Posttraumatic Growth and Resilience on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence: A Set of Systematic Reviews of Literature

Abstract

Sexual violence is highly prevalent in sociopolitical conflict contexts. Even though its negative effects are well documented, further research is needed on how community experiences of social growth and rebuilding could positively impact victims of sexual violence in these contexts. As a starting point, we conducted a two-phase systematic review. The first phase focused on the relationships between sociopolitical conflict, sexual violence, and psychological effects or trauma (2010–2017), and, in addition to the deep negative psychological effects, it also found reports of posttraumatic growth in victims. This led to a second phase that related sexual violence in sociopolitical conflict contexts to posttraumatic growth and resilience (2017–2022). We found nine publications documenting experiences of resilience and posttraumatic growth in victims of sexual violence in sociopolitical conflicts. Interestingly, resilience and posttraumatic growth were shown not only in victims but also in communities and new generations, which is relevant to understanding the long-lasting effects of violence in contexts of sociopolitical conflict.