SUPPORT SEEKING BEHAVIOR FOR SURVIVORS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN THE INDIAN-AMERICAN POPULATION
Open Access
- Author:
- Das, Bagmi
- Graduate Program:
- Counselor Education
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- March 01, 2019
- Committee Members:
- Richard Hazler, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Richard Hazler, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Diandra Janelle Prescod, Committee Member
Jonna Marie Kulikowich, Committee Member
Jessica Lynn Matsick, Outside Member - Keywords:
- acculturation
sexual violence
Indian-Americans
support seeking - Abstract:
- Though the United States population is quickly diversifying, multicultural literature in the counseling field has not proportionately covered issues surrounding the population. Particularly, Indian-Americans have been lumped in with Asian Americans in multicultural literature, though, culturally they are a very different population. Within the Indian diaspora, there are also different types of acculturation that take place. This research is a pioneering study to understand more about the support-seeking behavior of Indian-Americans and how this behavior is impacted by the acculturation of an individual. Specifically, this study is looked at those Indian-Americans that have experienced sexual violence. Acculturation scales and a demographic questionnaire established the independent variable and the dependent variables were support seeking checklist and the Social Reactions Questionnaire. Seventy-two participants provided data that was analyzed to understand how acculturation relates to support seeking. Data showed that there was a difference in acculturation types regarding how many supports the survivor sought, and acculturation also is a predictor of formal support seeking. The data did not show a relationship between acculturation and the social reactions experienced by survivors upon disclosure of their experience. Implications and recommendations for future research are discussed.