Sexual Violence and Mental Health Among College Students in the Era of #MeToo

Abstract

Sexual violence is a prevalent public health issue among college students and associated with adverse mental health outcomes. Modern social movements that bring awareness to sexual violence, such as #MeToo, have facilitated institutional coverage of the issue. A cross-sectional survey, the American College Health Association National College Health Assessment IIc was administered in Spring 2017 (n = 54,497) and Spring 2018 (n = 50,770) across universities (n = 83) in the United States. Data analyses utilized descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate methods. Relationships between sexual violence and seven mental outcomes, anorexia, anxiety, bulimia, depression, insomnia, stress level, and suicide, were assessed and compared across time periods. Logistic regression indicated that sexual violence was significantly associated with all mental health outcomes and that the measures of association for anxiety and suicide ideation decreased significantly from the year 2017 to 2018. Results confirm the adverse effect of sexual violence on mental health among college students. Possible implications of these findings include the role of social movements in dismantling stigma and mitigating the mental health impact of sexual violence.