Ullman, 2023b). While disclosure is important for the recovery, survivors need safe people and places to talk openly about their experiences in order to receive support and access professional help. Without such avenues, survivors may not tell others and suffer on their own with psychological and health-related consequences of victimization.

Survivors mostly tell informal support sources (e.g., family, friends, romantic partners), with only one-third of those telling formal sources (e.g., mental health, medical, religious, police, rape crisis; (Ullman, 2023a). This pattern is likely due to proximity to, and greater knowledge and trust of informal supports, in combination with greater barriers to formal support sources.

Survivors experiencing distress may need to disclose in order to vent their feelings, and to receive support and help (Demers et al., 2017). The Disclosure Processes Model (Chaudoir & Fisher, 2010) argues that individuals have different motivations for disclosure including: approach goals (e.g., improving emotional well-being) or avoidance goals (e.g., avoiding blame). Disclosure outcomes occur at several levels: individual (psychological and physical well-being), interpersonal (trust and intimacy), and social context (stigma and norms). This model can help to understand survivors’ stated motivations and experiences of telling others about their assaults and their impacts (Gueta et al., 2022). Missing from such models are additional internal and external factors that may facilitate and constrain disclosure. Individual, intrapersonal, situational, and other contextual factors may all influence survivors’ willingness and likelihood of disclosing sexual assault.

Several reviews of research on interpersonal violence, including intimate partner violence (IPV) and child/family abuse have identified facilitators of disclosure. Sylaska and Edwards (2014) identified demographic (e.g., victim sex, age, and race), intrapersonal (e.g., shame, embarrassment, protecting others), and situational (e.g., violence severity, witnesses) factors that may facilitate disclosure of IPV. Alaggia et al. (2019) identified internal factors (e.g., symptoms, older age, female gender, acknowledging assault), circumstantial factors (e.g., evidence, someone asks, eyewitness, report made), and environmental factors (e.g., opportunity to tell via dialogical contexts like: counseling, interviews, education, and prevention sessions). Tener and Murphy (2015) identified various facilitators adult disclosures of child sexual abuse (CSA) including: retrieving memories, need to protect others, distance from abuser/family of origin, relationship with trusted other, high social support, beliefs that telling will help or professionals will be supportive, and media stories of famous people’s disclosures. Gueta et al (2022) mentioned online disclosure facilitators including: drinking, distress, lack of support in real-life, anonymity, friends, online hashtags like #MeToo, validation of stories, others’ disclosures, and 24/7 access to online venues.

We reported elsewhere on factors leading to selective disclosure, where one tells certain people, but not others, about assault (Ullman, 2023b). However, how these factors lead survivors to tell needs further study to understand how to encourage disclosure. Even demographic differences could help to better tailor support sources that are geared towards different groups’ preferences for disclosure, such as different age, race, and sexual identity groups (Edwards et al., 2022). Finally, assault severity, relationship to the perpetrator, alcohol use, and assault context may affect whether and who is told (Ullman, 2023a).

Current Study

Few in-depth studies of facilitators of adult sexual assault disclosure exist including both survivors and their informal SPs. Yet, social ecological theoretical models require data to identify factors at multiple levels of the social ecology that facilitate telling others and to identify outcomes of disclosures (Dworkin & Weaver, 2021; Ullman, 2023a). Limited dyadic research exists on facilitators of disclosure that include informal SPs of survivors (but see Mauer et al., 2022). This study addressed this gap by exploring facilitators of women’s sexual assault disclosures from survivor and informal SP perspectives. Prior studies of these data examined post-assault substance use and coping and exchanging sex, identity, stigma, and SP responses (Shepp et al., 2020; Ullman et al., 2018). This study’s research questions were: a) What individual-, relational-, and contextual-level factors facilitate survivors’ disclosures and b) What are survivor and SP perspectives on facilitators of survivors’ disclosure experiences?

Method

Participants

The sample included adult females who disclosed sexual assault to an informal SP. Survivors had already participated in a 3-year longitudinal survey (N = 1,863) about unwanted sexual experiences and social reactions they received when disclosing assaults (see Peter-Hagene & Ullman, 2016, for study description). Survivors indicating interest in a follow-up interview provided contact information for a friend, family member, or significant other they told about their experience. SPs were contacted for separate interviews focusing on their experience responding to survivors. Separate interviews with survivors and SPs (N = 90; 45 matched pairs) were done over 2 years. In this study, these matched pairs, as well as some survivors and SP’s without dyadic data participated. Disclosure facilitation was expressed by 40 survivors and 31 SPs (28 of whom were matched pairs).

Demographic data for the survivors in this study come from the survey portion of the larger study. Survivors were an average age of 43 years old. Race/ethnicity was as follows: 75% non-White (African American, Latina, Native American, or multiracial); 18% White, non-Hispanic; and 7% not reported. Two-thirds (60%) had children, 38% were currently employed, and 76% had at least some college. SP’s were an average of 43 years old. Most survivors reported CSA histories (80%), 43% had an alcohol-facilitated assault, and all participants had multiple sexual assaults, assessed with the Sexual Experiences Survey-Revised (Testa et al., 2004; SES–Revised. Most SPs were female (64%), African American (66%), and had children (64%). Most had at least some college (66%), and were employed (60%). Half of SPs were friends (51%), one-third family (33%), and 16% significant others.

Procedures

Written informed consent was obtained immediately before interviews. This study followed ethical standards for human subjects research and was approved by the University’s IRB. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were done by one of three trained interviewers. Interviews were an average of one hour, ranging from 30 minutes to 3 hours and participants were paid $30. After each interview, interviewers created summaries with interesting points, questions, final thoughts, and unanticipated feelings emerging from the interview. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and checked by other research team members.

Interview Protocol

The interview protocol for survivors and SPs focused on survivor’s assault disclosures, social support provided/received, and appraisals of survivor-SP relationships. This study focused on various factors at individual, relational, and larger contextual levels that facilitate sexual assault survivors’ disclosures.

Data Analysis

Research team members summarized each interview transcript to develop patterns and themes that were later discussed by the team. Interview coding trials and refinement were used to develop a codebook covering interview content and matched pair relationships. Codebook revisions were made by adding, renaming, redefining, and/or combining codes. Codes were used to describe the topic of the excerpt (Saldana, 2012). The codes’ context was examined by reviewing transcripts and interviewer summaries when identifying interview quotes. Atlas.ti Version 7 qualitative analysis software was used for coding and analysis. Codes developed made analytic sense of the data (i.e., “focused” coding; Charmaz, 2006) and were paired with segments of the transcript to represent what was happening in the interview. Data were coded separately and then consensed among team members (Eisikovits & Koren, 2010). First, pairs of coders separately coded each interview matched pair using the codebook, second, one coder in the pair reviewed both coded transcripts to identify inconsistencies in assigned codes, and third, coders discussed disagreements until reaching a joint consensed version (Patton, 2009), with double coding used as a compromise between two codes for disagreements. Finally, the original interviewer reviewed the coded transcript for agreement with assigned codes. Coders and the interviewer discussed any disagreements and corrected coded transcripts until reaching consensus. Memos were added in transcripts highlighting relationships or inconsistencies within and between survivor and SP interviews, or to capture unexpected themes (Charmaz, 2006). This allowed coders to pay attention to relationships between different matched pair interviews. Analysis took place in several stages with the interview analyzed at individual and matched pair levels. First, queries in Atlas.ti software identified the number of times each interviewee endorsed a particular code (e.g., “disclosure facilitation.”) Survivor-SP relationship type (i.e., friend, family member, significant other) was noted. Second, research team members individually reviewed quotes for each query in search of patterns and findings (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Specifically, descriptive thematic analysis was developed to synthesize the text quotations under various themes (Braun & Clarke, 2006). For the disclosure facilitator content being reviewed here, we applied a descriptive thematic analysis, as we did not formulate a new interpretive schema but essentially provided a thematic clustering of the findings related to disclosure facilitation in its various manifestations and contexts. Third, the team met to review themes and patterns, looking for similarities and contrasts within and between matched pairs; an iterative process repeated to develop themes related to quotes under the code.

Results

Various themes were identified related to sexual assault disclosure experiences of sexual assault survivors in this study, occurring at individual, interpersonal/relational, and societal levels. These included external and internal factors described as proximal and/or playing a role in disclosures. In some cases, both survivors and SPs mentioned this theme, but other times only one person spoke about the disclosure experience, which may be because that was the interview’s focus. Abbreviations next to participant quotes refer to demo graphics (survivor/SP relationship, gender, age, race/ethnicity): SO = significant other, F = family, FR = friend, M = male, F = female, AA = African American, WH = White, N = Native American, H = Hispanic, Multi = Multiracial, U = unknown. Subthemes specific to proximal internal, relational, and external factors are presented specific to who survivors told about the assault. Various facilitating factors led survivors to disclose and are organized at three levels of social ecology: individual (e.g., psychological, behavioral, disclosure, recipient factors), interpersonal (e.g., SP-solicited, mutual disclosures), and societal (e.g., lack of barriers, formal supports, media),

Individual Facilitators

There were various individual disclosure facilitators related to survivors and their informal SPs including lack of internal barriers, and survivor and SP characteristics and behaviors.

Lack of Internal Barriers

Internal barriers of fear, embarrassment, and concern about being judged can thwart disclosure. For example, one survivor mentioned a lack of shame helped her to disclose about her repeated experiences of sexual abuse starting at age 14.

I told him he doesn’t live here anymore, he’s in jail, this is what happened, I wasn’t ashamed about it because I felt in control then. My roommate, I don’t like if the topic ever comes up I’m open about what happened. I sure lots of people that know what I’ve been through just because that was my main thing, I’m not ashamed of it.

(S, FR, F, 21, Multi, H)

In another case, a survivor was not worried about how others would respond, so was able to tell some people more easily; whereas with her mother, she never told all of what occurred due to her initial negative reaction. This survivor was raped at a younger age by various of her mother’s boyfriends and was later gang raped at age 18 while drinking with friends. While she was able to disclose, she was cautious about talking to women in her family due to her mother’s failure to protect her and respond supportively to her early abuse.

I really wasn’t worried about how people responded. You’re gonna respond or you not. Telling somebody wasn’t that hard, sometimes it’s hard at first, because you feel guilty like it’s your fault. Then, after a while, the person [you] can’t tell wants to know what’s going on with you. I could never tell my mother everything that happened because of her reactions. So I never told her everything that happened to me.

(S, F, F, 46, AA)

This survivor had confidentiality in a women’s group where she felt she would not face any judgment, a view that was also affirmed by her SP and members of her church.

“I felt like that if I told them that they wouldn’t be able to judge me because they didn’t really know nothing about me.”

(S, FR, F, 46, AA)

“Me and her are involved in the women’s group that it did take place in one of the women’s group. So that’s why we chose to share among each other”

(SP, FR, F, 43, U)

Survivor and SP Characteristics/Behaviors

Various survivor or SP emotions and behaviors were mentioned as facilitating disclosure, as they were often noticed by other people.

Cause they saw me all shook up, they wanted to know what was wrong, and then they said, “You better go to the hospital.” “We think you need to go to the hospital.” It was on the way there I started sharing this information…

(S, FA, F, 54, WH, H)

In other cases, emotions like fear drove survivors to tell or other behaviors like being drunk which was disinhibiting, thus motivated survivors to tell others.

I told him that [about the assault] because I was kind of afraid.

(S, SO, F, 44, AA)

I was so mad, I don’t know what I was doing, I was completely drunk and delirious, but my whole point in telling is there was never anyone to really tell. I told H, [who said] well I’m sorry you had to go through all that.

(S, SO, F, 45, U)

In another case, a survivor also spoke of telling when under the influence.

I was under the influence. I was just talking about it, whether I wanted to or not. I had no control, this stuff makes you do things, makes you say things that you wished you hadn’t said or done. So I’ve done that around a lot of people.

(S, SO, F, 45, AA)

Another survivor told her partner because of sexual impacts it was having in her current relationship, due to her being triggered about past early abuse by family members.

A sexual experience I had with her brought back a lot of feelings, thoughts, and emotions. It stopped everything. I was crying. I was furious. I was very angry. I was hurt. What happened came between us because the things that happened was similar to what happened during the time I was being raped. When that happened, my behavior changed, crying and her trying to ask what’s wrong. What’s the matter? I hadn’t told her up to this point. It was just something that happened between us that brought memories of things that happened to me in the past.

(S, FR, F, 41, AA)

Other factors like getting older or being at a point when one was trying to recover by making amends led to disclosure. One participant shared, “It progresses as you get older as you get more experiences, as life goes on, it gets easier to tell someone.”

When I really got clean, it’s been like over 7 years. Then I was able. The first year that I got clean that’s when I started telling my mom. Because I wasn’t really close to her at the time, I just wanted to be around people that did the same thing I did.

(S, FR, F, 20, WH)

Some survivors expressed an aversion to telling men and/or preference for telling women. One survivor had been in an abusive relationship, and fearing future abuse, did not plan to tell other men moving forward.

I don’t think it’s gonna be easy to automatically tell another male…because the relationship didn’t work out because they were abusive. I’m looking at that now more. I don’t think I’m gonna be tellin’ too many people. But if me and him break up, I’m not gonna wanna automatically tell the next person about what happened to me.

(S, FR, F, 42, Multi).

Another SP mentioned how important female service providers including doctors andtherapists are for talking about sexual assault.

Luckily, I had her as a doctor because I started having problems. I would get a female gynecologist, cause back in the day most were male, most therapists was male…Even psychiatrists was male. Everything was male orientated when you go higher up, so I needed a female to talk to. I didn’t wanna talk to a man.

(SP, FR, F, U, U)

Interpersonal/Relational Facilitators

Various interpersonal and/or relational factors were noted as facilitating disclosure.

SP-Facilitated Disclosures

In many cases, SPs solicited the survivor’s disclosure when they knew something was wrong and/or that the survivor needed help.

Two people I was with was like, what is going on? You’re tensing up, sweating, what is wrong with you? I was like I can’t tell you guys here. I just have to leave. I have to get out of here. So I remember we went back to their car and I just kind of broke down and was like, look you guys have got to keep this a secret.

(S, FA, F, 30, Multi)

It was my birthday outing, we were out and just talking in this shanty dive bar, but amongst my group friends we’re all paired off talking to each other and I was talking to him and the topic just came up -- have you ever woken up, has someone ever slipped something in your drink? We were joking about it and then I said, “man, you don’t wanna know what that’s like, waking up after that.” And, he’s like “what do you mean? Has that happened to you?” and I’m like “yeah, I think so, unfortunately”

(S, FR, F, 23, WH)

Various SP’s also noted the way in which they facilitated survivors’ disclosures:

I said you need to talk about it because I don’t know what’s going on, but am under the impression there’s something I am doing wrong pushing you to feel this way. She broke down, we was having sex, and she told me she had got raped.

(SP, FR, F, 47, AA)

I knew something was wrong. ‘Cause the name triggered a lot in her and she asked me a lot of questions. She was like, who? I mentioned the name again and she said, this person? I said, yeah, do you know him? She got really quiet and didn’t say anything right off. Then she said, yes. I said, well whatever you tell me is okay. We talked about it and she cried and got it all out. I said, it’s over, now it’s okay.

(SP, FR, F, 40, Multi)

When it initially came up, I noticed that she was kind of melancholy. I asked her about it and she bust out in tears. I just quietly waited to see if she wanted to disclose and she just began to tell me she was thinking about experiences she had when she was on the streets in prostitution and some horrible things she had experienced.

(SP, FR, F, 58, AA)

Finally, an SP said the survivor opened up about her assault because a family member had posted a video of her in pornography and she needed help and affirmation to resolve that so decided to disclose. Her SP was uniquely able to be supportive to her because they were accepting that people are in this line of work and even other family knew about it.

I feel like the conversation was directed towards resolving an ongoing issue, not so much like reflectively. She came up to me to try to solve a situation because a family member had come across the film. She was like how do I get him to take that down, and also working through her own thoughts on why this family member would do this. I think also seeking reaffirmation of her feelings -- that that was a fucked up thing to do because he was very argumentative and had all these reason. So the way we talked about it was I think also the reason that she opened up over coffee about it.

(SP, FR, M, 25, Multi)

Circumstances Leading to Indirect Disclosures

In some instances, circumstances led to indirect disclosures where the survivor felt she had to tell, or others who knew about the assault told people around them, including the survivor’s SP. “I had to tell them because our apartment was broken into, so I had told them I was raped. They knew something terrible had happen[ed].”

In another case a husband found out from ex-spouse’s best friend, “He actually found out from my ex-husband’s best friend when he stopped by one day, after he hadn’t seen him in five months, he had been out of town.” The SP explained that the survivor would talk about it when violence against women came up. “It was in relation to the porn industry. I think we were having a conversation about porn and she mentioned, ‘Oh yeah, I was like, interested in that.”

Close Relationships

Many survivors spoke of having a close trusted and/or special relationship with the SP that facilitated them disclosing as did some of their SPs.

Just getting more comfortable and getting to know her or because she had shared things with me too, I feel like I can tell her something. Yeah, trust. I have told other people, but not right away. I was dating someone, after a while I’d bring it up, but then again it’s like I was to the point where I was not just gonna bring it up like I used to.

(S, FR, F, 42, Multi)

In other cases the survivor had to get to a place in a relationship where she felt comfortable and safe to disclose. “We were courting, I didn’t tell him everything until I felt comfortable that he was committed - until I actually felt like we were going to be you know.” A SP said the survivor was comfortable talking to them about their addiction and past sexual victimization, and a recent death led her to disclose:

The fact that she was comfortable with me - we was talking about her addiction and her bringing up all this past stuff. She was able to be comfortable enough to tell me details. That was not only it, her auntie had died, whose husband it was. The combination of all that just made her.

(SP, FR, F, U, U)

Several survivors mentioned a close and/or trusted person/relationship helped them disclose. One survivor told parents about sexual abuse in her relationships with her therapist there.

I: So you told them in the context of having had your therapist there. S: Yeah, I think there would’ve been some anger, because I know they were really frustrated with me that I was in the hospital and them having to take care of my 1-year old at the time. So I think some of that would’ve come out, whereas they knew they couldn’t do that. The only reason I felt safe doing it was cuz there were other people in the room.

(S, FA, F, 27, WH)

I knew that she was a lady who didn’t blab to anybody. I know I could tell her in confidence and it wouldn’t be told again unless me and her talk about it.

(S, FR, F, 52, B).

Another participant shared, “Because we were really close and he wanted me to open up to him. So that’s how I started to talk to him about things. Cause he wanted me to.” This survivor told her SP about her experiences of sexual abuse and assault starting at age 13, after he explained that he wasn’t like other abusive men.

I expressed to her that I’m not the kind of guy that you think that I am. I expressed that and showed that to her. Because of the fact of what she been through with so many other guys, I think it was around that time that I was living with her she expressed to me a lot of what’s been going on, she broke it down to me in detail, from her symptoms to the experience that she went through - traumatizing moments, depression, even suicidal thoughts, so it was pretty deep.

(SP, FR, M, 27, AA)

A SP also shared with the survivor who said she did not want to remember her own sexual assault and chose to bottle up all her feelings and not tell anyone.

I was able to share things with her, we were able to compare notes, she just didn’t want to remember or ask questions about it. She said she just pretty much didn’t want to know about it and that with all those emotions, she just chose to keep everything bottled and not tell anybody. Knowing that her and her mother’s relationship has always been very iffy was one of the biggest reasons why she was not able to express.

(SP, FR, F, 26, WH, H)

Interestingly, the SP later noted that the survivor disclosed spontaneously much to their surprise.

Then, she shared with me and the other girl that she had been raped and she had never shared that with us. We really never went into conversations like that with each other but as the years went on we just got deeper into each other’s lives. It was surprising to me because I thought we were close.

(SP, FR, F, 26, WH, H)

In other cases, survivors trusted close others knowing they were discreet individuals.

My mother didn’t broadcast and tell anybody cuz I didn’t really want nobody else. I didn’t feel like I trusted anybody else to tell anybody but my mother because I knew if I told my mom its stay right with me and her. I figured my mother would make things better. Just giving me a hug or saying everything is gunna be okay, it’s not your fault. That’s just how close I was to my mom. I’m just glad that they were there to listen. At least share something with me or listen cuz a lot of people might say, “It’s not my business.” That’s why I picked certain people to tell things to.

(S, F, SO, 54, AA)

My mentor was the catalyst - if it wasn’t for her being that judgment free person I can talk to, I wouldn’t know how to talk to anyone else about it.

(S, FR, F, 24, AA)

That’s why I told her because I knew she wasn’t the type of lady that I was gunna hear about next week that the neighbor next door knew about it. She’s very respectful. She’ll keep that to herself. Her husband, her children, nobody knows it.

(S, FR, F, 52, AA)

Another survivor explained that she told a long-time friend who cared, “We had been friends for 10 years and I thought that she cared how I feel and what I had went through and stuff.”

I had a girlfriend and she [SP’s mother] was telling me the basics of what to expect and ended up telling me, “I’ve been through this” [sexual assault]. Knowing her and how she was carrying herself, she was strong for a very long time until actually she exposed it to me, that’s when she really got sensitive of the conversation.

(SP, FA, M, 21, AA)

Disclosing to Protect Others

Another interpersonal/relational theme was survivors who told to protect others, which was often connected to a history of CSA. For instance, a survivor who became pregnant told her partner about her sexual abuse history starting at age 14 to explain why she feared that her child also might be victimized and that she needed him to know in order to protect her child.

I told him while I was pregnant, because a lot of his friends and family, they’re like, oh I can’t wait to watch the baby and all these other stuff and like we were driving in a car and I just started like crying. I was like I don’t want to sound mean but I don’t want everyone around my baby. I told him I don’t want them around because of what happened to me. He’s like what happened? And from there I just told him, like my uncle, he took me to the back room. I gave him details and he didn’t seem to take it in. He seemed like it ruined him or something. I’m like, dude, it didn’t happen. But, I seen his reaction. I’m like dammit, I can’t tell him anything more, he got really quiet.

(S, FR, F, 24, AA)

In another case, the survivor told others to protect them from abuse, after having experienced both CSA in her family of origin and later sexual assault by a dating partner.

I know they wouldn’t tell my sister. So I told them so they would know what happened because I don’t keep nothing from them. Just to be aware because I don’t know if he did it just to me. If he was doing it to boys, or boys and girls, or even if he was doing it to anybody else in the neighborhood. Just watch out, just wanted to protect them, just like they wanted to protect me.

(S, FR, F, 41, AA)

The survivor also told a friend in a similar situation to share her related experience of rape as a teenager and later associated negative impacts on her relationship with her husband, “The reason I told my friend recently was we were in a conversation and she was telling me something about the father of her three boys.”

In another case the SP said the survivor told in the context of cautioning her SP to be careful:

I remember her always telling me, be careful. I’m like I’m grown, I go do what I want to do. I’m grown. She sat me down and, I guess had been out the night that happened with somebody. That’s when she told me and it changed me a lot too.

(SP, FA, F, 43, AA)

Another survivor saw the perpetrator years later, which led her to disclose out of concern he might assault someone else. Prior to that, she had not told due to shame and embarrassment.

I think I held on to that hurt all those years. When I saw him that second time it let me know that this man is still around. That’s when I decided to share it with somebody I’ve basically been born and raised in that area and have been there all my life. So I was like ok I better tell somebody because he might do this to somebody else.

(S, FR, F, 46, AA)

Another survivor disclosed her sexual assault to her son to educate him and protect other women:

We had a little talk, sat down for hours, talking to him about things in life. Maybe it wasn’t the best thing, but I did the best I could, trying to send him the other way. Like let him say, ‘well, this is what happened to my mom, I’m not gonna do this. I’m not gonna be that guy.” That’s what I was trying to do. I wanted to be heard, my life wasn’t everything that it could’ve been, but don’t make the same mistakes I made.

(S, FR, F, 38, AA)

Mutual Disclosure

Other disclosures were noted to be mutual in nature. For example, the survivor and her SP were in the same support group so told each other in the group about their sexual victimization. “I had told her something happened to me. I guess she feel comfortable sharing with me because I can relate and she knows I’m not gonna tell other people.”

In another case, a SP learned about the survivor’s abuse and assault history from her girlfriends, noting that a friend’s disclosure prompted the survivor to tell about her own assault.

I just knew from her girlfriends. I was around that group and I just listen and be real understanding and compassionate and not voice my opinion toward anything….I think one of her friends might have gone through some traumatic time in their life and might bring up a story that happened to them in the past. Then, the survivor is very outspoken. I’ve gone through that shit, they’ll say I hate my father, my mother, I know exactly what you mean, me and mother were never close.

(SP, SO, M, 53, WH)

Societal Facilitators

Formal Supports

In some cases disclosures were prompted by survivors needing to call police or contact other professionals, often due to being sexually assaulted at a young age and/or abused by a romantic partner. For example, in several cases, survivors disclosed to those close to them, realizing they were going to have to call the police, would have to tell others, and needed support. In another case, the SP tried to support the survivor going to police but she did not want to. A participant explained, “I told the friend because I made my way back to her house; it was raining that night, it was horrible, but I found my way back and told her because I had to call the police afterwards.”

I don’t really think she went to her mom a lot. But there were definitely times where she wasn’t necessarily secretive about things with them. Sometimes things would come out, like when you’re fighting. I’m sure she told her dad, cause she was scared after that happened. I don’t know if she did tell him about what happened, but I know she told him that she was messed up about it.

(SP, FR, F, 26, WH)

I told them what happened, I told her everything. First, I was ashamed to tell them because to me, I’m 14, and never experience nothing like that, so I was kind of afraid to tell her so I told someone about it because I was gonna call the police.

(F, FA, 44, AA)

I remember asking her about going to the police. She didn’t initially and never changed her mind. She felt it was over, so she didn’t expect any reoccurrence. But she wasn’t happy about it to say the least. I tried to say, “will you think about it?”, “If you need to, I’ll take you when you go.” But she decided it was not worth it. I can’t say she was wrong because who can? Is it really worth it to her is the question.

(SP, SO, M, 55 WH)

Professional-Facilitated Disclosures

In other cases, survivors avoiding telling others around them for fear they would not be able to deal with it, preferring to tell professionals with training and experience dealing with sexual assault.

That’s where the professionals come in, because they’ve handled situations like myself, but I can’t put that burden on an ordinary person who doesn’t have the knowledge or education on how to deal with that. So we talked about that a lot, but I didn’t want to keep bringing it up to him to affect his psyche like that.

(S, FA, F, 54, WH, H)

In another case, a doctor guessed that sexual assault had happened according to the survivor:

He [doctor] called me and I knew I could trust him. A couple months after that I was in the hospital and he came into my room one morning, sits down, looks at me, and says, so your oldest brother did naughty things to you when you were a little girl huh? I was furious and was going to kill the person that told and scream at them for violating my confidentiality. I was tryna figure out who told him so I could rake the person over the coals. Then I realized nobody told him because I’d never told anybody. I realized he figured it out himself - who had done it and what had happened.

(S, FR, F, 49, WH)

When asked if alcohol played a role in not disclosing, the survivor quickly explained yes given her fear of being blamed and prior experiences of being blamed as a child for abuse by family.

I assumed I’d be blamed because I was drinking. I didn’t tell them that I’d been raped. I was sure if I did, they would blame me because I had been drinking. Part of why I was sure is cuz I knew from my prior experiences as a child I would be blamed. I was blamed for that, so I would be blamed for this, so I wasn’t going to tell.

(S, FR, F, 49, WH)

The SP further elaborated by explaining that some of the survivor’s victimization happened because she was homeless due to family abuse, yet that she sought a lot of therapy over time.

“Well talking about the homelessness and some things happened, she might’ve told me. Because she’s been in tons of therapy forever since I’ve known her.”

(SP, FR, F, 48, WH)

Various other circumstances provided opportunities for to disclose, like when the topic of sexual assault came up in conversation. One survivor disclosed abuse, but only when asked by a nurse. Her SP then spoke of how she told him only when the topic came up.

One of the nurses doing the vitals was asking routine questions like “have you had any kind of abuse or anyone touching you in a way that you didn’t want?” and I’m like “yeah, unfortunately, I’ve had some unwarranted contact with somebody.”

(S, FR, F, 23, WH)

We got on the topic at one point. She told me and I wanted to cry. I couldn’t believe that she was a victim - what she had told me happened. I believe it’s been more than a year. So she’ll come to you when she’s ready to tell you something.

(SP, FR, M, 22, WH)

One SP encouraged the survivor to talk about sexual assaults by family and a teacher, noting that therapy helped the survivor break though these barriers to talk about it more.

It was really after therapy that kind of broke through a lot of the stuff. I just encouraged her to talk about it. I said “What happened?” then I felt like she didn’t want to talk about it very much. I know she can be withdrawn…certain things like she’ll just have a wall sometimes, so I remember encouraging her to tell me what happened.

(SP, FA, F, 53, WH)

In another case, the survivor disclosed during a hospital screening assessment for abuse:

I think she was just asking if there was any event that happened in my life. Did I undergo any kind of abuse or unwanted experiences. I was sort of like “well, there was this one thing that sort of happened, but I’m not sure how I felt about it, but here’s what happened” So I explained it to her in the detail and that’s when she came back with that. It was probably the second time I talked with her. Cuz I mean in the hospital they visit you once, actually it was the first time I talked to her. Lord! Cuz she was just getting the initial information for the assessment.

(S, F, SO, 54, AA)

Media-Triggered Disclosures

In other situations, cases presented in the media led to the triggering of survivors’ sexual assault disclosures.

Something happened on CSI (Tv show) cuz she loves that show. Something happen and that made me bring up the subject. Just little things that can trigger it off. And a pet peeve of mine is for people to take advantage of children.

(S, FR, F, 52, AA)

I don’t remember if something happened on television, she just started talking, and at first I thought she was speaking of what was going on in the movie. When I noticed her, she was teary, I said, “Well what’s going on?”

(SP, FR, F, 58, AA)

I know that I indicated that I had been a victim of rape. The friend and of course my therapist and the ladies names that I gave you, when you sent me the survey. I had mentioned it to both of them before, like in general conversation, I don’t remember how the subject came up, I think it was something on the news - that man that held those girls, and then killed himself just this year.

(S, FR, F, 51, AA, H)

I told her and she was like no kidding. At first she was hesitant to tell me. I could see she wanted to tell me something. It just comes out. Sometimes we might be watching a movie…we’ll talk about it, but it won’t be something that she’ll dwell on, it’ll be something fast, she’ll tell me about it and then we’ll go to another subject and start talking about it, watch the movie. I’ll look at her, then she got me studying her, watching her, seeing her reactions.

(SP, FR, M, 49, H)

Discussion

This study examined facilitators of adult female sexual assault disclosure at three ecological levels (individual, contextual, societal) with qualitative interview data from a dyadic sample of survivors and their SPs told about assaults. Most adult survivors were women of color and also had CSA/adolescent sexual assault (80%), experiences, which likely shape how survivors respond to later adult sexual assault and decide about telling others (see Alaggia et al., 2019; Tener & Murphy, 2015; Ullman, 2003 for reviews). Findings showed that a lack of various internal and external barriers led them to be able to disclose, such as not feeling embarrassment, shame, or fear of receiving negative social reactions or other negative consequences. Past research shows that shame, self-blame, and stigma are often significant barriers for survivors of sexual assault and CSA in particular (Kennedy & Prock, 2018). This finding makes sense as facilitating factors may only overcome survivors’ concerns about disclosing if barriers are few and do not prevent disclosure and help-seeking.

At the individual level, various emotions and characteristics of survivors and SPs facilitated disclosure. Survivors’ emotions were noted as facilitating telling others, including their need for support and safety. They also mentioned getting older made telling others easier and gender of SPs was also important, with a preference for telling women SPs. For women survivors, some of that preference was reflective of past abuse by men and fear of telling men moving forward due to risk of future abuse. This is consistent with research on actual responses to disclosures showing women are more supportive than men following sexual assault disclosure (Ahrens & Campbell, 2000; Banyard et al., 2010; Ullman & Filipas, 2005). This is likely amplified for women of color who often face more severe abuse including IPV (Ullman et al., 2023).

At the interpersonal level, various relational factors were identified as facilitators of disclosure including: SP facilitation of disclosure, circumstances/indirect disclosure, close friends/relationships, protecting others, and mutual disclosure. The most frequently mentioned facilitator at the interpersonal level was SP’s facilitating disclosure, which has been noted in past studies (Mauer et al., 2022). SP’s typically noticed the survivor was not alright and questioned her about what was wrong and/or how they could be of help. This facilitator is very important, particularly if SPs know how to respond sensitively with positive social reactions, and are willing to help survivors access formal help (e.g., rape crisis, police, medical, mental health).

Close friends and relationships generally were noted as facilitating disclosures, with survivors saying this was essential for them to feel safe and comfortable in telling others about their sexual assault. This fits with past work showing that survivors tell informal SPs, especially female friends, after sexual assault (Ullman, 2023a). Having a close/trusted person in one’s life is key in being able to tell about their experience, suggesting that facilitating close confiding relationships is important for survivors to tell others they know. Strengthening informal support network ties should be a focus of prevention and treatment approaches addressing the impact of sexual assault and facilitating disclosure and help-seeking. Such efforts should also be informed by specific sociocultural factors (Dworkin & Weaver 2021), as for some racial/ethnic and/or religious minority groups talking about sexual matters may be proscribed and disclosing may be seen as a betrayal their family or community, especially if the assault was perpetrated by a member of their own community (Gomez & Gobin, 2020; Serrata et al., 2019).

Other facilitators were circumstantial factors such as events that happened or the topic coming up that led the survivor to tell or realize that others were going to find out (e.g., the survivor needing to report to police). Such factors also led to indirect disclosures that facilitated others finding out when SP’s said they learned about the survivor’s assault from others they both knew. This also led to the survivor and SP discussing the assault, which is likely common where informal social networks are involved and people find out what happened from network members who are talking it. This can be problematic if survivors do not want others told and/or do not have control over such disclosures (Carson et al., 2021), but in other cases they may expect and/or understand this will occur when first disclosing the assault. This facilitator needs further study to understand how and when such indirect disclosures occur and how they impact survivors and their relationships. Jaffe et al. (2022) reported that survivors can experience restructuring of their social networks after sexual assault following network members’ unhelpful responses to disclosure, and found that these changes are related to worse survivor mental health.

Protecting others was another facilitator where survivors indicated that they were concerned about others’ safety and felt the need to disclose the assault in order to protect other people from assault, often in response to their own CSA and/or other relationship abuse histories. This altruistic motivation was a way in which survivors hoped to contribute to reducing risk of others being assaulted in general, in some cases by their own assailant if they were still around and a potential threat. This is consistent with past research showing that college women take action protect themselves and other women (Crann et al., 2022). In other cases, survivors sought to protect their own or other’s children or other adults by telling their story to increase awareness of sexual assault. Finally, mutual disclosure was a final interpersonal facilitator of disclosure where one person told another of her assault that led that person to reciprocate by disclosing their own sexual assault, a theme revealed in other past research (Choi et al., 2018).

Lastly, societal facilitators identified included formal supports who were trained and able to facilitate disclosures and respond to them positively with emotional and practical support. Media-triggered disclosures were also mentioned by survivors and some SPs as leading survivors to tell others often in the context of discussions of watching TV or movies focusing on sexual assault. This is an expected facilitator which initially emerged with disclosures of famous women such as Oprah Winfrey decades ago regarding her CSA history all the way up to the contemporary #MeToo era where sexual assault awareness is even greater than in the past. Media depictions including documentaries have increased, particularly on real-life serial perpetrators in film, music, and other industries (e.g., Harvey Weinstein, R Kelly).

In summary, this qualitative dyadic interview study of survivors and their informal SPs illuminated specific experiences of survivors’ disclosure decisions in a socio-economically and racially diverse sample of female sexual assault survivors. Few studies of sexual assault survivors have examined their experiences in relationships, and more research is needed on sexual assault survivors and informal SPs told post-assault. We identified several subthemes of facilitators at different levels of the social ecology. Survivor interviews were complemented in some cases by SP perspectives on their disclosure experiences, but SP’s typically knew less about the survivors’ disclosures and details than survivors. However, they knew what survivors had told them about the assault, as well as who the survivors had confided in and often who was and was not supportive and/or was still in the survivor’s life. SP’s often tried to support and advise the survivor where possible. They facilitated disclosures by asking survivors what was wrong, encouraging them to tell, and offering support to connect them with other help. SPs were clearly continuing to be supportive simply by participating in this study at the survivor’s request, reflecting their ongoing relationship with the survivor at the time of the study. SPs also showed concern for the survivor’s well-being and tried to help them where possible in their current lives in general, including obtaining formal support as needed. Research shows that encouraging survivors to seek mental health counseling, medical treatment, or police reporting can be very important for them in actually getting that help either after the assault or even much later on when they are ready to deal with it (Paul et al., 2013; Ullman, 2023a).

Limitations

This study was a volunteer, convenience sample of predominantly racially minoritized female survivors and their primary SPs. Future studies collecting information about facilitators of sexual assault disclosure should go into greater depth about these experiences from survivors and their SPs. Second, this study had a retrospective design varying in time since assault potentially influencing survivor and SP recall. On average, survivors’ sexual assaults occurred 14 years before the study (SD = 12.22; Median = 11). However, the retrospective design also allowed participants to gain perspective on their experiences. Despite these limitations, this study provides valuable data on survivors’ disclosures of unwanted sexual experiences from survivor and SP perspectives in an racially diverse sample. Still, further work is needed to ask survivors about how their culture, ethnicity, and religion impacted their assault experiences, disclosures, and help-seeking.

Implications for Research and Clinical Practice

This study of facilitators of disclosure revealed that various individual, relational, and societal factors influence women’s disclosure of sexual assault. More research is needed on the evolution of disclosures and their impacts, including how they vary when facilitated in different ways. Understanding how survivors of all genders choose to disclose and are facilitated or thwarted in doing so is important in addressing how context impacts survivors, their informal SPs, and formal help seeking. Research also needs to specifically delve into how histories of sexual and physical abuse in childhood and adolescence influence later sexual assault disclosure and outcomes. The social ecological perspective is useful for framing research on facilitators of disclosure (e.g., see Zinzow et al., 2022), and can help to expand on the Disclosure Process Model (Chaudoir & Fisher, 2010). Various facilitators and barriers affect survivors of diverse racial/ethnic and sexual identities (Edwards et al., 2022; Zinzow et al., 2022), and future research is needed on their disclosure experiences in the context of their relationships and social networks. Such research can inform prevention efforts to train people to respond better to disclosures (Edwards et al., 2022).

Clinical implications of this study include that professionals need to consider how survivors’ assault disclosures that lead to better recovery outcomes are facilitated, with attention to their identities, trauma histories, and available support networks. Helping survivors navigate disclosures in ways that empower them can help to elicit positive social reactions from others that can aid recovery.

Feminist, culturally-competent, trauma-focused therapies are needed to address all survivors’ experiences. Clinicians should assess and refer survivors to other formal support sources as needed (Gomez & Gobin, 2020; Serrata et al., 2019). By providing safe spaces for survivors without judgment, they are uniquely situated to promote healing. Clinicians should obtain training about sexual assault and refer clients as appropriate to free confidential online support sources. Culturally competent therapy can help survivors navigate histories of trauma by improving adaptive coping with past trauma affecting them in the present to reduce risk of revictimization and promote safe and supportive relationships.