Exposure to an Anonymous Survivor Instagram Account is Linked to Institutional Betrayal Among Campus Sexual Misconduct Survivors

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to examine whether viewing an anonymous survivor social media (Instagram) account was linked to PTSD symptoms and institutional betrayal among campus sexual misconduct survivors. Data were collected from 259 undergraduate students (78.8% female; 79.2% White) who completed an online cross-sectional survey. Results demonstrated that 85 participants (32.8%) endorsed exposure to at least one unwanted sexual experience since coming to college. Of these trauma-exposed participants, 21 (24.7%) reported clinically elevated symptoms of PTSD secondary to the unwanted sexual experience. The average number of instances of institutional betrayal following the sexual trauma was 2.73 (SD = 2.75), and institutional betrayal was positively correlated with PTSD symptoms (r = .29, p = .008). An independent samples t-test showed that trauma-exposed participants who viewed an anonymous survivor Instagram account specific to their college reported higher institutional betrayal compared to trauma-exposed participants who did not view the account (d = 1.55). Furthermore, frequent viewing of the Instagram account (i.e., at least once per week) was associated with the highest reported institutional betrayal (d = .49). Whether or not trauma-exposed participants viewed the Instagram account did not appear to be associated with PTSD symptoms. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine the associations among exposure to an anonymous survivor Instagram account, institutional betrayal, and PTSD symptoms. While further research is needed to understand the causal relationship among these variables, these results highlight the continued and urgent need of institutions of higher education to address campus sexual misconduct, in the form of reporting/adjudication processes and robust prevention programming.

Keywords

adult victims Media and violence PTSD sexual assault

Nearly a quarter of undergraduate students experience at least one instance of sexual misconduct on college campuses, with a majority of trauma-exposed students belonging to a historically marginalized group (e.g., women, LGBTQ+; Fedina et al., 2018; Mellins et al., 2017). Because unwanted sexual experiences are interpersonal in nature, students exposed to this type of trauma are at greater risk of developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms (Green et al., 2000). Furthermore, students who experience campus sexual misconduct may also experience institutional betrayal, a phenomenon in which an individual feels that their institution failed at fostering a campus culture free of sexual violence, or failed to respond properly to reports of sexual misconduct (Smith & Freyd, 2013). Smith and Freyd (2013) also found that institutional betrayal exacerbates PTSD symptoms following an unwanted sexual experience.

Recently, survivors of sexual assault and harassment have taken to social media to share their personal stories and seek support. Guidry et al. (2020) analyzed 500 Twitter and 500 Instagram posts that discussed sexual violence and abusive relationships using the now viral hashtag #NotOkay. Findings suggest that individuals were especially likely to use Instagram to share specific acts of sexual assault and that “Instagram may be more conducive to focused advocacy efforts” than Twitter (Guidry et al., 2020, p. 133). It is therefore not surprising that undergraduate students have begun using anonymous Instagram accounts to share personal stories of campus sexual misconduct. Many of the survivors’ stories shared on these accounts also disclose instances of institutional betrayal. For example, on the anonymous survivor Instagram account titled “anti.violence.[removed for blind review],” multiple users shared experiences where they felt their respective institution minimized their unwanted sexual experience or sided with the perpetrator (anti.violence.laf, 2020). The function of these anonymous survivor Instagram accounts appears to be twofold: to provide support and validation to students exposed to campus sexual misconduct, as well as to highlight structural forces that may be contributing to a culture where sexual misconduct is normalized on college campuses. That said, it is possible that time spent viewing an anonymous survivor social media account may be associated with more negative feelings toward one’s respective college/university. For example, Linder et al. (2016) found that exposure to stories of sexual assault on anonymous survivor social media accounts led students to feel more “unrest” toward their institutions in terms of how the sexual misconduct cases were handled.

While viewing an anonymous survivor Instagram account may be positively correlated with unfavorable feelings toward one’s own college/university, an inverse relationship may exist between viewing a survivor Instagram account and PTSD symptoms. Decades of research suggest that lack of social support is a strong risk factor for the development of PTSD following a traumatic event (e.g., Brewin et al., 2000). If survivor social media accounts are created in part to help support survivors and reduce stigma associated with sexual trauma, it is then possible that frequent viewing of a survivor Instagram account might be associated with decreased PTSD symptoms.

To the best knowledge of the authors, no study to date has examined whether viewing an anonymous survivor Instagram account (respective to one’s college) is associated with levels of PTSD symptoms and/or institutional betrayal following an unwanted sexual experience. Therefore, the current study first sought to assess college students’ exposure to unwanted sexual experiences since coming to college. Next, we examined PTSD symptoms and institutional betrayal secondary to students’ unwanted sexual experiences. Based on previous research (Smith & Freyd, 2013), we predicted that PTSD symptoms would be positively correlated with institutional betrayal. Furthermore, we predicted that trauma-exposed students (i.e., students who reported experiencing campus sexual misconduct) who have viewed an anonymous survivor Instagram account specific to their college (i.e., @anti.violence.[removed for blind review]) would report fewer PTSD symptoms than trauma-exposed students who never viewed the Instagram account. Finally, we predicted that trauma-exposed students who have viewed the Instagram account would report higher institutional betrayal compared to trauma-exposed students who never viewed the Instagram account.

Methods

Participants and Procedures

Data were collected from 295 undergraduate students who anonymously consented to an online cross-sectional survey at a small liberal arts college in the Northeastern United States. Thirty-six participants completed the informed consent but then failed to complete the remainder of the survey and therefore were removed from the study, leaving a total of 259 participants for data analysis. We used a convenience sampling procedure to recruit participants for the current study. We desired a more representative sample than what SONA (an online research participant pool system, which is predominately used by students taking psychology courses) could provide, so we also recruited via other methods (e.g., a campus-wide email, group messaging platforms, social media postings, and word of mouth). Participants were offered compensation, either through course credit or a chance to win one of two $25 Amazon gift cards. Two hundred and six participants chose the course credit, whereas 38 participants chose a chance to win a gift card. Fifteen participants did not signify a compensation type. This study was approved by the [removed for blind review] Institutional Review Board.

Of the 259 participants, 204 (78.8%) identified their gender as female, 50 (19.3%) as male, one (0.4%) as transgender male, two (0.8%) as genderqueer, one (0.4%) as gender-nonconforming, and one (0.4%) as non-binary. The average age of participants was 19.73 (SD = 1.10), with 76 (29.3%) identifying as freshmen, 84 (32.4%) as sophomores, 68 (26.3%) as juniors, and 31 (12.0%) as seniors. A majority of participants (79.2%) self-identified as White, followed by 24 (9.3%) as Asian or South Asian, 14 (5.4%) as Black or African American, nine (3.5%) as “other,” two (0.8%) as American Indian or Alaskan Native, and nine (1.9%) chose not to respond to the race item. Almost a third of participants reported a family income of $180,000 or more.

Measures

Demographic Questionnaire

Demographic information (e.g., age, gender identity, class year, and race/ethnicity) was obtained through a brief self-report questionnaire at the beginning of the survey.

Unwanted Sexual Experience Exposure

Instances of unwanted sexual experiences were disclosed through the Sexual Experience Survey - Short Form Victimization (SES-SFV; Koss et al., 2007). Participants reported the frequency of the following five types of unwanted sexual experiences since coming to college: sexual contact, attempted coercion, coercion, attempted rape, and rape. The SES-SFV also directly asked participants whether or not they had been raped, with response options of “yes,” “no,” or “prefer not to respond.”

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms Secondary to Unwanted Sexual Experiences

PTSD symptoms were measured using the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist—5th Edition (PCL-5; Weathers et al., 2013). Only participants who had reported exposure to an unwanted sexual experience since coming to college completed the PCL-5. Participants were asked to rate all 20 items using a 5-point scale ranging from 0 (not at all) to 4 (extremely). Scores were summed to create a PCL-5 total sum variable; higher sum scores indicate more frequent/severe PTSD symptoms. Internal consistency for the PCL-5 was excellent (α = .95).

Institutional Betrayal Secondary to Unwanted Sexual Experiences

Institutional betrayal was measured using the Institutional Betrayal and Support Questionnaire (IBSQ; Rosenthal et al., 2016). The IBSQ is a 26-item checklist in which participants reported whether they felt supported or betrayed by their institution (institution was defined as the college participants attended at the time of the unwanted sexual experience) by selecting “yes,” “no,” or “N/A.” The first eight items measured institutional support, the following 12 questions measured institutional betrayal, and the final six questions assessed institutional betrayal specific to one’s sexual orientation and/or race. For the purpose of the current study, only the 12 items pertaining to institutional betrayal (regardless of one’s sexual orientation or race) were used to create a betrayal sum variable (higher scores indicate greater institutional betrayal).

Exposure to Anonymous Survivor Instagram Account

Two items assessed participants’ exposure to the anonymous survivor Instagram account specific to their college. The first item asked, “Have you viewed the ‘anti.violence.[removed for blind review]’¹ Instagram account?”, with response options of “yes,” “no,” and “unsure.” The second item asked, “On average how often do you view the account?”, with response options of “daily/nearly every day,” “3-4 times per week,” “a couple times per week,” “once a week,” “a few times a month,” “less than once a month,” and “I don’t view the account.” We dichotomized the second item into “frequent” viewing of the account (defined as participant endorsement of viewing the account at least a couple times per week) and “infrequent” viewing of the account (defined as participant endorsement of viewing the account once a week or less).

Data Analysis and Results

Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 27.0. First, we examined the data for any missing or out-of-range values. Next, we ran descriptive statistics on demographic and study variables. We assessed outcome variables (e.g., PCL-5 total score and institutional betrayal sum score) for normality by examining skewness values and visually inspecting normal Q-Q plots; we did not observe excessive skew in any of the outcome variables. We then tested study hypotheses by running a bivariate correlation and independent samples t-tests.

Eighty-five participants (32.8%) endorsed exposure to an unwanted sexual experience since arriving at college as measured by the SES-SFV. The most frequently reported unwanted sexual experience was unwanted sexual contact (n = 75, 29.6%), followed by attempted sex by coercion (n = 45, 19.4%), attempted rape (n = 34, 13.4%), rape (n = 32, 12.6%), and finally, sex by coercion (n = 27, 10.7%). Categories of unwanted sexual experiences were not mutually exclusive. When asked directly on the SES-SFV “have you ever been raped,” only 21 participants (8.1%) endorsed yes.

Of the 85 trauma-exposed participants, 76 identified as female, six as male, one as genderqueer, one as gender-nonconforming, and one as non-binary. The mean PCL-5 total score for participants who endorsed exposure to an unwanted sexual experience was 19.78 (SD = 17.70). Twenty-one of those participants (24.7%) had a PCL-5 total score of 33 or higher, indicating clinically elevated PTSD symptoms. The average number of reported instances of institutional betrayal was 2.73 (SD = 2.75). The most frequently selected instance of institutional betrayal was “Not doing enough to prevent this type of experience,” followed by “Creating an environment in which this type of experience seemed common or normal.” Fewer trauma-exposed participants (approximately 27%) indicated that the institution “Responded inadequately to the experience, if reported.” In line with our prediction, PCL-5 total score was positively correlated with institutional betrayal sum score (r = .29, p = .008).

Chi-square analyses were run to examine associations between demographic variables, exposure to unwanted sexual experiences, and whether or not participants reported viewing the Instagram account. A Bonferroni corrected alpha level of .012 was used for each chi-square analysis. Participants who endorsed exposure to an unwanted sexual experience were relatively more likely to report viewing the Instagram account compared to participants who did not report an unwanted sexual experience (χ² [1, N = 243] = 10.19, p = .001, Cramér’s V = 0.20). Of the 160 participants who denied exposure to an unwanted sexual experience, 119 reported that they viewed the Instagram account, whereas 76 trauma-exposed participants (out of 83) said they had viewed the account. Participant sex (male vs. female) was not significantly associated with viewing the Instagram account, χ² (1, N = 243) = .77, p = .381. Participant race (dichotomized as “non-Hispanic White” vs. “all other races”) was not significantly associated with viewing the Instagram account after applying Bonferroni’s correction, χ² [1, N = 238] = 4.94, p = .026. Finally, class year (underclassmen [freshmen and sophomores] vs. upperclassmen [juniors and seniors]) was significantly associated with viewing the Instagram account, χ² (1, N = 243) = 11.42, p = .001, Cramér’s V = 0.22. Upperclassmen were relatively more likely to report viewing the account (84 out of 92) than underclassmen (111 out of 151).

To test the hypothesis that trauma-exposed participants who viewed the anonymous survivor Instagram account would have lower PCL-5 total scores (compared to participants who never viewed the account), we ran an independent samples t-test. Although the groups contained unequal sample sizes (76 participants said they had viewed the Instagram account, whereas only 7 participants said they had not), Levene’s test for homogeneity of variances was not violated. Participants who viewed the Instagram account did not have significantly different PCL-5 total scores compared to those who never viewed the account, t (81) = 1.35, p = .180. Next, we ran a second independent samples t-test to test our hypothesis that participants who viewed the anonymous survivor Instagram account would report higher institutional betrayal (compared to participants who never viewed the account). Levene’s test for homogeneity of variances was significant (p = .015); therefore, we analyzed the data using Welch’s correction, which does not assume equal variances. Participants who viewed the Instagram account reported significantly higher institutional betrayal (M = 2.94, SD = 2.79) compared to those who never viewed the account (M = .57, SD = 1.13), t (14.07) = 4.43, p = .001, Cohen’s d = .88.

Finally, we sought to examine whether participants who reported frequently viewing the Instagram account (i.e., at least a couple times per week) differed on their sum score of institutional betrayal compared to participants who reported viewing the account less frequently (i.e., once a week or less). An independent samples t-test showed that participants who viewed the account more frequently reported significantly higher institutional betrayal (M = 3.63, SD = 2.93, n = 38) than participants who viewed the account less frequently (M = 2.31, SD = 2.47, n = 39), t (75) = 2.15, p = .035, Cohen’s d = .49.

Discussion

The current study explored students’ exposure to unwanted sexual experiences since coming to college, as well as secondary reactions (e.g., PTSD symptoms and institutional betrayal) to said experiences. Furthermore, we investigated the associations among PTSD symptoms, institutional betrayal, and exposure to an anonymous survivor Instagram account specific to participants’ college. Since coming to college, almost a third of participants have experienced an unwanted sexual experience and the most commonly reported experience was unwanted sexual contact. Although the PCL-5 should not be used as a stand-alone measure to make a formal psychiatric diagnosis, it is worrying that almost a quarter of students who endorsed exposure to an unwanted sexual experience reported elevated PTSD symptoms that may warrant additional assessment and/or treatment. Our findings also converge with extant literature that demonstrates a positive correlation between PTSD symptoms and institutional betrayal (Smith & Freyd, 2013). Data in the current study were collected cross-sectionally; therefore, we cannot make conclusions regarding causality. However, it is worth acknowledging that trauma-exposed participants in the current study reported many instances of feeling betrayed by their institution. A majority of trauma-exposed participants said that their institution created an environment where sexual misconduct was viewed as common/normal; in addition, participants said that their institution did not do enough to prevent sexual misconduct from happening. Fewer participants reported inadequate institutional responses following experiences of sexual misconduct. While we cannot use data from the current study to claim that these instances of institutional betrayal caused participants to have elevated PTSD symptoms, previous research has found that institutional betrayal exacerbates PTSD symptoms in campus sexual assault survivors (Smith & Freyd, 2013).

To the best knowledge of the authors, this was the first study to examine associations among PTSD symptoms, institutional betrayal, and exposure to an anonymous survivor Instagram account (specific to the college where student participants were enrolled). Whether or not trauma-exposed participants viewed the Instagram account did not appear to be associated with PTSD symptoms. However, trauma-exposed students were relatively more likely to view the Instagram account than non–trauma-exposed students. Furthermore, trauma-exposed participants who viewed the Instagram account reported higher institutional betrayal compared to trauma-exposed participants who did not view the account. Additionally, frequent viewing of the Instagram account was associated with the highest reported institutional betrayal. Approximately 78% of the overall current sample (regardless of trauma exposure) reported viewing the Instagram account, and 46% reported viewing the account at least once per week. Given the high participant exposure to the account, future longitudinal research is underway in order to further elucidate the directionality of the relationship between institutional betrayal and exposure to anonymous survivor Instagram accounts. It is also possible that a third unmeasured variable, such as general social media use habits or involvement in sexual assault activism, could better explain participants’ institutional betrayal and exposure to the anonymous survivor Instagram account. Future related studies should consider measuring (and potentially controlling for) general social media use and involvement in activism. Furthermore, future studies should consider controlling for exposure to non-sexual traumas that may also be contributing to PTSD symptomatology.

Despite these novel contributions, this study has several limitations worth ]noting. Our sample consisted of predominately White females from middle to upper class socioeconomic statuses. The homogeneity of our sample therefore limits generalizability of findings to more diverse college campuses. That said, students from historically marginalized groups (e.g., the LGBTQ+ community) are especially likely to experience sexual misconduct and institutional betrayal (Smidt et al., 2021). It is important to acknowledge that three out of the five participants who identified with a gender other than female or male in the current study reported exposure to an unwanted sexual experience. However, individuals from historically marginalized groups face systematic barriers to reporting their experiences of sexual trauma to authorities/college administrations, such as fear of alienation from their support networks (Todahl et al., 2009) and the threat of negative consequences from being stereotyped by people in authority (Brubaker et al., 2017). Another limitation was the use of self-report measures. While self-report measures afforded participants the ability to respond to sensitive questions privately and anonymously, this type of data collection is subject to recall bias. Additionally, participants in the current study self-selected to participate. This ability to self-select into (or out of) the study may have resulted in a biased sample.

Even with these limitations, the current study is the first to shine light on the relationship between institutional betrayal and exposure to an anonymous survivor Instagram account respective to students’ college. Results from this study suggest that college students (mostly women) continue to experience sexual misconduct in various forms. These experiences were traumatizing for some individuals, and it is likely that instances of institutional betrayal exacerbated students’ negative feelings. Colleges and universities must address campus sexual misconduct with urgency, both in the form of reporting/adjudication processes and robust prevention programming.

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) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Susan M. Hannan

Author Biographies

Susan M. Hannan, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Lafayette College. Her research is broadly focused on traumatic stress, including the examination of mechanisms of posttraumatic distress for interpersonal trauma survivors.

Gillian MacDonald is an undergraduate senior at Lafayette College, attaining her Bachelor’s degree. She is majoring in Psychology and French, with a special interest in clinical psychology research. She has served as Dr. Susan Hannan’s research assistant for the past year.

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