Female college students who are victims of sexual assault face a much higher risk of becoming victims again, a new US study has warned.
Researchers from the University at Buffalo Research Institute on Addictions (RIA) found that college women who experienced severe sexual victimisation were three times more likely than their peers to experience severe sexual victimisation the following year.
They followed nearly 1,000 college women, aged 18 to 21, over a five-year period, studying their drinking habits and experiences of severe physical and sexual assault.
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Severe physical victimisation includes assaults with or without a weapon. Severe sexual victimisation includes rape and attempted rape, including incapacitated rape, where a victim is too intoxicated from drugs or alcohol to provide consent.
"Initially, we were attempting to see if victimisation increased drinking, and if drinking then increased future risk," said Kathleen A Parks, senior research scientist, the study's principal investigator.
"Instead, we found that the biggest predictor of future victimisation is not drinking, but past victimisation," said Parks.
The study shows that campuses need to be aware of the increased risk of future victimisation for women who have experienced sexual assault, the researchers said.
Colleges also must keep an eye out for long-term drinking problems with trauma victims: women who were victims showed an increase in drinking in the year following their assaults, perhaps as a coping mechanism, they said.
"Our findings show that women who have been victims may need to be followed for many months to a year to see if their drinking increases," Parks said.
