Sexual revictimization among women: A review of the literature focusing on empirical investigations

Abstract

This article provides a review of the literature on sexual revictimization among women, focusing on empirical evaluations of theories of revictimization. Theories of revictimization can be categorized into eight major areas: spurious factors, situational or environmental variables, disturbed interpersonal relationships, cognitive attributions, self-blame and self-esteem, coping skills, perception of threat and trauma-related symptomatology, and general psychological adjustment. In general, none of these theories has received unequivocal empirical support. Situational variables and general psychological adjustment have received modest support as factors that differentiate revictimized women from non-revictimized women. Our ability to interpret this trend is limited, however, by the preponderance of retrospectively designed investigations in this area.