(PS10-89) Associations Between Religiously Influenced Ideologies and Peritraumatic Responses During Sexual Assault

Messages from traditional Western religious ideologies have long been salient in the socialization of young women and societal understanding of sexual assault. Such influences can have a profound impact on young women’s responses to and conceptualization of personal sexual assault experiences and are likely an important point of intervention to promote positive coping. Participants included 476 women college students endorsing histories of lifetime sexual trauma exposure recruited from undergraduate SONA research pool. We aimed to evaluate factors associated with peritraumatic responses during sexual assault and their unique predictive utility. Participants completed the following measures: Family Life Sex Education Questionnaire (FLSEQ), Family-of-Origin Religious Household (FoORH) characterizations, current Religious Behavior Frequency (RBF), the Attitudes Towards Women Scale (ATWS), and the Behavioral Response Questionnaire (BRQ) assessing peritraumatic response subtypes: assertive (BRQ-A), diplomatic (BRQ-D), and immobile (BRQ-I). When assessing the utility of variables to predict BRQ-A, regression analyses of ATWS, FLSEQ, and both spiritual surveys failed to yield a significant explanatory model for assertive responses (F = 1.71, p = .15). For BRQ-D, linear regression analyses of ATWS, FLSEQ, and spiritual items resulted in a significant predictive model (F = 5.38, p < . 001, R² = .04) with a small explanatory effect (f² = .04). ATWS scores constituted the largest effect and were significantly and positively associated with diplomatic responses to threats (p < .001). More frequent engagement in religious behaviors also demonstrated a positive and significant relationship with responding (p = .03). Regressing the ATWS, FLSEQ, and spiritual assessments on BRQ-I responses produced a significant model with a small-to-medium observed effect (F = 7.34, p < .001, R² = .06, f² = .06). Sex education was negatively associated with immobility and accounted for the largest observed effect (p = .004) of the model, followed by positive and significant contributions of the ATWS (p = .009) and characterizing family-of-origin household as religious (p = .025). Our results are limited by small and small-to-medium effect sizes and a participant group derived primarily from White, Christian, female student groups. Further research is needed to ascertain other variables associated with peritraumatic responses and the extension of these findings to more diverse populations. Yet, results have important implications for relationships among internalized attitudes about women and diplomatic (i.e., passive) and immobile response styles. More nuanced relationships for spiritual and sex education were evidenced. At the primary prevention level, promoting affirmative consent within sex education and gender equality messaging may reduce the likelihood of sexual assault and promote assertive responding. At the secondary and tertiary prevention level, considerations of religious backgrounds, sex education history, and internalized misogyny may inform treatment efforts for posttraumatic psychopathology.