Sexual Assault and Current Mental Health: The Role of Help-Seeking and Police Response

We examine the extent to which seeking help from social service agencies, family and friends, reporting to the police, or responses by the police might buffer or exacerbate the impact of sexual assault on mental health outcomes among sexual assault victims. The trend in many cases was for help-seeking and police response to exacerbate the impact of sexual assault victimization. With respect to depression, we found that the association of rape penetration was greater among those seeking help from social services and those reporting their victimization to the police. Although arresting the offender appears to be associated with higher levels of depression, it actually results in a lower probability of heavy episodic drinking.