A Longitudinal Examination of the Consequences of Sexual Victimization for Rural Young Adult Women - Statistical Data Included

Journal of Sex Research, Nov, 1999 by Janine M. Zweig, Lisa J. Crockett, Aline Sayer, Judith R. Vicary

Sexual victimization is a pervasive problem for women today. According to the National Crime Victimization Study, in the United States women ages 12 years and older report 500,000 rapes and sexual assaults annually (Bachman & Saltzman, 1995). The psychosocial consequences of sexually victimizing experiences merit particular attention, as it is widely believed that sexual victimization has implications for how a woman feels about herself and her life, and how she behaves subsequent to victimization. Numerous studies have demonstrated associations between victimization and psychological, social, and relational adjustment outcomes. However, most prior research on this topic has been limited by one of three shortcomings.

First, although some studies have examined sexual victimization longitudinally, most have not controlled for adjustment prior to sexual victimization experiences and thus cannot disentangle the effects of sexual victimization from effects of prior psychological adjustment. In many cases, controlling for adjustment prior to victimization was not possible because the sample was recruited and followed only after the women were victimized (Murphy et al., 1988; Siegel, Golding, Stein, Burnam, & Sorenson, 1990). Second, although some studies have identified different types of sexual victimization, few studies have examined the differential effects of these distinct coercive experiences on women's adjustment. Third, few studies examine the impact of sexual victimization within community samples of women, instead of college or clinical samples (George, Winfield, & Blazer, 1992; Zweig, Barber, & Eccles, 1997). The current study addressed these three limitations by utilizing a community sample of rural women who had been previously surveyed as adolescents. As adults, the women reported diverse types of victimization, making it possible to examine the consequences of different types of sexually victimizing experiences, while controlling for adjustment prior to victimization. Based on the prior literature on sexual victimization, three types of adjustment outcomes were considered: (a) mood, (b) self-perceptions, and (c) social/relational adjustment.

Mood Outcomes of Sexual Victimization

Women who have been sexually victimized often report higher levels of depression (Miller, Monson, & Norton, 1995; Muehlenhard, Goggins, Jones, & Satterfield, 1991; Siegel et al., 1990; Zweig et al., 1997). For instance, adolescent females who reported unwanted sexual activity were more likely than other females to exhibit symptoms of depression (Erickson & Rapkin, 1991). For adult women, Mackey et al. (1992) examined reports of depressive symptomology from a sample of 69 rape victims. Of those women, 11% reported severe depression, 29% reported moderate to severe depression, 21% reported mild to moderate depression, and 40% were minimally or not depressed.

Feelings of anger and hostility are also greater among women who report sexual victimization. Adolescent females who had unwanted sexual experiences reported difficulty controlling their anger (Erickson & Rapkin, 1991), while young adult women who were sexually coerced reported greater levels of anger than women who were not coerced (Zweig et al., 1997). It may also be common for women to feel anger toward the perpetrator of the sexual coercion (Muehlenhard et al., 1991).

Self-Perception Outcomes of Sexual Victimization

Sexual victimization has been linked to lower self-esteem, although this link has not been shown consistently. In a number of studies, women who reported victimization also reported lower self-esteem than women without a history of victimization (Jehu & Gazan, 1983; Murphy et al., 1988; Resick, 1993; Zweig et al., 1997). However, longitudinal studies indicate that the negative effects on self-esteem tend to dissipate over time (Murphy et al., 1988). Moreover, some studies find no relationship between sexual victimization experience and reports of lower self-esteem (Miller et al., 1995). Thus, self-esteem may be affected by sexually victimizing experiences, but the strength and persistence of this effect is unclear.

Sexual victimization may also be related to a woman's body image. Although this relationship has not been examined directly, weight and eating problems have been linked to sexual victimization experiences. Erickson and Rapkin (1991) reported that adolescent females who experienced unwanted sexual activity were more likely to report weight problems than those who did not have these experiences. Kearney-Cooke (1988) reported that a high percentage of bulimic women have been sexually abused. She suggested that sexually victimizing experiences and the powerlessness that is often felt by women who experience victimization may be important contributing factors to the development of eating disorders. Because of this, it is plausible that some body image disturbances may be connected to sexual abuse episodes (Kearney-Cooke, 1988).

Social/Relational Adjustment Outcomes of Sexual Victimization