Abstract:
This study is aimed at understanding the role of assault severity, personality
traits and rape myths in predicting rape victims’ psychological responses and
coping styles. Specifically, the study assessed the mediating role of victims’
attribution in predicting psychological impacts of rape victimization and the
coping styles. On the basis of theory, it was postulated that the severity of
assault (as determined by either the use of physical force and/or the presence
of weapons); intrapersonal resources of hardiness; and the acceptance of rape
myths would have a direct influence on survivors’ psychological impact and on
coping. The thesis provides comprehensive coverage of the prevalence of rape
victimization; the trauma and psychological impacts of rape victimization; coping
with rape victimization; and the theory on the role of social cognition (appraisal
and attribution) in explaining victims’ responses to rape.
The theoretical conceptualisation underpinning the study offers a unique
integration of this body of knowledge within the South African context. In
investigating the research question, two hundred and fifty adult black (African)
South African women who had experienced rape in the previous month were
interviewed about the event and their subsequent responses. The interviewees
were drawn from Xhosa, SePedi and Zulu speaking communities. The study
was located within the quantitative research tradition. A structured interview
questionnaire was developed. Descriptive statistics were calculated and the
emphasis of the analysis was in the area of the Structural Equation Model. The
model was successful in terms of explained variance in accounting for the two
types of coping; approach and avoidance coping dimensions followed by the
psychological impact and attribution. The results showed psychological impact
as explained through the symptoms of Hyperarousal, Intrusion and Avoidance
had the greatest influence on coping of rape survivors. As hypothesized, the
results confirmed that an increase in rape assaults severity resulted into
increased levels of psychological distress. The findings indicated that internal
styles of self-blame attribution (behavioural and characterological attribution)
were prevalent among victims of rape in the present study. Although hardiness (commitment and control) dimensions were not found to significantly influence
coping, an orientation of control and commitment amongst survivors was found
to significantly influence the attribution styles. Furthermore, the control
dimension was found to have a significant influence on victims’ psychological
distress. Interestingly, the results revealed that acceptance of rape myths
among survivors resulted in a decrease in psychological distress.
The findings demonstrate the strength of the current study in the development
and testing of theoretically based models of processing rape victimization
recovery among rape survivors. The implications of the data are explored.
