The relationships among risk recognition, autonomic and self-reported arousal, and posttraumatic stress symptomatology in acknowledged and unacknowledged victims of sexual assault.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined differences among acknowledged sexual assault victims, unacknowledged sexual assault victims, and nonvictims in risk recognition and its psychophysiological correlates.
METHODS: Acknowledged and unacknowledged victims of sexual assault and nonvictims (n = 97) listened to a hypothetical date rape interaction and were asked to indicate the point at which the man had become sexually inappropriate. Self-report and physiological measures of emotional responding and a measure of risk recognition were used to evaluate both between- and within-subjects' differences.
RESULTS: Relative to nonvictims and acknowledged victims, unacknowledged victims of sexual assault took significantly longer to recognize risk. Acknowledged victims displayed decreased heart rate activity to a portion of the hypothetical interaction, but self-reported greater arousal in response to the interaction and greater posttraumatic stress arousal symptomatology relative to nonvictims only. Posttraumatic stress symptomatology was related to self-reported emotional reactivity and response latency.
CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that acknowledged and unacknowledged victims exhibit specific autonomic and behavioral response patterns that may perpetuate the cycle of traumatization.