Comparing the Psychological Impact of Battering, Marital Rape and Stranger Rape

This study compares the psychological impact of battering, marital rape, and stranger rape Women who have experienced battering or marital rape as a form of battering are compared with victims of stranger rape victims in terms of their psychological functioning after victimization, as measured by the Derogatis Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). The BSI measures socialization, obsessive-compulsive disorders, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, and psychoticism The sexual functioning of victims is also compared. Overall, the marital rape victims scored higher on the BSI than victims of battering or stranger rape. Marital rape victims scored significantly higher than stranger rape victims on paranoid ideation and psychoticism *This research was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, Grant #R01 MH 37102. The authors would like to express thanks to Patricia Resick, University of MissouriSi. Louis, who consulted during the development, data collection and analysis phases of the project, and facilitated the comparisons with other studies that are presented in this paper.