Prior studies indicate that sexual assault survivor posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is influenced by the social reactions (e.g., belief and blame) and perceived helpfulness (e.g., empathy, effectiveness) of informal support providers (SPs; i.e., family, friends, and partners). This study examined how SPs' social reactions and perceived helpfulness impacted female sexual assault survivor PTSD among an ethnically diverse sample of 432 pairs of sexual assault survivors and their SPs. Path models were run separately for survivors and SPs. In the survivor model, SP's perceived ineffectiveness was significantly related to more unsupportive acknowledgment and turning against reactions, and perceived empathy was significantly related to more unsupportive acknowledgment reactions. Both turning against and unsupportive acknowledgment reactions were related to greater survivor PTSD. In the SP model, greater SP confusion about how to help the survivor was related to marginally less SP unsupportive acknowledgment and more turning against social reactions made to survivors. Greater SP empathy toward the survivor was also related to significantly less SP unsupportive acknowledgment and turning against social reactions. Finally, SP turning against social reactions was related to marginally more survivor PTSD symptoms. Results suggest that longitudinal research is needed to explore further how helping perceptions relate to survivor PTSD from both survivor and SP perspectives to inform informal support network interventions. Interventions to increase empathy toward sexual assault survivors and teach SPs how to avoid responding with negative social reactions are needed.

While extensive research exists on the severe consequences among rape victims, little is known about specific predictors in relation to rape convictions among immigrants to Europe. This study from Sweden (having one of Europe's highest per capita rates of rape) investigates individuals convicted of rape, aggravated rape, attempted rape, or attempted aggravated rape, collectively termed as rape+, against women 18 years or older, from 2000 to 2020. In this case-control study, we analyzed data from Swedish population-based registers. The analysis includes 4,032 individuals convicted of rape+ and 20,160 matched controls. We used logistic regression models to examine the relationship between immigrant background and rape+ convictions, while adjusting for several potential confounders. We found that 36.9% of the convicted individuals and 69.5% of the controls were Swedish-born with two Swedish-born parents. The odds of being convicted of rape were higher for individuals with an immigrant background across all models. After adjusting for potential confounders (socioeconomic status, substance use disorders, psychiatric disorders, and criminal behavior), these odds decreased but remained significant, especially for those born outside Sweden and arriving at age 15 or older. Our findings reveal a strong link between immigrant background and rape convictions that remains after statistical adjustment. The mechanisms behind the overrepresentation of individuals with an immigrant background among those convicted of rape+ need further exploration.

Both mass shootings and acts of bias-motivated violence have significant psychological consequences, as survivors commonly experience psychological distress in the form of depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) following the event. Moreover, increases in psychological distress are common near the year mark of a traumatic event. However, little is currently known about how communities affected by the intersection of bias-motivated violence and mass shootings are affected by these events in the longer term. The present study therefore investigated survivors' psychological reactions around the 1-year mark of the Club Q shooting, which targeted members of the Colorado Springs lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and questioning (LGBTQ+) community. Specifically, informed by the social support deterioration deterrence model, this study used path analysis to explore how exposure to the shooting, community solidarity, and receiving social support were associated with psychological distress among  = 64 LGBTQ+ individuals in Colorado Springs. Results indicated that higher community solidarity was associated with more severe psychological distress, a latent variable comprised of depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and PTSS, β = .39,  = .001, but no other predictors were statistically significant. These results suggest that community solidarity may increase vulnerability to psychological distress, perhaps because these individuals are more personally affected when their community is targeted and harmed. This study also highlights the need for ongoing community support and healing efforts around the 1-year mark of a bias-motivated mass shooting.

Moderate levels of child disruptive behavior are common and developmentally appropriate during toddlerhood. Caregiver discipline methods influence the development of regulatory strategies in children and the trajectory of behavior problems as children develop. Spanking is a commonly used discipline method in the United States that has been found to result in negative outcomes in childhood and adulthood. Given the high prevalence of child disruptive behaviors and frequency of caregivers' reliance on spanking to manage child behavior, it is important to disseminate information about safe and effective alternatives, including timeout. Previous research has shown that Play Nicely, a brief online program, may be an efficacious approach to reduce caregivers' positive attitudes toward spanking. However, investigators have yet to investigate whether Play Nicely may also influence caregivers' use of alternative nonphysical discipline methods. This study is a follow-up of a randomized controlled trial that examined Play Nicely's impact on attitudes toward and use of spanking. This study investigated whether Play Nicely increased reported use of nonphysical discipline methods among caregivers following intervention. Participants were 107 caregivers of 1- to 5-year-old children recruited from a pediatric primary care clinic and randomly assigned to participate in the Play Nicely program ( = 49) or a control condition ( = 58). Data on caregivers' use of effective nonphysical discipline methods were collected using a self-report measure administered in a primary care clinic at baseline and at one month following intervention. Participants in the treatment group were significantly more likely than those in the control group to report using timeout following the intervention ( < .05). Findings indicate that participation in Play Nicely may increase caregivers' self-reported use of timeout, suggesting that further dissemination of this program may be an effective means of increasing caregivers' use of alternatives to spanking.

Bullying is a persistent social and behavioral problem in the United States. Bullying victimization and perpetration are linked to a host of negative physical, social, and emotional outcomes. Research suggests that a key risk factor for bullying behaviors is adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). On the other hand, positive childhood experiences (PCEs) may counter some of the negative effects of ACEs. This study (a) assesses the independent effects of ACEs and PCEs on adolescent bullying victimization and perpetration, and (b) examines whether ACEs and PCEs interact to affect bullying victimization and perpetration.We use data from the 2020 to 2021 National Survey of Children's Health, a nationally representative survey of children ages 0 to 17 in the United States. The analytic sample was limited to children who were 6 years old or older at the time of the survey ( = 60,809). Using caregiver reports of bullying victimization and perpetration, we created a cumulative ACEs scale comprised of 10 items and a cumulative PCEs scale comprised of eight measures. We then estimated a set of logistic regression models to predict bullying behaviors. The results showed that ACEs are associated with a higher likelihood of both bullying victimization and perpetration. Although PCEs have a slight mitigating effect, ACEs and PCEs interact such that even in the presence of PCEs, children with many ACEs still have a higher likelihood of both bullying victimization and perpetration. This highlights the considerable impact of ACEs on bullying behaviors. These findings suggest that enhancing ACE-aware care and ACE prevention is important because even promoting PCEs is unlikely to decrease bullying levels on their own.

The recent reconceptualization of the phenomenon of sexting between consensual and nonconsensual represents a relevant turning point in identifying and addressing nonconsensual sexting behaviors as online sexual violence. These practices of nonconsensual sexting, therefore, represent forms of technology-facilitated sexual violence, incorporating the terms image-based sexual harassment (IBSH) and image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) to describe the distribution of self-produced sexualized images in the online sphere by adolescents, who use the online environment as their main socialization space. The objective of this investigation is dual. First, we analyzed the experiences of adolescents who have been victims and/or aggressors of image-based harassment and/or sexual abuse, and second, we identified the motivations for engaging in IBSH and/or abuse among adolescents. This qualitative study analyzed the results of 19 focus groups with 223 adolescents (107 girls and 116 boys) aged 14 to 18. The main results of our qualitative study show that most adolescent boys perpetuate IBSH behaviors by sending unwanted sexual requests and images, and also carry out behaviors of IBSA such as producing, sending, forwarding, exchanging, and/or disseminating sexual images without the other person's consent. Girls are the main victims. In addition, the results of our study show that male and female adolescents do not identify IBSH and IBSA as a form of sexual cyber violence, and, consequently, as a sexual crime. The adolescent collective considers these practices social, normal, harmless, and amusing. Therefore, sex education programs, from a comprehensive model, are the best co-educational tool to prevent, raise awareness of, and eradicate these behaviors of sexual and gender-based cyber violence in adolescents.

Women who have experienced intimate partner violence (IPV) often encounter victim blaming from the general population, where individuals attribute responsibility to the victim's behavior for the violent episode. This phenomenon is influenced by levels of empathy, with lower empathy correlating with a higher likelihood of blaming women exposed to partner violence. Two studies were conducted. The aim of the first study was to explore the general population's perceptions of IPV severity, inclination to excuse the perpetrator, and tendency to blame women. The second objective was to investigate the predictive role of empathy in victim blaming. Study One ( = 5,834) was conducted using a vignette methodology to assess victim blaming, minimization of depicted violence, excusing the perpetrator, and perceptions of violence severity. Specifically, five vignettes were used: one was the "Control Vignette," depicting a police officer responding to a neighbor's call about a physical altercation between two partners, resulting in visible injuries to the woman. This vignette was then manipulated by adding different pieces of information in four other vignettes: a "Cheating Episode Vignette"; a "Reaction Vignette"; a "Financial Stressor Vignette"; and an "Alcohol Abuse Vignette." Study Two ( = 7,236) was conducted using a mediational analysis. Results revealed increased tendencies to blame women for violence, particularly in scenarios involving infidelity and reaction from the woman. The second study confirmed empathy's predictive role in victim blaming, highlighting the intricate interplay of empathy, perception of violence, and blame assignment. These findings underscore the importance of promoting empathy for a compassionate and responsible society, suggesting that fostering empathy could contribute to reducing victim-blaming tendencies.

Sexual harassment (SH) refers to unwelcome behavior that creates a hostile, intimidating, or offensive environment. This behavior can manifest through physical, verbal, or nonverbal actions. The present study analyzes the relationship between political orientation (left-wing, center, and right-wing) and attitudes toward SH with a focus on the moderating role of gender. We examined two types of attitudes: SH myth acceptance, and rejection of sexist remarks, specifically . SH myths are widely held but false beliefs that serve to deny and justify male-perpetrated harassment of women. Piropos are a form of harassment prevalent in Spain, where strangers make unsolicited comments about a woman's appearance in public spaces. Data were collected at a Spanish university, and multiple regression analyses were performed ( = 303). Participants with left-wing political orientation showed significantly lower SH myth acceptance compared to both right-wing (β = .80,  < .001) and center-oriented participants (β = .51,  < .01). Similarly, left-wing participants showed significantly higher rejection of piropos compared to right-wing (β = -1.26,  < .001) and center-oriented participants (β = -.80,  < .01). Furthermore, the interaction between political orientation and gender revealed that men with right-wing political orientation showed higher SH myth acceptance (β = -.51,  < .05) and lower rejection of piropos (β = .96,  < .05) compared to women of the same political orientation.

Intimate partner sexual violence is a serious problem and difficult to detect, often due to beliefs, myths and gender stereotypes. This study analyzes whether women identify this violence better through direct questions about sexual coercion, using the Semi-structured Interview for the Exploration of Intimate Partner Sexual Violence (EVS), which examines the characteristics and circumstances of these situations. A total of 110 women participated, divided into two groups: 80 who sought help at a center for victims of intimate partner violence and have therefore overcome common barriers to asking for help, and 30 who attended a counseling center during divorce proceedings, without having reported any form of violence. The results show that, among the women who sought help at a center for intimate partner violence and recognized having suffered sexual coercion in the EVS interview, half had already previously identified sexual violence, generally linked to physical assault, hitting furniture or shouting. The other half only identified sexual violence after being asked directly if they had been sexually coerced by their partner. In these cases, the types of coercion were threats or blackmail, without physical aggression. In the group of women in the process of divorce, one-third acknowledged having been also forced into sexual activities through subtle coercion, without physical violence. All women explicitly rejected forced sexual activities, but some participated passively or actively under duress, leading them to doubt whether these experiences were considered sexual violence. The study concludes that many women only acknowledge sexual violence when asked directly if they were forced by their partner, given that coercion without explicit aggression and participation under pressure make it difficult to identify it as violence. These findings underline the importance of asking specific questions to detect sexual violence, especially when coercion is not evident.

Technology-facilitated abuse (TFA) describes the misuse or repurposing of digital systems to harass, coerce, or abuse. It is a global problem involving both existing and emerging technologies. Despite significant work across research, policy, and practice to understand the issue, the field operates within linguistic, conceptual, and disciplinary silos, inhibiting collaboration. To address this, the present study used the Delphi technique to reach a consensus on TFA conceptualization, definition, terminology, and measurement among subject experts. Following a literature review, a global, cross-disciplinary sample of academics, practitioners, and policymakers ( = 316) reflected on TFA across three survey rounds. The results showed both aligned and opposing perspectives. "Technology" and "facilitated" were the most preferable terms. Still, there was uncertainty regarding the need for additional terminologies to denote the scope of abuse, such as gendered descriptors. Participants had little familiarity with existing TFA measurement tools, with two-thirds unaware of any. Most experts agreed on conceptualizing TFA based on the perpetrator's behavior, the victim's harm and impact, and consent. They also supported an expansive TFA definition, beyond intimate relationships, that can involve groups and communities as perpetrators or targets. However, they were more reluctant to perceive TFA as a distinct abuse form, or one guided by social norms, legal thresholds, or involving child perpetrators. The findings are discussed in the context of the current TFA landscape, along with study limitations and steps to achieve a more unified TFA understanding.

Bullying in schools remains a critical issue, and teachers often struggle to identify students at risk of victimization. This study explores the prevalence of various forms of bullying among high-risk groups in Taiwanese schools, using peer perspectives to gain insight. A total of 1,732 students (734 males and 998 females) participated in a survey that measured 10 common types of bullying, assessing both students' perceptions and the actual frequency of occurrences over the past 6 months. The multidimensional Rasch model (Kelderman, 1996) was employed to analyze the alignment between students' perceptions of bullying and their actual experiences in school. The study produced three key findings: (a) Students with "personality or behavioral problems" were most likely to be bullied, followed by those with "abnormal appearance" and "hygiene problems." (b) Peer reports on bullying behavior were generally accurate in identifying victims. (c) In assessing bullying related to "sexual orientation or gender identity," there was a discrepancy between perceived peer views and the actual frequency of such bullying. These findings suggest that students can be crucial in combating school bullying. Stakeholders involved in prevention efforts should focus on students with personality or behavioral problems, as they are particularly vulnerable to victimization, which can perpetuate the cycle of bullying. In addition, schools should incorporate peer feedback to enhance their strategies for identifying and preventing bullying.

It is well known that some youth are both victims and perpetrators of bullying. However, it remains unclear whether the victim-perpetrator overlap contains specific characteristics, such as bias. Using data from the United States Health Behavior among School-aged Children survey from 2009 to 2010 ( = 8,739), this study investigated the victim-perpetrator overlap for school bullying, with emphasis on assessing whether the perpetrators of biased (i.e., bias-motivated or prejudicial) bullying are also victims of biased bullying. The analyses employed predictive modeling using cross-sectional data and multinomial logistic regression to examine whether perpetrating biased bullying is associated with a higher risk of experiencing biased victimization than nonbiased victimization (and no victimization). It was then determined among which demographic subgroup of students, the biased bullying victim-perpetrator overlap is most prevalent. Results indicated evidence of a type-specific victim-perpetrator overlap for biased bullying. The biased bullying victim-perpetrator overlap was most prevalent among females, students whose families have financial difficulties, and students not born in the United States. These findings suggest that bullying perpetrators are not only at risk of being victims of bullying generally, but they are specifically more likely to be victims of the type of bullying they perpetrate. School programming to combat biased bullying should be designed with the understanding that there are some students in both the victim and perpetrator roles. Initiatives should focus on potential avenues for breaking the cycle of bias, especially among the group of students most likely to be involved.

Bystanders play a potentially important role in intervening in incidents of racism, but they often fail to act. Much research has focused on investigating facilitators and barriers to bystander behavior, but mainly in the context of sexual violence. There is a dearth of research in the context of racism, especially outside the English-speaking world. In this pilot study, we employed a qualitative approach to explore bystander facilitators and barriers in higher education students in Finland. Online participants ( = 649) read two vignettes depicting a racist incident and wrote open-ended answers on factors that would facilitate and prevent intervention. We constructed six main themes using an inductive thematic analysis: (i) Perceived self-efficacy to intervene; (ii) Justification and moral reasoning; (iii) Clarity of the situation; (iv) Responsibility and permission to act; (v) Social relationships, support, and presence of others; and (vi) Consequences and impacts of action. We discuss the results with a reference to theories and literature, as well as the unique context of Finland.

One critical area where sexual violence has been underexplored is in the ridesharing industry in the United States, where women drivers frequently must interact with unknown male passengers. Sexual violence against them is categorized as technology-facilitated gender-based violence in the online to offline world, where services such as transportation are ordered through an online app and result in a person-to-person interaction once the driver picks the passenger up. Since ridesharing drivers are mostly independent contractors, they do not have at their disposal traditional legal and strong organizational remedies to address sexual violence; moreover, like all victims of violence, these methods usually can only be accessed after the incident has taken place. Instead, in the moment of sexual violence, they must often utilize informal methods at their disposal, including confrontational and nonconfrontational coping tools. This study uses qualitative content analysis methods on a survey of 32 ridesharing drivers (31 women and 1 nonbinary individual) who described 69 cases of sexual violence. It found that confrontational responses dominated, including the following: verbal opposition sometimes paired with physicality; canceling the ride, threatening to stop the ride, and actually stopping the ride; and threatening to attack the perpetrator, actually attacking the perpetrator, and threatening to involve the police. Less common nonconfrontational responses included emotional reactions; other strategies in this category involved ignoring the perpetrator, joking with the perpetrator, and changing the conversational subject. This study has important implications for understanding the contextual environment where confrontation is prevalent and strongly points to additional needed safeguards for drivers, passenger education campaigns, as well as app-based transportation corporate reform.

The current study examines how atypical age-for-grade (i.e., being old- or young-for-grade) is associated with various types of interpersonal violence (e.g., physical fighting, school-based and electronic bullying victimization, and being threatened or injured with a weapon at school) among a nationally representative sample of U.S. high school students and explores these associations by sex. Data were from 21,892 students in 9th to 11th grades in the 2017 and 2019 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Weighted logistic regression models examined associations between age-for-grade categories and various types of interpersonal violence with peers, with stratified models exploring differences by sex. Results showed that, compared to their age-normative peers, students who were young-for-grade were more likely to report physical fighting, being threatened or injured with a weapon at school, and school-based and electronic bullying victimization. Students who were old-for-grade were more likely to report physical fighting than their age-normative peers. These associations differed for boys and girls, where being young-for-grade was more strongly associated with interpersonal violence for boys than for girls. Old-for-grade girls were more likely to report physical fighting than their age-normative peers, whereas young-for-grade girls were more likely to report being threatened or injured with a weapon at school. Findings from the current study may be explained by differences in physical, social, and emotional development in youth who are young-for-grade or old-for-grade compared to their age-normative peers. Results can inform school-level policies when identifying youth for grade retention or acceleration and may have implications for school-based interventions to prevent interpersonal violence between peers.

Weapon carrying and brandishing among youth is a serious public health issue. Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control's Youth Risk Behavior Survey suggests that as many as 1 in 15 male and 1 in 50 female students have carried a gun for nonrecreational purposes within the past 12 months. When examining weapon carrying more broadly, approximately one in eight adolescents report this behavior in the past 30 days alone. Within the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, several manuscripts have explored this topic in recent years in hopes of identifying causes and contributing to prevention. As a reviewer for the journal, and as a scholar and social services practitioner whose work focuses on interpersonal violence, I share these authors' investment in preventing youth weapon carrying and brandishing, addressing related harms such as bullying, and creating safer and more affirming environments for youth. However, I have grown increasingly concerned by the dominance of general strain theory (GST) in this literature. In this commentary, I argue that overreliance on GST as a causal framework has produced an overemphasis on immediate and microlevel explanations and a corresponding neglect of root causes and systemic injustice. Such limitations may be addressed through adopting additional or alternative frameworks that will allow scholars to incorporate multilevel factors. This will contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of weapon carrying and brandishing among youth, and thus more effective prevention measures.

The study objectives were to test the hypothesis that childhood trauma moderates the associations between early maladaptive schemas (EMS) and intimate partner violence (IPV) among women in the specific Lebanese patriarchal context. This is a cross-sectional study that was conducted on Lebanese women between September and December 2018; 1,655 participants enrolled in this study were from all of Lebanon's governorates and were selected using an equitable representative sample. The "Disconnection and Rejection" EMS domain showed the strongest correlations with both physical and nonphysical IPV ( = .46 and  = .51, respectively) in our sample. Moderation analyses findings showed that at low, moderate, and high levels of childhood trauma, greater endorsement of the "Disconnection and Rejection" schema domain was strongly linked to more severe physical and nonphysical IPV. Furthermore, childhood trauma (only at high levels) emerged as a significant moderator in the link between the "Impaired autonomy and performance" domain and physical/nonphysical IPV. High levels of childhood trauma significantly moderated the association between "Other directedness" and nonphysical IPV. Finally, low levels of childhood trauma moderated the link between "Over-vigilance and Inhibition" and physical IPV. Given that EMS are known to be resistant to change, identifying childhood trauma as a moderator in the link between certain specific EMS and IPV can provide novel avenues for the prevention IPV and its long-lasting detrimental consequences. Childhood trauma can be regarded as a target for prevention and intervention, as it can assist in mitigating correlations between EMS and IPV occurrence.

Inclusive and supportive classroom environments are essential, particularly during political and societal crises such as wars, disinformation, polarization, and rising populism and extremism. While existing research underscores the importance of such environments, few studies comprehensively examine the impact of anti-hate speech prevention programs on classroom dynamics and students' social development. This study addressed this gap by investigating the direct and indirect effects of the HateLess anti-hate speech prevention program on inclusive classroom climate, classroom cohesion, empathy, and self-efficacy among adolescents. A sample of 820 adolescents aged 12 to 16 years ( = 13.27,  = 1.04) from 11 German schools was divided into an intervention group ( = 567), who participated in the 1-week program, and a control group ( = 253). Multilevel mediation analyses revealed that, at T2 (1 month after the intervention), the intervention group reported significantly higher levels of inclusive classroom climate, cohesion, empathy, and self-efficacy than the control group. In addition, inclusive classroom climate and cohesion were positively associated with empathy and self-efficacy, and significant indirect effects indicated that the intervention's impact on empathy and self-efficacy was partially mediated through classroom climate and cohesion. These findings highlight the effectiveness of HateLess in fostering inclusive classroom environments and suggest integrating such interventions into school curricula to cultivate supportive learning spaces that empower adolescents to address hate speech effectively.

Prior research has linked the social determinants of health, such as food insecurity and housing instability, to experiences of interpersonal violence. However, little is known about how the social determinants of health are related to the risk for interpersonal violence among Black Americans living in rural, high-poverty communities in the Deep South. The intersection of rurality, racialized identity, and economic hardship makes this population particularly vulnerable to interpersonal violence, yet this population is underrepresented in the literature. This study examines the association between several social determinants of health (food insecurity, housing instability, transportation problems, social support, and health literacy) and odds of interpersonal violence while controlling for demographic factors and mental and physical health status. Data were obtained from a sample of 182 individuals (98% Black Americans) from two rural sites in Alabama. Logistic regression was used to model the relationship between the social determinants of health and current experiences of interpersonal violence. Moderate-to-severe depression (OR = 2.70,  < .05) and being married or partnered (OR = 2.96,  < .05) were associated with higher odds of interpersonal violence. Higher levels of social support were associated with lower odds of interpersonal violence (OR = 0.87,  < .01). Findings suggest that violence prevention efforts should be tailored to the local cultural context and include efforts to reduce social isolation and address symptoms of depression.

Despite the substantial contact police have with survivors of violence against women, empirical accounts of survivors' perceptions of police use of body-worn cameras (BWCs) are limited. This study examines survivors' concerns with BWCs. We present qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with 33 survivors of intimate partner abuse and sexual assault. While the majority (79%,  = 26) of the women in this study support police use of BWCs, most (90%,  = 30) still express concerns with the technology. Survivors' concerns fell into three main areas: fear of BWCs capturing trauma responses that could be used against survivors, BWCs decreasing survivor comfort and reporting, and BWCs revictimizing survivors and contributing to survivors' loss of control. The findings reveal concerns that police can work to address to avoid survivor-police relations being deteriorated by police use of BWCs.

The sexual abuse and assault of boys and men is not uncommon, and seeking support is useful in reducing negative outcomes. However, male survivors are less likely than women to seek support. Gendered norms and myths persist with several gender-specific barriers to seeking support existing for men. The present study is guided by three research questions: (1) What are men's support needs in relation to their experience of sexual harm? (2) What are men's experiences of seeking support in relation to their experience of sexual harm? (3) What are the barriers that hinder men from seeking support? Interviews were conducted with 14 men (19-37 years old) attending one of two universities in New Zealand, who had experienced sexual harm. The interviews included a discussion of the men's experiences of seeking support and were conducted as part of two broader projects. The young men experienced a complex and multifaceted journey in seeking support and described a range of informal and formal avenues that they had reached out to. Three prominent needs were highlighted: (1) increased awareness of male survivors, (2) a need for clarity around formal support services, and (3) a need for a diverse range of support modalities. The men described a variety of barriers encountered, including individual-level barriers such as difficulties in recognizing their experiences as sexual harm, a reluctance to acknowledge a need for support, preconceived notions about what seeking help might be like, as well as several overarching social and contextual influences such as living situations, cultural norms, religious beliefs, and family dynamics. These findings underscore the need for a holistic approach to supporting male survivors that addresses gender norms and myths about male survivors, acknowledges the diversity among male survivors, and addresses both individual-level and broader systemic barriers to support seeking by young men who have experienced sexual harm.