This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: University students who are survivors of sexual violence are forced to perform a constant, exhausting "calculus"—weighing risks, safety, stigma, emotional costs, institutional consequences and likelihood of being believed—when deciding whether and how to seek help. New George Mason University–led research published in Violence Against Women helps to illuminate why so many survivors avoid reporting sexual violence, finding that most expect institutional systems to retraumatize them or fail them.
Drawing on participant responses from students in the University of California system who are survivors of sexual violence, researchers created the Survivors' Calculus as a framework describing factors shaping survivors' decision-making on seeking support and resources. The Survivors' Calculus demonstrates how institutional processes can place the burden of healing on survivors themselves. "We created the Survivors' Calculus to describe how, from the moment a survivor experiences sexual violence, they face structural barriers to accessing resources that will be safe and helpful for them, all while dealing with the initial trauma," said Sara Wilf, the study's co-principal investigator, lead author of the paper and an assistant professor in the Department of Social Work.
On college campuses in the United States, one-fourth of undergraduate students report having experienced sexual violence, though the incidents often go unreported. Racially minoritized, gender-diverse, LGBTQIA+ and cisgender women face the highest rates of sexual violence. As with any trauma, survivors' mental health and academic performance can be impacted.
Given the prevalence and impact of sexual violence on college campuses, researchers hope institutions will use this new model to understand how to support survivors in a way that does not retraumatize them. "Survivors weigh different factors in their decisions for help-seeking, and we hope other researchers will use our framework to explore those factors within their own settings and institutions," said Wilf. The Survivors' Calculus recognizes that survivors' prior experiences can shape decision-making.
The framework centers on four themes: The framework was developed as part of a broader study examining survivors' experiences seeking support within university systems. Through surveys of students, faculty and staff in the University of California system across several campuses, researchers explored which organizations and people were most and least helpful for survivors of sexual violence, in their own words, and the reasons that prevent survivors from seeking support. Additional findings included: "Our findings, particularly in advancing a wraparound approach to supporting survivors and highlighting survivors' desire for confidential advocates who share their important identities, can directly support policymakers, education leaders, social workers and community organizations in ensuring survivors are not shouldering the burden of navigating resources on their own," said Wilf.
Co-authors include Kalani Philips from the University of California, Irvine; Laura Knittig from Sam Houston State University; Leila Chiddick, Rachel LaPointe and Victoria Copeland from the University of California, Los Angeles; Rina Rossi from CUNY; and Stephanie Kathan from California State University. Sara Wilf et al., The Survivors' Calculus: How University Survivors Navigate Healing Amid Institutional Betrayal, Violence Against Women (2026). DOI: 10.1177/10778012261492325 MA in English, copy editor since 2021 with experience in higher education and health content.
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