Emotional reactions and psychological responses expressed by adolescent and adult women survivors of sexual violence during outpatient follow-up.

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate psychological support data for survivors of sexual violence (SV) and compare the attitudes, responses, and feelings in adolescent and adult women.

Methods: This was a retrospective study with two cohorts of female survivors of sexual violence, treated between 2011 and 2022. Women who had at least one psychological evaluation were included. The variables were sociodemographic; characteristics of violence; feelings; attitudes; symptoms observed/reported during support; time until emergency care; and indication of psychotropic medications. We calculated the mean and standard deviation (SD) and used the λ-Square or Fisher's Exact test and the Mann-Whitney test for comparative analysis. The significance level adopted was 5%.

Results: Five hundred and twenty-one adolescents, mean age 14.8 (SD±2.0) and 312 adult women, mean age 31.7 years (SD±10.7), were compared. Two-thirds of all women reported themselves as white; adolescents took longer to seek care (p<0.001) more frequently than the adult group. Adult women had more histories of sexual abuse (p<0.001), penetration attacks (p<0.001), reported greater perception and disclosed violence more frequently (p<0.001) than the adolescent group. Adolescents reported more shame (p<0.001) while the group of adults more frequently expressed feelings of insecurity, anguish, expressions of crying, revolt, anger, humiliation and apathy. Anxious symptoms were expressed by 60% of adults and 44% of adolescents and the prescription of psychotropic medications was higher in the adult group compared to adolescents (p<0.001).

Conclusion: Both groups of survivors suffered psychological impacts after SV, expressing/reporting different reactions to distress. These results highlight the importance of access to psychological support after SV.