title: Surviving the storm: the role of social support and religious coping in sexual assault recovery of African American women.
abstract: African American women are at high risk for sexual assault. In addition, many African American women endorse the use of social support and religiosity to cope with trauma. The current study investigates the relationship between these two coping strategies and posttrauma symptoms in a sample of 413 African American female sexual assault survivors using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Findings indicated that survivors with greater social support were less likely to endorse the symptoms of depression and PTSD. Conversely, increased use of religious coping was related to greater endorsement of depression and PTSD symptoms. Counseling and research implications are explored.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Education and Psychology, Pepperdine University, 16830 Ventura Blvd., Suite 200, Encino, CA 91436, USA. tbryant@pepperdine.edu
authors.forename: Thema
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bryant-Davis
authors.forename: Sarah E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Ullman
authors.forename: Yuying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tsong
authors.forename: Robyn
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gobin
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D000368:Aged; D019548:Crime Victims; D003863:Depression / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011902:Rape / Q000523:psychology*; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D012944:Social Support; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000208:ethnology; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*; D014754:Violence / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult