Sexual Assault, Mental Health, and Alcohol Use in College Women: The Role of Resilience and Campus Belonging.

This article examines the mental health and alcohol use outcomes of sexual assault among cisgender, heterosexual college women, focusing on the mediating roles of resilience and perceived campus belonging within the stress process model. Using data from the Spring 2021 American College Health Association National College Health Assessment (ACHA-NCHA; n = 31,328), the study found that sexual assault was positively associated with psychological distress, suicidality, self-harm, and alcohol use problems. Both resilience—defined as the ability to recover from adversity—and campus belonging—defined as a sense of social support and connectedness on campus—partially mediated the relationship between sexual assault and mental health outcomes, while only campus belonging partially mediated the association with alcohol use problems. The findings suggest that resilience and campus belonging are modifiable factors that could be targeted in trauma-focused, strengths-based interventions to improve mental health among victimized college women.