Peritraumatic responses and their relationship to perceptions of threat in female crime victims

Peritraumatic responses, aside from dissociation, have been understudied in acute trauma populations. Participants were 172 female rape, 68 assault, and 80 robbery victims recruited through formal reporting agencies and assessed 1 month after the crime. Despite substantial overlap across crimes, rape victims reported more emotional responses reflecting fear, detachment, shame, and more nonactive behavioral responses. Regression analysis examining the prediction of perceived threat by peritraumatic responses and crime variables indicated that increased duration of crimes; decreased calmness; increased fear; numbing; use of begging, pleading, and crying; and attempts to reason with the perpetrator(s) were all significantly associated with increased appraisal of threat.