Substance Use-Related Social Reactions to Sexual Assault Disclosures: Results from Survivor - Informal Support Dyadic Qualitative Interviews.

Purpose: Ample research exists on social reactions to sexual assault (SA) disclosure from the survivor perspective, yet dyadic data with their informal supports remains scarce, particularly for substance-related social reactions. Method: The present study of 15 survivor-informal support dyads using interview data addresses this gap and examines how three relationship types: significant others (i.e., romantic partners), family, and friends differ in social reactions to substance-related SAs. Results: Results show that alcohol/drug's role in assaults entails a mixture of social reactions from informal support providers (SP) towards survivors, including positive reactions where SPs affirmed that the drinking and/or assault were not the survivor's fault, mixed reactions where SPs changed their perspective from initial blame to later realizing their response was wrong and becoming more supportive, and negative social reactions where SPs blamed victims for drinking/drug use. Conclusions: Education and training are needed to improve SPs' ability to avoid negative reactions to substance-involved assaults and increase their ability to recognize and communicate that such assaults are not the victim's fault.