Perceived social support and self-esteem in sexual violence victims

Sexual violence can lead to serious consequences. Few studies have simultaneously evaluated Perceived Social Support and Self-Esteem of sexual violence victims. This study aims to investigate the relationship between self-esteem and perceived social support among sexual violence victims.

This study was a cross-sectional study which was conducted in forensic medical centers and all health centers affiliated to Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences of Tehran. This study included 66 women in the sexual violence group (Women were considered sexual violence victims if vaginal or anal penetration had occurred) and 147 subjects in the non- sexual violence group (Women with no experience of sexual violence). Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale and Social support Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support were used. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS statistical software version 22. The significance level for all tests was considered as p<0.05.

There were significant differences in the levels of perceived social support in all subscales between the two groups and it was higher in non-sexual violence group (p<0.001). There was no statistically significant difference in the self-esteem level between the two groups. There was a minor significant positive correlation between self-esteem level of the sexually abused victims and perceived social support level (r=0.274, p=0.026). Others relationships were not found to be statistically significant.

Our results indicate that the female victims of sexual violence had low social support from their family, friends in their life, However friend's support had a minor positive effect on their self-esteem.