Sexual Assault within Intimate Partner Violence: Impact on Helpseeking in a National Sample

SUMMARY

Within intimate partner violence (IPV), sexual assault is often subsumed under the heading of physical abuse, but evidence suggests qualitative differences in outcomes when both types of abuse occur. This study explores the cumulative effect of sexual assault and physical abuse by a current or former intimate partner on helpseeking. Using a dataset of 1,072 IPV victims from 8 states, we found that women who had experienced sexual assault in addition to physical abuse (44%) used more help, but were also more likely to say that they did not seek help when they needed it. Among those who were aware of services, fear was the greatest obstacle to reaching out for help. Implications include the need for information on best practices in addressing the sequelae of both physical and sexual assault in victim service agencies.

KEYWORDS:

• Helpseeking
• intimate partner violence
• sexual assault
• victim services

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The data for this article were collected under grant number 99-WT-VX-0010 from the National Institute of Justice to the Urban Institute. We thank Martha Burt, who was Principal Investigator on the original project.

Notes

Note. For all dichotomous variables 1 = yes, 0 = no.

⁺p < .25, variable included in multivariate analyses for that outcome.

∗p < .05

∗∗p < .01

∗p < .05

∗p < .05

∗∗p < .01

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lauren Bennett Cattaneo

Lauren Bennett Cattaneo, PhD, is Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, George Mason University.

Heidi L. M. DeLoveh

Heidi L. M. DeLoveh, is a Clinical Psychology Doctoral Student, George Mason University.

Janine M. Zweig

Janine M. Zweig, PhD, is Senior Research Associate, The Urban Institute, Justice Policy Center, 2100 M St., NW, Washington, DC 20037.