| Sexual assaults against women are prevalent and have been associated with a range of
negative mental health outcomes. However, mental health is also affected by contextual factors,
including material hardship (i.e., food insecurity, housing insecurity, and financial barriers to
medical care). Thus, the present study investigated the extent to which sexual assault and
material hardship interact and are associated with depression, substance use problems, PTSD,
and flourishing. Data was collected from 428 women on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk).
The majority (78.8%) of women reported an experience of sexual assault in adulthood. Sexual
assault and material hardship were both independently associated with psychological distress, but
material hardship did not moderate the relation between sexual assault and psychological
distress. The high rate of sexual assault seen in this sample demonstrates the necessity of
understanding relevant psychological distress symptoms in populations experiencing material
hardship, as it informs strategies for therapeutic intervention.
Key Words: sexual assault, material hardship, mental health, psychopathology, violence against
women |