University survivors of sexual violence are forced to perform a constant, exhausting “calculus” — weighing risks, safety, stigma, emotional costs, institutional consequences, and likelihood of being believed — when deciding whether and how to seek help.
New George Mason University-led research published in Violence Against Women helps to illuminate why so many survivors avoid reporting sexual violence, finding that most expect institutional systems to retraumatize them or fail them.
Drawing on participant responses from students in the University of California system who are survivors of sexual violence, researcher created the Survivors’ Calculus as a framework describing factors shaping survivors’ decision-making on seeking support and resources. The Survivors’ Calculus demonstrates how institutional processes can place the burden of healing on survivors themselves.
“We created the Survivors’ Calculus to describe how, from the moment a survivor experiences sexual violence, they face structural barriers to accessing resources that will be safe and helpful for them, all while dealing with the initial trauma,” said Sara Wilf, the study’s co-principal investigator and paper lead author, and assistant professor in the Department of Social Work.
Why this matters
On college campuses in the United States, one-fourth of undergraduate students report having experienced sexual violence, though the incidents often go unreported. Racially minoritized, gender diverse, LGBTQIA+, and cisgender women face the highest rates of sexual violence. As with any trauma, survivors’ mental health and academic performance can be impacted.
Given the prevalence and impact of sexual violence on college campuses, researchers hope institutions will use this new model to understand how to support survivors in a way that does not retraumatize them.
“Survivors weigh different factors in their decisions for help-seeking, and we hope other researchers will use our framework to explore those factors within their own settings and institutions,” said Wilf.
About the framework, Survivors’ Calculus
The Survivors’ Calculus recognizes that survivors’ prior experiences can shape decision-making. The framework centers on four themes:
- Navigating Self-Realization, Self-Investigation, and the Repercussions of Reporting;
- Seeking Emotional and Professional Support;
- Managing Logistical Support and Concerns about Confidentiality; and
- Experiencing Re-Traumatization through the Title IX Office and Police.
Additional research and findings details
The framework was developed as part of a broader study examining survivors’ experiences seeking support within university systems. Through surveys of students, faculty, and staff in the University of California system across several campuses, researchers explored which organizations and people were most and least helpful for survivors of sexual violence, in their own words, and the reasons that prevent survivors from seeking support. Additional findings included:
- Survivors desire confidential, trauma-informed resources that match their social identities and experiences.
- Survivors are often retraumatized by reporting resources, such as the police and Title IX office, which can be more often focused on punishing perpetrators rather than centering survivor healing.
- Survivors holding marginalized social identities, such as LGBTQIA+ and racially minoritized survivors, face greater structural barriers than their peers to accessing safe and trauma-informed resources.
- LGBTQIA+ and racially minoritized survivors have greater fear of reporting resources, and have a worse experience when they do utilize them.
- Survivors consistently identified confidential campus survivor advocates and therapists as the most helpful for their healing.
“Our findings, particularly in advancing a wraparound approach to supporting survivors and highlighting survivors’ desire for confidential advocates who share their important identities, can directly support policymakers, education leaders, social workers, and community organizations in ensuring survivors are not shouldering the burden of navigating resources on their own,” said Wilf.
Co-authors include Kalani Philips from the University of California; Irvine, Laura Knittig from Sam Houston State University; Leila Chiddick, Rachel LaPointe, and Victoria Copeland from the University of California, Los Angeles; Rina Rossi from CUNY; and Stephanie Kathan from California State University.
