Unit Support Moderates the Association Between Institutional Betrayal and Military Women’s Use of Minimization After Sexual Assault

Abstract

We examined whether institutional betrayal would be associated with minimization, or the tendency to downplay sexual assault. We then examined whether unit support and years in the military moderated the association between institutional betrayal from sexual assault and minimization associated with sexual assault among 158 (M = 32.54 years; SD = 8.53) military women. All participants endorsed sexual assault while in the military with a mean of 7.29 years (SD = 7.94) since their most distressing sexual assault experience. Institutional betrayal was negatively and significantly associated with minimization. Unit support significantly moderated the association between institutional betrayal attributed to sexual assault during the military and minimization of sexual assault. Specifically, at high levels of unit support the relationship between institutional betrayal and minimization was positive, whereas when unit support was low, this relationship was negative. Years of military service did not moderate the association between institutional betrayal and minimization. Military women who report high unit support may minimize sexual assault to continue to serve in the military and maintain unit cohesion and readiness.

Keywords:

• institutional betrayal
• sexual assault
• adaptive blindness
• minimization
• military women
• veterans

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).