Research Article
Reporting Sexual Assault in the Military: Who Reports and Why Most Servicewomen Don’t

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2014.03.001Get rights and content

Background

Public and congressional attention to the Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) efforts to prevent and respond to sexual assault in the military (SAIM) is increasing. To promote reporting, the DoD offers (1) restricted reporting, allowing confidential reporting to designated military personnel without triggering an official investigation, and (2) unrestricted reporting, which initiates a criminal investigation.

Purpose

To identify factors associated with officially reporting SAIM by examining demographic, military, and sexual assault characteristics and survey reporting perceptions and experiences. Differences between active component (AC) (full-time active duty) and Reserve and National Guard (RNG) were explored.

Methods

A Midwestern community sample of currently serving and veteran servicewomen (1,339) completed structured telephone interviews. RNG interviews were conducted March 2010 to September 2010 and AC interviews from October 2010 to December 2011. Data were analyzed in 2013. Logistic regression analyses examined demographic, military, and SA characteristics related to SAIM reporting. Bivariate statistics tested differences between AC and RNG.

Results

A total of 205 servicewomen experienced SAIM and 25% reported. More AC servicewomen experienced SAIM, but were no more likely to report than RNG servicewomen. Restricted reporting was rated more positively, but unrestricted reporting was used more often. Reporters’ experiences corroborated non-reporters’ concerns of lack of confidentiality, adverse treatment by peers, and beliefs that nothing would be done. Officers were less likely to report than enlisted servicewomen.

Conclusions

Actual and perceived reporting consequences deter servicewomen from reporting. SAIM undermines trust in military units, mission readiness, and the health and safety of all service members.

Introduction

There is increasing public and congressional attention to the Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) efforts to prevent and respond to sexual assault in the military (SAIM).1, 2 The DoD Task Force Report on Care for Victims of Sexual Assault provided a comprehensive assessment of the strengths, weaknesses, and gaps in reporting and management of SAIM cases.3 This in turn led to the establishment of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO) in 1995, an organization responsible for oversight of DoD sexual assault (SA) policy.4

SA is a crime that is significantly underreported, both in U.S. civilian and military populations. Reasons for reporting include: to receive medical care, catch and punish the offender so that further crimes against self or others are prevented, and because SA is a crime.5, 6, 7 However, the majority of women do not report for reasons including not wanting others to know,5, 6, 7, 8, 9 concern about insufficient proof,5, 6, 10 fear of reprisal by the offender or others,5, 7, 8, 9, 11 poor treatment or disbelief from the criminal justice system,6, 10, 12 or because it is a private matter to be handled personally.7 Within the military, service members who report may face their own penalties for collateral misconduct violations such as using alcohol, which may also deter service reporting. Notably, if victims believe reporting will result in apprehending perpetrators, they are more likely to report.13

The DoD has continued to review the prevalence of SAIM and service members’ perceptions of policy and program effectiveness through routine surveys of active-duty service members9, 14, 15, 16, 17 and Reserve component members.18, 19, 20 The 2012 survey’s prevalence estimate of unwanted sexual contact within the previous 12 months among servicewomen was nearly 7%, of which 33% of servicewomen reported the SA to military authorities. In the Reserve component, the 2012 annual prevalence rate was almost 3%, of which 20% were reported to military authorities. Because individuals are less likely to disclose being a victim,21, 22 the SAIM rates are believed to be much higher23; thus, reporting rates may in turn be lower. Barriers to and satisfaction with reporting are found primarily in DoD reports, as there is a paucity of peer-reviewed literature on reporting conducted in military populations.

Since 2005, the DoD has offered service members two official options: restricted and unrestricted reporting. Restricted reporting allows service members to confidentially report to a Sexual Assault Response Coordinator (SARC) or Victim Advocate and receive medical treatment, counseling, and a forensic examination without triggering an official investigation. With restricted reporting, law enforcement is not informed nor does the command structure become involved, thus eliminating opportunity for disciplinary or protective action. The service member may convert a restricted report to an unrestricted report. Unrestricted reporting allows victims to receive the same services such as medical treatment, and in addition, law enforcement and the command structure are notified and a criminal investigation is initiated.4

The purpose of this study was to extend the DoD SAPRO data by (1) querying servicewomen’s reporting experiences throughout their military service rather than in the past year; (2) asking parallel questions to compare nonreporter barriers to reporting with reporter experiences; (3) using multivariate analyses to identify demographic, military, and SAIM factors associated with reporting; (4) investigating reporting differences between active component (AC, i.e., full-time active duty) and Reserve and National Guard (RNG) service members; and (5) to consider why there continue to be substantial barriers to reporting SAIM for servicewomen.

Section snippets

Participants and Procedure

Two mutually exclusive populations of RNG and AC servicewomen were sampled. At the time of study participation, some servicewomen were still serving, whereas others had separated from service (e.g., veterans). All participants had served in the Army or Air Force, and resided, served, or had enlisted from a Midwestern state (Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, and Kansas). A sampling frame was used to stratify enlisted servicewomen by deployment history (1=never, 2=deployed to Iraq or

Results

The study response rate was 57% (Appendix D). Basic demographics were compared between non-responders (n=1,959, servicewomen with outdated contact information) and responders (n=2,813, participants and refusers). Non-responders tended to be younger (30 vs 33 years, p<0.0001) and less likely to have graduated from college (29% vs 46%, p<0.0001) than responders. Among responders, participants (n=1,597) were slightly older (34 vs 31 years, p<0.0001); white (73% vs 69%, p=0.04); and had completed

Discussion

This study provides multiple unique contributions to the literature, including identifying factors associated with SAIM reporting, assessing servicewomen’s reporting experiences and outcomes, and comparing AC and RNG servicewomen’s reporting choices and experiences. Compared to earlier VA-enrolled samples, the number of Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom servicewomen who knew how to officially report increased (57% previously vs 65% in this study); however, the rates of

Acknowledgments

The research reported here was supported by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Health Services Research and Development (HSR&D) Service grant HSR&D DHI 05-059, DHI 08-136 and U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Award W81XWH-08-2-0080. The authors gratefully acknowledge Holly Erschens, BA, for her contribution as the CATI Lab Director and Carrie Franciscus, BS, MA, for her invaluable database support.

No financial disclosures were reported by the authors of this

References (38)

  • A. Burgess et al.

    Military sexual trauma: a silent syndrome

    J Psychosoc Nurs Ment Health Serv

    (2013)
  • Mullen B, O’Connor T. Sexual assault response in the military. In: Ledray LE, Burgess AW, Giardino AP, eds. Medical...
  • Task Force report on care for victims of sexual assault

    (2004)
  • Department of Defense Directive Number 6495.01

    (2013)
  • K.B. Wolitzky-Taylor et al.

    Is reporting of rape on the rise? A comparison of women with reported versus unreported rape experiences in the National Women׳s Study-Replication

    J Interpers Violence

    (2011)
  • D.G. Kilpatrick et al.

    Drug-facilitated, incapacitated, and forcible rape: a national study

    (2007 Feb)
  • R. Bachman

    The factors related to rape reporting behavior and arrest: new evidence from the National Crime Victimization Survey

    Crim Justice Behav

    (1998)
  • K. Houser

    Analysis and implications of the omission of offenders in the DoD care for victims of sexual assault task force report

    Violence Against Women

    (2007)
  • L.M. Rock et al.

    2010 workplace and gender relations survey of active duty members: overview report on sexual assault

    (2011 Mar)
  • B.S. Fisher et al.

    The sexual victimization of college women

    (2000 Dec)
  • S.J. Brubaker

    Sexual assault prevalence, reporting and policies: comparing college and university campuses and military service academies

    Security J

    (2009)
  • R. Campbell et al.

    The sexual assault and secondary victimization of female veterans: help-seeking experiences with military and civilian social systems

    Psychol Women Q

    (2005)
  • B.S. Fisher et al.

    Reporting sexual victimization to the police and others: results from a national-level study of college women

    Criminal Justice Behav

    (2003)
  • L.D. Bastian et al.

    Department of Defense 1995 sexual harassment survey

    (1996 Dec)
  • R.N. Lipari et al.

    Armed Forces 2002 sexual harrassment survey

    (2003 Nov)
  • R.N. Lipari et al.

    2006 gender relations survey of active duty members

    (2008 Mar)
  • 2012 workplace and gender relations survey of active duty members: survey note

    (2013 Mar)
  • R.N. Lipari et al.

    2004 sexual harassment survey of reserve component members

    (2005 Jun)
  • L.M. Rock et al.

    2008 gender relations survey of reserve component members

    (2009 Mar)
  • Cited by (65)

    • Veterans Health Administration Screening for Military Sexual Trauma May Not Capture Over Half of Cases Among Midlife Women Veterans

      2022, Women's Health Issues
      Citation Excerpt :

      Our study is consistent with prior literature showing that VHA screening for MST may underdetect experiences of MST based on differences in reporting rates from research surveys relative to prevalence estimated from VHA screening (Andresen & Blais, 2019; Blais et al., 2018; Wilson, 2018). Several factors may lead to differences in screenings in a health care context versus a research survey, including concerns regarding confidentiality, which has been shown to be a barrier to reporting MST during active duty and disclosing intimate partner violence during VHA clinical screening (Burns et al., 2014; Mengeling, Booth, Torner, & Sadler, 2014; Miller et al., 2022). Therefore, it is important to conduct screening of stigmatized experiences in a private area without family or other patients close by (Gryczynski et al., 2019).

    • False accusations of sexual assault: Prevalence, misperceptions, and implications for prevention work with men and boys

      2022, Engaging Boys and Men in Sexual Assault Prevention: Theory, Research, and Practice
    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text