Sexual violence survivors that are South Asian women may experience a dual stigma from the cultural taboo of discussing sex or sexual violence and the cultural stigma of seeking professional mental health support. The present study is a phenomenological investigation to understand the experiences of survivors of sexual violence as they sought support. The researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 South Asian American women, asking about their experiences with support seeking after an experience of sexual violence. The researchers then used content analysis to determine three larger themes: emotional stress and cognitive self-blame influencing support seeking, the interpersonal processes and experiences of support seeking, and cultural and societal dimensions that influence support seeking. The findings from this study suggest implications for creating increased access to counseling services and culturally-informed trauma treatment.

Asian women are sexually objectified from a young age. Little research has identified the sociocultural factors that shape young Asian women’s understanding of sexual consent and assault. To address this, we conducted interviews with 24 young Asian women in New York. Qualitative analyses demonstrated that women receive anti-sex messages from their families and communities; they are embedded within cultures that blame the victim; they feel the need to maintain their community’s cultural harmony and reputation, which is incongruent with sex and support seeking after assault; and they are subjected to patriarchal norms that contribute to feelings of fear and a lack of agency within romantic and sexual experiences. These messages suggest to women that sexual consent is nonexistent within some of their communities and that it is unsafe to turn to family or community members after experiencing assault. Overall, this reveals how young Asian women can be stripped of their autonomy, both during sexual encounters and after sexual assault. These results have important implications in understanding the low rates of sexual assault reporting among Asian women and the need for culturally tailored, supportive spaces for young Asian women to learn their rights to safe, consensual, and agentic sexual experiences.

Child and/or forced marriage is prevalent among women in Bangladesh. Women who enter marriage as children experience negative psychosocial, physical, educational, and economic outcomes. The present study systematically reviewed the available literature in order to provide a reliable understanding of marriage in Bangladesh and the outcomes associated with these marriages for women. A systematic review of the literature yielded 172 possible articles for inclusion. Of those, 27 met inclusion criteria. Coding and result pooling across these articles showed a consistent positive relationship between early marriage and lower educational attainment, lower socioeconomic status, malnutrition, unwanted pregnancy, lack of contraception use, intimate partner violence (IPV), early childbearing, and limited decision making power for women. While the majority of articles targeted early marriage, childbearing, education, and income, there were a handful of studies of interventions that targeted other issues, such as malnourishment, contraceptive use, and IPV. Most research was descriptive or correlational and focused on basic health information such as weight, malnutrition, and childbearing. Sources of data about the experiences of these women were limited, information was reported inconsistently, and constructs were not uniformly presented. Strikingly, there was little information regarding psychological outcomes. There is a dire need for more rigorous and comprehensive.

Black women experience psychological distress that might be concealed by adherence to dimensions of Superwoman Schema (i.e., an obligation to display strength, resistance to vulnerability, an obligation to suppress emotions, intense motivation to succeed, and an obligation to help others, despite limited resources). One important factor that may elucidate the relationship between Superwoman Schema and psychological distress is emotion regulation strategies. In this cross-sectional study, we examined the relationship between Superwoman Schema and psychological distress in a sample of 165 college Black women. We also explored the extent to which cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression mediated this relationship. Preliminary findings indicated that all dimensions of Superwoman Schema were positively associated with psychological distress. Expressive suppression was also positively associated with psychological distress. Conversely, cognitive reappraisal was negatively associated with psychological distress. Mediation analyses revealed that cognitive reappraisal explained the relationship between the intense motivation to succeed and psychological distress only. Additionally, expressive suppression explained the relationship between all dimensions of Superwoman Schema except an obligation to suppress emotions and psychological distress. Findings allude to the complex nature of Superwoman Schema and elucidate how emotion regulation strategies might be a key component in addressing this phenomenon among Black women.