Ongoing Research

This study will follow first-year college women over time to examine whether their levels of religiosity and spirituality are related to their likelihood of experiencing sexual victimization and to developing posttraumatic stress symptoms following an assault. Studying these factors before sexual assault occurs is important because it allows us to better understand whether religiosity and spirituality may serve as risk or protective factors, rather than only examining how people change after experiencing trauma. Inversely, this study is also equipped to understand how an experience of sexual trauma may influence one's levels of religiosity and spirituality, thereby enabling us to predict risk for revictimization.