Feminist Identity Styles,Sexual and Non-Sexual Traumatic Events,and Psychological Well-Being in a Sample of Polish Women

Abstract

The aim of the study was to investigate the relations between the development of a feminist identity and effects of traumatic stress in a sample of Polish women. The distinction between non-sexual and sexual traumatic events was made. It was hypothesized that individuals scoring high on the Synthesis and Active Commitment scales of the Feminist Identity Development Model would present a higher self-esteem and lower level of depression as compared with individuals having low scores on those scales and high scores on the Passive Acceptance scale. It was also assumed that the relation between the feminist identity styles and self-esteem and depression would be stronger in women who had experienced sexual traumatic events as compared with those who had experienced other kinds of trauma. A total of 273 women participated in the questionnaire research. Regression analyses were performed to test the interaction model, and the obtained results support all of the hypotheses.

Keywords

Feminist Identity Development Model traumatic events sexual abuse self-esteem depression adult victims mental health and violence sexual assault

Trauma-related psychological problems can be described as gender-specific issues (i.e., Norris, Foster, & Weisshaar, 2002), as women are twice as likely to develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and to experience mood disorders following traumatic events than men (Frank, 2005; Kessler, Sonnega, Bromet, Hughes, & Nelson, 1995; Norris et al., 2002). Explanations referring to biological differences are offered by some authors (Rasmusson & Friedman, 2002); however, the fact that women more often experience sexual trauma and suffer from sexual victimization also appears to be significant when it comes to the psychological effects of trauma (Cortina & Kubiak, 2006), as do the self-blame, social stigma, and rape myths that are shared by some victims of sexual violence (Cooper, Kennedy, & Yuille, 2004). Therefore, the goal of the current study is to explore women’s reactions to traumatic events with reference to the socio-cultural issues mentioned above.

Feminist Identity Styles

The theoretical framework for this research is the Feminist Identity Development Model as developed by Nancy Downing and Kristin Roush (1985). The authors assumed that the developmental pathway of a feminist identity in contemporary societies resembles the development of minority group identity and that the experience of discrimination and prejudice is a crucial factor determining various aspects of women’s psychological well-being. Downing and Roush argue that women go through several stages of self-identification as victims of discrimination before they incorporate an authentic and positive identity associated with group affiliation into their identity structure. Their model posits five stages in the development of identity in women as victims of discrimination.

Stage 1, passive acceptance (PA), refers to the stage when women deny the existence of discrimination and do not question the correctness of the present social order. They accept male dominance and traditional social roles. According to the theory, women in the PA stage tend to avoid people and situations that could challenge their views of society in general. Women in this stage are viewed as building their identity around traditional and patriarchal concepts of femininity.

Stage 2, revelation (REV), is triggered by evidently damaging events in a woman’s life that she can no longer deny. Examples of such events might be blatant discrimination in the workplace or a divorce. A woman in this stage begins to question male domination and becomes angry with society in general. This stage is marked by anger and strong emotions, which might lead to dualistic thinking and a strong rejection of anything that is based on traditional gender roles. The term negative identity may be applied here because self-image is based on rejection and anger rather than on affirmation.

Stage 3 in the model is embeddedness–emanation (E/E). In this stage, women develop emotional attachments with their reference group—other women. They distance themselves from the men’s world to develop an individual, un-stereotyped self-definition. In this stage, a process called “discovering sisterhood” takes place as women seek support from other women. This stage involves two phases, of which the first (embeddedness) is, according to the theory, marked by the tendency to immerse oneself in one’s own group and to withdraw from relations with oppressors (in this case, men). Nevertheless, the authors admit that a complete withdrawal is more realistic for representatives of ethnic minorities and rarely takes place in women’s lives. Women in the stage of embeddedness, however, may show great interest in other women artists, writers, and musicians. Anger is also present in this phase, but for some women, such negative emotions may lead to the adoption of a more flexible, non-dualistic attitude. Undoubtedly, a certain level of cognitive complexity is necessary to go beyond the rigid attitude that is typical of both PA and revelation. Thus, the phase of emanation is marked by a rather relativistic attitude.

According to the model, developing such an attitude is necessary to achieve Stage 4, synthesis (SYN). Women in this stage are able to transgress their gender roles and to see themselves, other women, and men in a stereotype-independent way—as individuals rather than representatives of a certain gender. They also value various manifestations of femininity more and include them in their positive self-definitions. Stage 5, active commitment (AC), is also sometimes referred to as the behavioral expression of the synthesis stage.

Although Downing and Roush described their concept as a developmental model, it remains a matter of dispute whether it works similarly to other developmental models. McNamara and Rickard (1989) claimed that feminist identity development is not a monolithic trait and women can be in different stages regarding various issues in their lives. Moreover, studies suggest that women can achieve high scores in a few stages at the same time (Vaughn, Lansky, & Rawlings, 1996). As a result, in more recent research, the Feminist Identity Development Model has not been conceptualized as a set of stages but rather as five continuous scales (Moradi & Subich, 2002b). Therefore, Downing and Roush’s stages are sometimes referred to as feminist identity styles (Sabik & Tylka, 2006).

A variety of feminist values and philosophies exist, it is also a very dynamic, evolving set of ideas. According to Jaggar (1983), feminists are the women and men who are “united by a belief that unequal and inferior social status of women is unjust and needs to be changed” (p. 322). Feminist attitudes are a crucial part of feminist identity styles concept, however, these constructs need to be distinguished. Both women and men can perceive themselves as feminists. However, according to Downing and Roush (1985), their model addresses a development pathway specific for women, as it not only describes values and philosophy but also self-identification, self-view, and attitudes toward one’s experiences as a woman. It is also logically possible that a woman, who explicitly does not embrace feminist philosophy, meets the criteria of advanced feminist identity styles (i.e., synthesis).

Three measures have been developed to assess feminist identity development (Bargad & Hyde, 1991; Fisher et al., 2000; Rickard, 1989), and in a number of studies, relations between the stages/styles of feminist identity and various aspects of women’s functioning have been demonstrated. It has been proven that there is a positive relation between PA and the tendency to have a negative body image (Murnen & Smolak, 2008) or to experience negative mood (Snyder & Hasbrouck, 1996). Moradi and Subich (2002b) found that women high in PA are more likely to react to acts of discrimination with psychological tension, negative mood. Feminist identity styles were also proven to be significant moderators between perceived sexist events and disordered eating: For individuals low on synthesis and AC, perceived sexist events were more often related to disordered eating (Sabik & Tylka, 2006). Similarly, in another research study, women who endorsed feminist opinions were generally more satisfied with life and had more positive self-images (Yakushko, 2007). Landry and Mercurio (2009) claimed that acknowledging sexist events helps to use more adaptive coping strategies and so can lead to better functioning. Likewise, Foster, Sloto, and Ruby (2006) emphasized the role of consistency between one’s worldview and experiences: Women high in PA might find experiences of unfair treatment incoherent with their beliefs and, therefore, may experience the discomfort that is caused by the dissonance between their beliefs and the current experience.

Traumatic Events in Women

Many research studies on trauma consequences are limited to PTSD. However, this disorder is not the only common aftermath of traumatic experiences. Other anxiety disorders are also frequent responses to trauma, as are depression and substance abuse (Friedman, Resick, & Keane, 2007). According to Koss, Bailey, and Yuan (2003), the two most common psychiatric consequences of sexual abuse are PTSD and depression, including both acute and chronic depressive symptoms.

According to studies carried out both in the United States (Breslau, Chilcoat, Kessler, & Davis, 1999; Kessler et al., 1995) and internationally (Norris et al., 2002), in their lifetime men are more often exposed to traumatic events than women. Nevertheless, women are twice as likely as men to suffer from PTSD (Breslau et al., 1999; Zawadzki & Strelau, 2009—in Poland).

Several explanations for the high level of PTSD among women have been offered, such as the type of trauma, social conditionings, or the “feminine vulnerability” (Breslau et al., 1999). In Western societies, women more often than men experience rape, which is considered one of the events most likely to trigger posttraumatic disorders. In general, women seem to be exposed to more severe kinds of trauma, such as intimate partner violence (Kimerling, Ouimette, & Weitlauf, 2007). Thus, Kimerling et al. claim that the type of trauma may partially account for the gender differences in the prevalence of PTSD. Other arguments in favor of this hypothesis are that no differences between men and women were found on the rates of PTSD as a result of natural disaster or accidents (Kessler et al., 1995), injury, and learning about other people’s injuries or death (Breslau et al., 1999). Nevertheless, research results proving to the contrary are also available (i.e., Kimerling et al., 2007; Kun, Tong, Liu, Pei, & Luo, 2013), which suggests that the type of trauma alone might not be a sufficient explanation. For example, there is evidence that the female veterans of the war in Afghanistan and Iraq suffer from PTSD more often than male veterans (Crum-Cianflone & Jacobson, 2013; Levine & Land, 2014). Cortina and Kubiak (2006) offered a hypothetical explanation in which they emphasized the role of lifetime sexual victimization in women. The latter was proven to be a significant predicator of PTSD, which supports the hypothesis that these are rather situational factors that account for gender differences in responses to the trauma. On the contrary, Breslau and colleagues (1999) were among the proponents of the concept of “feminine vulnerability,” a sort of intrinsic trait that is claimed to enhance PTSD risk in women. The aforesaid vulnerability could possibly pertain to neurobiological aspects. However, exhaustive data on the subject of neurology of PTSD in females are lacking because the research mostly targets men (Rasmusson & Friedman, 2002). Neurobiological studies on women are methodologically more challenging because the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and menopause can affect results. Still, the existing body of research suggests that neurobiological conditions may shape a female’s responses to trauma (Olff, Langeland, Draijer, & Gersons, 2007).

The problem of gender differences in responses to traumatic events is complex and most probably is accounted for by a number of factors. Nevertheless, exposure to the sexual type of trauma seems to be one of the most crucial issues. Therefore, data on the psychological consequences of sexual violence will be provided. Problems such as mood disorders, anxiety, substance abuse, and suicidal ideation are common among sexual violence survivors (e.g., Dutton et al., 2006). Obviously, PTSD symptoms are also frequent. A meta-analytical review of the literature on the topic of intimate partner violence demonstrated that the mean prevalence of depression among the victims is 47.6, which is much higher than the prevalence in the general population (Golding, 1999). The prevalence rate for suicidality ranged from 4.6% to 77%, and up to 84.4% of women were diagnosed with PTSD. In rape victims, the most severe symptoms occur within the first 2 weeks after the incident (Rothbaum, Foa, Riggs, Murdock, & Walsh, 1992) and lessen in the next few weeks. Still, according to Resick (1987), anxiety and self-esteem problems are pronounced even 18 months after the assault. A substantial number of sexual violence survivors suffer from negative consequences even several years after the occurrence.

Because the current study was conducted with a sample of Polish women, some facts about sexual violence in Poland need to be provided. Reports suggest that, in general, women in Poland experience violence (this refers to any type of violence) more often than men (Borkowska & Platek, 2011). According to police reports, about 2,000 rape charges are filed each year. Nevertheless, according to non-governmental institutions, this might constitute only 8% of all rapes, because most victims do not file crime reports to the police (Borkowska & Platek, 2011). According to the international comparison of crime statistics published by the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC; 2015), the rate of sexual assault in Poland is lower than in some other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. In Poland, 4 rape cases per 100,000 population were reported to the police, compared with 28.6 in United States, 16.2 in France, or 8.9 in Germany. However, it is difficult to draw conclusions about factual incidence rate of sexual assault, because some of the victims may not report the crime to the authorities. In case of women, only in 20% of the cases is the offender a stranger to the victim. Some studies suggest that each year, as many as 800,000 women experience domestic violence (Piotrowska, 2011), the analogous data for men are not available (according to the police reports, 7,580 men reported domestic violence in 2012, but this number might be underestimated). A total of 60% of rapes are committed by the husbands of the victims. In general, 5% to 10% of women who experience sexual trauma do not tell anyone about the experience (Izdebski, 2005). Rape myths are to some extent accepted in Poland (i.e., Osrodek Badan Opinii Publicznej [OBOP], 2002); according to the OBOP survey, 8% of respondents believe that a perpetrator should not be punished in any way if a woman had acted “provocatively.” Rape myths are also widespread in Polish media.

Contemporary, feminist views in Poland are mainly perceived as an opposition to Catholic, conservative values (i.e., Frackowiak-Sochanska, 2011), and the concepts of gender and feminism are heavily criticized by the church authorities (Pietrzak & Mikołajczak, 2011). The concept of feminism is mostly embraced by educated women who reside in the biggest cities. That being said, although there is a considerable backlash against feminist in traditionally (catholic) oriented communities, women’s organizations in smaller towns and in the countryside are rather active. Frackowiak-Sochanska (2011) studied the views on feminism among women residing in the city of Poznan. Of the sample, 23.5% women declared that they fully accepted the feminist movement, 23% had an ambivalent opinion. Participants were more supportive of liberal feminism. Also, rejection of feminist movement does not necessarily mean rejection of feminist ideas. Some participants, who opposed feminist movement, supported equality on a labor market and other feminist issues.

The Present Study

The aim of the present study was to examine the relations between feminist identity styles, traumatic experiences, and selected aspects of psychological functioning. A body of research has shown relations between the feminist identity and both mood and self-esteem. Therefore, the crucial question in this project is whether this pattern of relations is similar in women who have experienced trauma and whether it changes depending on the type of trauma. Koss et al. (2003) claimed that self-blame, guilt, and core beliefs are among the most important factors determining women’s response to sexual violence. Because rape myths are widespread in the society (i.e., Buddie & Miller, 2001; OBOP, 2002), it may be assumed that they are also shared by some of the victims of sexual violence and the people around them. Therefore, it seems valid to apply the feminist identity development concept to the issue of traumatic events in women. Moreover, positive ethnic identity appears to be one of the predictors of more adaptive coping with distress (Umaña-Taylor, Vargas-Chanes, Garcia, & Gonzales-Backen, 2008), thus, the same may apply to feminist identity.

The following question was posed: Is the relation between feminist identity styles and consequences of traumatic events stronger for women who suffered from sexual traumatic events compared with those who experience non-sexual events?

Method

Collecting data on traumatic experiences is associated with serious methodological and ethical concerns. Asking participants about their experiences of trauma may lead to emotional distress and re-traumatization (Fleischman, Collogan, & Tuma, 2006). Also, Kathryn Becker-Blease and Jennifer Freyd (2006) claimed that in most individuals, the questionnaire questions are a kind of stimuli that could lead to serious distress. Therefore, in the present study, only yes/no questions were included to assess the trauma. In research on trauma, the correlational retrospective model is the first choice, thus causality is often difficult to demonstrate (North & Norris, 2006). In this study, an interaction regression model was adopted. The participants were recruited from a general population by word of mouth and posters in colleges and workplaces.

Participants

A total of 273 women participated in the study; their age range was 20 to 65 years (M = 35.4, SD = 11.2). Most of the participants (89.4%) live in the capital of Poland, Warsaw, while others reside in towns near Warsaw. Of the sample, most had received a university education or were currently enrolled as university students (96.7%), others had received a high school education. Because the number of participants with no university degree was small, the level of education was not considered a variable in the study.

The women participating in the study were recruited from the general population, and the previous experience of trauma was not a selection criteria. The author did not decide to invite participants through institutions for abuse victims, because such recruited individuals would most likely be suffering from PTSD and the latter is not a subject of the study. In addition, the fact that the participants might be receiving professional help at the time of the study could have affected results. It was assumed that the sample recruited from the general population would consist of women with no traumatic experiences, experiences of non-sexual trauma, and experiences of sexual trauma. Indeed, 94 women (34.4%) reported a non-sexual traumatic experience within the previous 2 years, 27 participants (9.9%) declared a sexual traumatic experience in the previous 2 years. Also, because depression was being measured in the study, the participants were asked whether they had been pregnant in the previous year. The aim was to minimize the risk of results being distorted by the fact that some of the participants suffer from postpartum depression.

Measures

Traumatic Events Inventory

This questionnaire was used to assess traumatic experiences. It derives from the measures used by Kessler and colleagues (1995) and Breslau and Kessler (2001). However, the author of the present study modified the scales to draw a distinction between sexual and non-sexual traumatic experiences. Thus, the measure consists of 21 yes/no questions; Questions 1 to 10 refer to non-sexual traumatic events, Questions 11 to 21 refer to experiences of sexual abuse. For all 21 questions, the participants were requested to declare whether such an event had happened to them (a) in the previous 2 years and (b) in their whole life. In this article, the events that occurred in the last 2 years will be considered. The intensity, duration, and frequency of the experiences were not measured.

Examples of non-sexual traumatic events listed in the inventory are being involved in a dangerous car accident, being a victim of a physical attack, and suffering from a life-threating disease.

Examples of sexual traumatic events listed in the inventory are being a victim of a forced sexual contact and being a victim of attempted sexual assault.

Feminist Identity Composite (FIC)

FIC is one of the scales developed to assess feminist identity development (Fisher et al., 2000); it was derived from the Feminist Identity Scale (Rickard, 1989) and the Feminist Identity Development Scale (Bargad & Hyde, 1991). The final version of the measure consists of 33 items with 5-point Likert-type scales (from strongly agree to strongly disagree). The items make up five scales relating to the stages as described by Downing and Roush. The reliability levels reported by the authors were satisfactory, with α = .75 for PA, α = .8 for revelation, α = .84 for embeddedness–emanation, α = .68 for synthesis, and α = .86 for AC. According to Moradi and Subich (2002a), the FIC exceeds previous measures of feminist identity in terms of psychometric quantities.

The Polish version of the FIC was developed. A total of 34 items (items included in the final version of the FIC plus 1 item previously dropped from the synthesis subscale: “If I were to paint a picture or write a poem, it would probably be about women or women’s issues”) were translated into Polish, then translated back into English by another person, finally a third expert compared the two English versions. A pilot study in a sample of 96 women was conducted to assess the psychometric measures of the questionnaire. Factor analysis with varimax rotation was performed, and five factors emerged that accounted for 52.6% of total variance. Almost all the items loaded onto the factors as predicted. The reliability coefficient for the whole scale was high, with α = .87. The reliability levels for the subscales were also satisfactory, with α = .74 for PA, α = .88 for revelation, α = .87 for embeddedness–emanation, α = .84 for synthesis, and α = .82 for AC. In the present study, the reliability coefficients α = .91 was demonstrated for the whole scale, α = .88 for PA, α = .93 for revelation, α = .90 for embeddedness–emanation, α = .92 for synthesis, and α = .83 for AC. The five scales in the Polish version of the questionnaire were as follows:

PA: Seven items, results range from 7 to 35. Example of an item: “Mysle, że zarówno mężczyznom, jak i kobietom było lepiej w czasach, kiedy mężatki pracowały w domu, a ich mężowie wspierali je” (I think that men and women had it better in the 1950s when married women were housewives and their husbands supported them).

Revelation (REV): Eight items, results range from 8 to 40. Example of an item: “Stopniowo zaczynam dostrzegać, jak bardzo seksistowskie jest społeczeństwo” (Gradually, I am beginning to see just how sexist society really is).

Embeddedness/emanation (EE): Five items, results range from 5 to 25. Example of an item: “Bardzo interesuję się kobietami artystkami” (I am very interested in women artists).

Synthesis (SYN): Seven items, results range from 7 to 35. Example of an item: “Jestem dumna z bycia kompetentną kobietą” (I am proud to be a competent woman).

AC: Seven items, results range from 7 to 35. Example of an item: “Można powiedzieć, że motywacją do niemalże wszystkich działań, w które się angażuję, jest pragnienie sprawiedliwego świata” (On some level, my motivation for almost every activity I engage in is my desire for an egalitarian world).

Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (SES)

The scale was used to assess self-esteem. It was developed to measure a positive or negative orientation toward the self. The questionnaire consists of 10 items with a 4-point Likert-type scale. Five items are reversed in valence, and the possible score range is 0 to 30 (or 10-40, this manner of computing the results was used in this study). The Polish version of the SES was developed by Irena Dzwonkowska, Kinga Lachowicz-Tabaczek, and Mariola Laguna (2008). Reliability of the scale as reported by the authors is α = .83, reliability in the present study was α = .88.

Depression Inventory (DI)

Depression was assessed with an experimental version of a multi-scale questionnaire developed by Emilia Lojek. The questionnaire consists of 75 items describing behaviors and emotional states; these are answered on a 4-point scale ranging from never to always. The measure consists of five subscales, of which four relate to various behavioral and emotional aspects of depression and one assesses active coping:

“Cognitive deficits and loss of energy”—19 items.

“Concern with death, pessimism, and alienation”—16 items.

“Feeling of guilt and anxiety tension”—15 items.

“Psychosomatic symptoms and loss of interest”—10 items.

“Active problem solving and positive attitude” (active coping)—15 items.

The names of the subscales were translated into English by the author of this article. Because the measure is complex and contains a number of scales, the general level of depression was calculated as a sum of standardized results on the first four scales.

The official results of the analyses have not yet been published; nevertheless, according to Lojek, the reliability coefficients for the subscales range from α = .85 to .91. Correlations with Beck Depression Inventory-II were assessed, and correlation coefficients ranged from .7 to .8. Analyses performed in the course of the present research study showed high levels of reliability, with α = .95 for the whole inventory, α = .93 for “cognitive deficits and loss of energy,” α = .95 for “concern with death, pessimism, and alienation,” α = .94 for “feeling of guilt and anxiety tension,” α = .89 for “psychosomatic symptoms and loss of interest,” and α = .85 for “active problem solving and positive attitude.”

Procedures

The author received the Ethics Committee at the Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, approval to conduct this research. The study was conducted by four assistants: Two of them were students enrolled in a master’s program in psychology and two were psychology graduates. All of them were female and received training to ensure that sensitivity and confidentiality of participants was ensured. They recruited the prospective participants in colleges and at workplaces using posters and word of mouth. It was clearly stated that traumatic experiences are the subject of the study. The volunteers were provided with information about the length of the study as well as with other details, and an individual meeting with an assistant was arranged. After completing the questionnaires, the participants had the opportunity to talk with the assistants about their impressions and were informed that if they felt distressed after the study, they would be given the chance to contact a trained psychologist (they were given telephone number and other contact details of the psychologist). The participants received no compensation for their participation in the research.

Results

A dichotomous variable “type of traumatic event” was created, two categories were “non-sexual traumatic event” (n = 94) and “sexual event” (n = 27). These were coded as −1 and 1. Five types of feminist identity styles were standardized and consecutively included as continuous variables. Self-esteem and depression were regressed on the interactions of the dichotomous variable with feminist identity styles. Results of the regression analyses are presented in Table 1. When a significant interaction effect was found, the sample was divided according to the dichotomous variable, and regression in the two subgroups was performed. These results can be found in Table 2.

Table 1.

Interaction Regression Analyses.

Dependent Variable	FIC Scale	Change Statistics			ANOVA		Interaction Effect		Main Effect
		Change Statistics			ANOVA		Interaction Effect		Event Type		Feminist Identity Style
		r² Change	F Change	Significant F Change	F	p	β	p	β	p	β	p
Self-esteem	PA	.05	8.72	0.004	16.47	<.001	−.28	.04	−.16	.07	−.55	<.001
	REV	.11	13.67	<0.001	8.41	<.001	.41	<.001	−.34	<.001	.31	.006
	E/E	.12	15.67	<0.001	11.33	<.001	.43	<.001	−.35	<.001	.46	<.001
	SYN	.07	11.46	0.001	22.78	<.001	.34	.001	−.18	.029	.71	<.001
	AC	.08	12.41	0.001	15.25	<.001	.35	.001	−.25	.03	.55	<.001
Active problem solving	REV	.04	4.77	0.031	4.79	.004	.25	.03	−.31	.001	.23	.049
	E/E	.06	6.79	0.011	6.43	<.001	.29	.01	−.32	.001	.35	.003
Cognitive deficits	REV	.04	4.63	0.034	8.59	<.001	−.24	.034	.41	<.001	−.02	.835
	E/E	.04	5.37	0.022	8.16	<.001	−.26	.022	.41	<.001	−.16	.148
Concern with death	REV	.06	6.67	0.011	6.03	.006	−.28	.011	.32	.001	−.07	.553
	E/E	.05	6.65	0.011	6.82	<.001	−.25	.034	.33	.001	−.18	.122
Feeling of guilt	REV	.05	5.25	0.024	4.16	.008	−.27	.024	.27	.006	−.11	.385
	E/E	.09	10.48	0.002	6.18	.001	−.37	.002	.28	.003	−.31	.008
	AC	.04	4.36	0.039	6.61	<.001	−.23	.001	.22	.02	−.38	.001
Psychosomatic symptoms	E/E	.08	9.55	0.003	4.45	.006	−.36	.003	.21	.034	−.29	.018

Note. FIC = Feminist Identity Composite; PA = passive acceptance; REV = revelation; E/E = embeddedness–emanation; SYN = synthesis; AC = active commitment.

Table 2.

Regression in Two Subgroups.

Dependent Variable	FIC Scale	Subgroup						Z Fisher
		Non-Sexual Event			Sexual Event			Z Fisher
		β	p	R ²	β	p	R ²	z	p	f
Self-esteem	PA	−.30	<.001	.09	−.8	<.001	.65	3.96	<.001	−0.71
	REV	−.11	.25	.01	.61	.005	.37	—	—	—
	E/E	.06	.69	.03	.76	<.001	.58	—	—	—
	SYN	.41	<.001	.17	.85	<.001	.73	3.88	.005	−0.75
	AC	.23	.03	.05	.82	<.001	.68	3.57	.004	−0.77
Active problem solving	REV	−.02	.83	.01	.47	.041	.22	—	—	—
	E/E	.05	.65	.01	.62	.005	.38	—	—	—
Cognitive deficits	REV	.23	.037	.05	−.34	.155	.11	—	—	—
	E/E	.11	.352	.01	−.54	.016	.29	—	—	—
Concern with death	REV	.18	.087	.03	−.36	.126	.13	—	—	—
	E/E	.07	.517	.01	−.48	.03	.24	—	—	—
Feeling of guilt	REV	.18	.085	.03	−.3	.211	.09	—	—	—
	E/E	.07	.522	.01	−.54	.015	.29	—	—	—
	AC	−.17	.118	.03	−.53	.02	.27	—	—	—
Psychosomatic symptoms	E/E	.08	.43	.01	−.54	.016	.29	—	—	—

Note. FIC = Feminist Identity Composite; PA = passive acceptance; REV = revelation; E/E = embeddedness–emanation; SYN = synthesis; AC = active commitment.

First, self-esteem was included in the model as a dependent variable. Interaction effects were significant for all five interaction terms with a negative value of β coefficient in the case of PA and positive for four other styles. Regression in two subgroups showed that for revelation and embededness/emanation, a significant effect was only found in a sexual trauma group. For PA, synthesis, and AC, significant events were found in both groups, but the value of β coefficient was always greater in the sexual trauma group (negative in the case of PA, positive for synthesis and AC). Therefore, the Z Fisher test was carried out to assess the differences in the strength of the effects. The results of the test were significant in all three cases suggesting that the effect was stronger in the sexual trauma group.

When five dimensions of depression were consecutively included in the model as dependent variables, significant interaction effects were found for interaction terms that included the level of revelation and embeddedness/emanation (also AC in the case of the “feeling of guilt” dimension). In most cases, the regression performed in the subgroups showed the significant effects in the sexual trauma group.

Discussion

Of the sample, more women declared they had experienced non-sexual (34.4%) than sexual (9.9%) traumatic event in the last 2 years. The study was not conducted on a representative sample; therefore, no general conclusions can be drawn from these data. However, the percentage of women who declared the experience of sexual assault is relatively high compared with the official police statistics (2,000 cases a year in a 40 million population).

The interaction model was fully supported when self-esteem was the dependent variable. Interaction effects were significant for all five FIC scales. In both cases (no trauma vs. sexual trauma and non-sexual vs. sexual trauma), PA was negatively related to self-esteem, while the relation was stronger in the sexual trauma group. This pattern of relations occurred for other feminist identity styles, but the relations were positive. In general, a strong difference between “traditional” and feminist identification was demonstrated. When depression was included in the analyses, the results were not as consistent. Significant interaction effects were found for revelation and embeddedness/emanation. These results appear to be quite unexpected, because according to the theory, both styles are associated with strong, negative emotions. Nevertheless, according to the study results, these styles are negatively related to depression in women who had experienced sexual trauma.

There is a substantial body of evidence that supports the idea of relations between feminist identity and women’s well-being. The present study provides further evidence of the value of feminist attitudes for women’s well-being. According to the present findings, there are strong links between the feminist identity styles and both depression and self-esteem (for instance, positive relations between PA and negative dimensions of depression, negative between PA and self-esteem; positive relations between advanced feminist styles and the level of self-esteem, negative relations between those styles and depression). Moreover, the feminist identification styles were proven to be a good moderator between the type of trauma and well-being, especially, level of self-esteem. The significance of feminist identity styles was mostly visible in individuals who had experienced sexual trauma. This evidence supports the notion that self-blame and other assumptions about the rape are significant in understanding women’s response to sexual violence.

Implications

The results of this research help understand the importance of attitudes and social perceptions in general in responding to the traumatic events. One of the implications of the study is that it might be useful to involve gender-based violence awareness programs in the therapy and other forms of psychological support for women. Such awareness programs could potentially help reduce self-blame and guilt. Feminist point of view on rape culture and rape myths could also be incorporated in preventive programs and should be heard in a public debate on violence against women.

There are also significant methodological implications of the study. There is evidence that there is no need to use the five feminist identity styles model, because the traditional versus feminist identification dichotomy would be enough to capture the differences. In the future research, concepts such as rape myth acceptance, self-blame, and guilt should be taken into consideration. This could possibly help explain the relations between feminist identity and reactions to traumatic events and could provide information about the role of rape culture in women’s psychopathological reaction following sexual assault.

Limitations

Conducting research on traumatic experiences entails a number of ethical and methodological concerns; thus, the research in this field has some substantial limitations. One of the common responses to the traumatic experience is avoidance and denial; therefore, individuals who had experienced trauma may not be willing to report it in the questionnaire or may not have been willing to be part of the study when they learned it involved instances of trauma. Another limitation of this study is that regression design was used, which makes it difficult to draw conclusions regarding causality. No information about the timing of the feminist identity styles formation was gathered. Thus, it is not clear whether feminist identifications in individuals were triggered by the event as such or were present before the event and helped the individuals cope with the trauma. This concern particularly applies to the revelation and embeddedness/emanations styles which, according to the theory, are often precipitated by stressful events. A longitudinal study is needed to examine these relationships more fully. Moreover, future research could assess other aspects of woman’s psychological functioning, such as anxiety problems. It might also be useful to explore the social support issues in this context, because it is likely that the social context of women with traditional and feminist identifications differs in terms of acceptance of the rape myths.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the Polish National Science Centre under Grant 3526/B/H03/2011/40.

Author Biography

Justyna Kucharska has a PhD in psychology from Warsaw University. Apart from psychology, she studied African cultures and languages at Warsaw University and School of Oriental and African Studies in London. She worked in projects in Morocco, Uganda, and Ethiopia. She also graduated from trainers school and has been working as a soft skills trainer for the last 5 years. One of her fields of interest is cross-cultural psychology, especially issues related to well-being and mental health of migrants.

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