title: Resilience in Men and Women Experiencing Sexual Assault or Traumatic Stress: Validation and Replication of the Scale of Protective Factors.
abstract: The literature on sexual assault (SA) typically has been generalized to women and children. However, both men and women experience SA. Research shows that not all individuals experience the negative impacts of SA in the same way. The ability to buffer the negative effects of SA may lie in specific protective factors that determine resilience. Resilience scales used in adult populations have not been validated for use in SA samples. The purpose of the present study was to replicate the factor structure of a resilience scale, the Scale of Protective Factors (SPF), in a sample of emerging adults (n = 571) and to validate the replicated model on a subsample of the participants who reported SA (n = 173). Additionally, we sought to examine gender differences in mental health outcomes including depression and anxiety, and the availability of protective factors that determine resilience among those participants who reported experiencing SA (n = 173) as compared to other forms of traumatic stress (n = 132). The SPF achieved good model fit in the larger emerging adult sample and adequate model fit was achieved in the SA subsample. Results indicated significant gender differences in mental health outcomes with η2ranging between .03 and .21. Implications and future directions are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Cameron University, Lawton, Oklahoma, USA.
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ponce-Garcia
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Durant, Oklahoma, USA.
authors.forename: Amy N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Madewell
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Cameron University, Lawton, Oklahoma, USA.
authors.forename: Marina E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Brown
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D054523:Adult Survivors of Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D065840:Protective Factors; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D055500:Resilience, Psychological; D012737:Sex Factors; D012742:Sex Offenses / Q000523:psychology*; D040921:Stress Disorders, Traumatic / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards; D055815:Young Adult