Susan M. Long

Social Class and Belonging: Implications for College Adjustment

This study addressed the extent to which social class position structures a sense of belonging at college, and the ways in which belonging informs adjustment to college. Among 322 liberal arts college students, social class background was significantly associated with a sense of belonging at college and was marginally related to academic performance but was not related to the quality of the experience they were having at college. Sense of belonging mediated the relationship between class background and adjustment to college.

Intimate Partner Violence, Social Support, and Employment in the Post-Welfare Reform Era

This prospective study used 3 years of longitudinal data to explore relationships among intimate partner violence (IPV), perceived emotional and material social support, employment stability, and job turnover among current and former female welfare recipients in the immediate post-welfare reform era. Higher levels of current IPV and lower levels of current social support predicted less stable future employment; however, current employment stability did not predict either future IPV or future social support. Current social support did not predict future IPV, and perceived social support did not mediate the relationship between IPV and employment stability during a 3-year period.

Exploring the Relationships of Women's Sexual Assault Disclosure, Social Reactions, and Problem Drinking

The goal of this exploratory study was to examine correlates of sexual assault disclosure and social reactions in female victims with and without drinking problems. An ethnically diverse sample of sexual assault survivors was recruited from college, community, and mental health agencies. Ethnic minority women were less likely to disclose assault, and women with a greater number of traumatic life events disclosed assault more often. Although there were no differences in disclosure likelihood by drinking status; of those disclosing, problem drinkers told more support sources and received more negative and positive social reactions than nonproblem drinkers. Correlates of receiving negative social reactions were similar for normal and problem drinkers; however, negative social reactions to assault disclosure were related to more problem drinking for women with less frequent social interaction. Implications for future research and possible support interventions with problem-drinking victims are provided.

Women's experiences of male-perpetrated sexual assault by sexual orientation.

This study examined differences in male-perpetrated adult sexual assault experiences among women of various sexual orientations using a large urban convenience sample ( N = 1,022). Results showed many similarities in disclosure to others, perceived helpfulness, and attributions of blame, but there were also differences by sexual orientation. Heterosexual women were more likely to experience completed sexual assault than lesbian or bisexual women. Lesbians were more likely to be assaulted by relatives than bisexual or heterosexual women. Finally, bisexual women disclosed the assault to the greatest number of formal support sources, were most likely to tell a romantic partner about the assault, received the fewest positive social reactions overall, and had higher posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology.

Factor Structure of PTSD in a Community Sample of Sexual Assault Survivors

ABSTRACT Recent factor analytic research on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has questioned the 3-factor structure of the diagnosis as codified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; DSM–IV), proposing that a 4-factor model may more accurately reflect the phenomenology of the disorder. Confirmatory factor analyses of the Posttraumatic Stress Diagnostic Scale (E. B. Foa, 1995) were used to conduct model tests of the structure of PTSD in a large sample (N = 967) of adult female sexual assault survivors. A model specifying 4 correlated factors of reexperiencing, effortful avoidance, dysphoria, and hyperarousal provided the best fit to the data, although no model fits were excellent (including that of the traditional DSM–IV 3-factor model). Tests of measurement invariance across race and education suggest that differences may exist in the underlying factor structure of PTSD.