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

In 1995, participants were contacted again for an eighth wave of data collection. Members of all three cohorts were mailed a survey assessing educational experiences, work experiences, romantic partnerships, parenting, psychological adjustment, substance use, and sexual experiences.

SAMPLE

The original sample included junior high students from one rural public school district in the eastern United States. The school district included two junior high schools, each with grades seven, eight, and nine (Crockett et al., 1996). All participants were Caucasian and living in a geographically isolated rural area. This area was considered to be economically and educationally deprived when data collection began in 1985 (Vicary, 1991). Of the eligible female students in 1985, 96% participated in the study (Vicary et al., 1995).

The analyses reported in this paper are restricted to women who participated in both Survey 8 and in the adolescent portion of the study at Grade 9. In total, 249 women participated in Survey 8, representing 71% of the female sample. Seven women were excluded from analysis because they reported childhood sexual abuse (victimization before age 12).(2) In addition, five women were excluded from analysis because of inconsistent reports of sexual victimization that could not be resolved; these women were excluded to avoid misclassification. Therefore, the sample for this study included 237 women (68% of the total female sample).(3)

In order to test for bias related to differential attrition, the adolescent data for individuals who participated in Survey 8 (n = 237) were compared to those who did not participate in Survey 8 (n = 92). A series of t-tests was conducted to compare mean differences on several Grade 9 variables, including frequency of drunkenness, frequency of sexual intercourse, antisocial behavior, gender role attitudes, emotional tone, self-esteem, school grades, quality of peer relationships, quality of family relationships, and mother's education. Based on these tests, the attrited group had a significantly higher frequency of drunkenness (M = 2.17 vs. M = 1.81), t(307) = 2.66, p [is less than] .05, and sexual intercourse (M = 1.91 vs. M = 1.59), t(306) = 2.35, p [is less than] .05, at Grade 9 than the group who participated in Survey 8, along with significantly lower school grades (M = 5.90 vs. M = 6.25), t(304) = -2.06, p [is less than] .05. These differences suggest that the women who participated at Survey 8 were somewhat better adjusted than the attrited group.

The women ranged in age from 12 to 16 years (M = 14) at Grade 9 and from 21 to 26 years (M = 23) at Survey 8. Seventy-nine percent of the women lived in rural areas at the time of follow-up; the remaining women lived in suburban areas (7%), urban areas (12%), or on military bases (1%). Level of educational attainment varied: 6%0 of the women had not finished high school, 6% had completed their GED, 27% had graduated from high school, 12% had received technical training after high school, 20% had completed some college, 26% had graduated from college, and 3% had received graduate or professional training.