Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. A substantial body of research documents the mental health consequences of sexual assault including, but not limited to, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder PTSD , substance use, and suicidality.
Far less attention has been given to the mental health effects of sexual assault for ethnic minority women or women living in poverty. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that after controlling for childhood sexual abuse there were positive relationships between poverty and mental health outcomes of depression, PTSD, and illicit drug use.
There was no significant relationship between poverty and suicidal ideation. Counseling and research implications are discussed. The sociohistorical context of sexual assault is qualitatively different for African American women as compared to women from other ethnic backgrounds. During the slave era, sexual assault and sexual exploitation were utilized as a means to dominate and oppress enslaved African females; the sexual victimization of African women was legal and deemed justified by their status as property belonging to the plantation owner Talty, Although legalized slave labor and the resulting sexual violation of women of African descent has ceased, evidence of its impact still remain today in the form of transgenerational trauma.
Transgenerational trauma has been defined as historical, and sometimes continuing, traumatic experiences that affect more than one generation Dass-Brailsford, ; Crawford, Nobles, and Leary, There was a time in U. The laws have since changed, but the legitimacy of African American women as victims of sexual assault still remains questioned and silenced Danieli, Impoverished African American women are confronted with the cumulative stress of race, class, and gender oppression West, Census, Further, higher rates of poverty are also found among some ethnic groups, i.
An alarming Jenkins describes the physical, mental, and social consequences of community violence for women living in dangerous neighborhoods. African American women in urban areas are often left to cope with exposure to community violence, witnessing or being aware of physical and sexual assaults in the neighborhood where they reside, as well as the traumatic grief and loss that may result for having a loved one murdered or incarcerated Jenkins, In an older study, Ingram and colleagues surveyed primarily African American women who lived in low-income housing and women who were homeless through service agencies in three cities.
