How Do the Changes to the Sexual-Experiences Scale Affect Our Sexual-Assault Prevalence Data?

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlene Y. Senn
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Sexual Experiences ◽  
Prevalence Data

Undergraduates’ Disclosures of Unwanted Sexual Experiences: Who, Why, and When?

2019 ◽  
pp. 107780121988518
Author(s):  
C. J. Eubanks Fleming ◽  
Emma C. Muscari
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Sexual Experiences ◽  
Unwanted Sexual Experiences ◽  
First Response ◽  
History Of ◽  
Assault Survivors

This study evaluated patterns of sexual assault disclosures as well as the response and impact of that response on assault survivors. The sample consisted of 217 undergraduates with a history of sexual assault (89.5% female, 76.5% Caucasian). Participants reported the order in which they disclosed and the nature and impact of the response they received. Results indicated that the majority of participants told close peers first and perceived the first response to be supportive. These findings are encouraging but also demonstrate the need for improving the response that an assault survivor receives.

Studying Sex to Understand Sexual Assault

Contexts ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 69-71
Author(s):  
Cierra Raine Sorin
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Sexual Experiences ◽  
Complicated Nature ◽  
Landmark Study

This book review explores Sexual Citizens: A Landmark Study of Sex, Power, and Assault on Campus by Jennifer S. Hirsch and Shamus Khan, and describes the complicated nature of sexual experiences as an undergraduate.

scholarly journals It Happened to a Friend of Mine: The Influence of Perspective-taking on the Acknowledgment of Sexual Assault Following Ambiguous Sexual Encounters

2020 ◽  
pp. 088626052095767
Author(s):  
Veronica M. Lamarche ◽  
Laurie James-Hawkins
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Perspective Taking ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Personal Information ◽  
Sexual Experience ◽  
Contextual Information ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Sexual Experiences ◽  
Sexual Encounters

Failure to acknowledge that one has been the victim of sexual violence is an important, yet understudied, barrier that prevents women from seeking appropriate support following sexual violence. Drawing from a literature of demonstrating the benefits of self-distancing when evaluating emotionally charged personal information, the effects of self-distancing on acknowledgment of sexual assault were tested. Four experimental studies ( Ntotal = 1,609) manipulated perspective-taking, either by asking women to imagine a series of hypothetical sexual encounters as experiences that happened to themselves or to their friends, or by asking women to describe a sexual experience from a first- or third-person perspective. Findings from the studies suggest that taking another person’s perspective can help women to label ambiguous sexual experiences as more inappropriate and coercive. Notably, this did not seem to stem from women downplaying or dismissing experiences when they imagined themselves, as they reported anticipating more negative and less positive emotions in the scenarios where they imagined themselves compared to a friend. Nonetheless, in spite of the stronger anticipated negative emotional response when imagining themselves, women were less open to information about resources associated with sexual assault and support when they imagined themselves compared to a friend. This pattern of findings replicated for own, past sexual experiences but only to the extent that women spontaneously engaged in distanced perspective-taking themselves. This research suggests in addition to using contextual information to disambiguate and determine whether a sexual experience was inappropriate, taking a distanced perspective might provide a route through which women can come to terms with the experience and open up to the use of community-based services and sexual assault resources.

scholarly journals How Men’s Sexual Assault Victimization Experiences Differ Based on Their Sexual History

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (13-14) ◽  
pp. 2624-2633
Author(s):  
Rhiana Wegner ◽  
Kelly Cue Davis
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Sexual History ◽  
Sexual Assault Prevention ◽  
Sexual Experiences ◽  
Physical Force ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Unwanted Sexual Experiences ◽  
Female Perpetrators ◽  
History Of ◽  
Unwanted Sexual Activity

This study examined the differences in men’s sexual assault victimization experiences based on their history of only having sex with women (MSW) or having sex with women and men (MSW/M). Based on the previous research, we expected that MSW/M would be more likely to report a sexual assault history, experience a significantly greater number of sexual assault acts, experience more severe levels of unwanted sexual activity and tactics (i.e., physically forced attempted or completed rape), and report both male and female perpetrators, compared with MSW. Community, nonproblem drinking men, ages 21 to 30 ( N = 311), reported on their sexual assault victimization experiences since age 14 using a modified version of the Sexual Experiences Survey. Six items were used to assess participants’ number of unwanted sexual experiences (i.e., unwanted sexual contact, attempted and completed rape) that included the use of intoxication, physical force, both, or neither. For each item, participants indicated if the perpetrator(s) was/were male, female, or both male and female. Two fifths of men reported experiencing sexual assault, the majority of which involved attempted or completed rape. Replicating and extending previous research, MSW/M were significantly more likely to be victims (65% vs. 39%), experienced a significantly greater number of sexual assault acts since age 14, were more likely to have experienced attempted or completed rape through the use of physical force, and were more likely to report male only or both male and female perpetrators across their victimization experiences, as compared with MSW. Results indicate a clear need for additional research on the unique victimization experiences of MSW/M. Additionally, sexual assault prevention programming needs to provide men with the skills to identify and negotiate unwanted sexual advances made by men and women and to promote healthy sexual relationship behaviors.

scholarly journals Sexual Assault Severity and Depressive Symptoms as Longitudinal Predictors of the Quality of Women's Sexual Experiences

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (5) ◽  
pp. 463-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth C. Neilson ◽  
Jeanette Norris ◽  
Amanda E. B. Bryan ◽  
Cynthia A. Stappenbeck
Keyword(s):  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Sexual Experiences

Unwanted Sexual Experiences and Cognitive Appraisals That Evoke Mental Contamination

2013 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryotaro Ishikawa ◽  
Osamu Kobori ◽  
Eiji Shimizu
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Cognitive Appraisal ◽  
Sexual Experience ◽  
Negative Emotions ◽  
Cognitive Appraisals ◽  
Hierarchical Regression ◽  
Sexual Experiences ◽  
Unwanted Sexual Experiences ◽  
Mental Contamination ◽  
Unwanted Sexual Experience

Background: Mental contamination is a psychological sense of contamination that involves an internal, emotional feeling of dirtiness that may be evoked by unwanted thoughts and images, such as sexual assaults. Aims: This study aimed to investigate which types of unwanted sexual experiences evoke the strongest mental contamination, and to test the hypothesis that cognitive appraisals of an unwanted sexual experience predict indices of mental contamination (i.e. feeling of dirtiness, urge to wash, internal negative emotions, and external negative emotions). Method: 148 female participants were asked to recall their most distressing unwanted sexual experiences. Indices of mental contamination and cognitive appraisals of the experience were then assessed. Results: Our findings indicated that individuals recalling experiences related to rape felt more intense feelings of dirtiness than individuals recalling other types of unwanted sexual experience, such as verbal sexual assault, visual sexual assault, and forcible touching/frottage. In addition, hierarchical regression analyses demonstrated that a cognitive appraisal of perceived violation predicted all of the indices of mental contamination after controlling anxiety, depression, and fear of contact contamination. Conclusions: The present study demonstrated that an individual is at greatest risk of mental contamination if she has experienced rape/attempted rape, and if she makes a cognitive appraisal of violation regarding the incident.

scholarly journals Correlates of Disclosure Cessation After Sexual Assault

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily R. Dworkin ◽  
Nicole Allen
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Rape Myth Acceptance ◽  
Rape Myth ◽  
Sexual Experiences ◽  
Unwanted Sexual Experiences ◽  
History Of ◽  
Myth Acceptance

Contacts with responders after sexual assault may influence further disclosure, but this possibility has not been explored empirically. Thus, this study investigates associations between survivors’ contacts with responders and their decisions to discontinue disclosure. Fifty-four college students with a history of unwanted sexual experiences described 94 ordered contacts with responders. Results indicate that survivors’ perceptions of responsiveness were not associated with continued disclosure, but survivors were more likely to continue disclosing when they perceived more rape myth acceptance from responders and when the assault was more recent. These findings highlight survivors’ tenacity in meeting their needs, even after problematic responses.

Trauma-Related Shame, Sexual Assault Severity, Thwarted Belongingness, and Perceived Burdensomeness Among Female Undergraduate Survivors of Sexual Assault

Crisis ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 134-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher R. DeCou ◽  
Stephanie P. Kaplan ◽  
Julie Spencer ◽  
Shannon M. Lynch
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Suicidal Ideation ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Psychosocial Risk ◽  
Thwarted Belongingness ◽  
Female Undergraduate ◽  
Perceived Burdensomeness ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
And Behavior

Abstract. Background and Aim: This study evaluated trauma-related shame as a mediator of the association between sexual assault severity and perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness. Method: A total of 164 female undergraduates who reported attempted or completed sexual assault completed self-report measures of sexual assault, trauma-related shame, perceived burdensomeness, and thwarted belongingness. Results: Using path analysis, trauma-related shame mediated the association between sexual assault severity and perceived burdensomeness, and between sexual assault severity and thwarted belongingness. Limitations: The findings of this study are limited by the retrospective, self-report, and cross-sectional nature of these data, and do not allow for causal inference. Conclusion: Trauma-related shame warrants additional investigation as a mechanism that explains the association between sexual assault and psychosocial risk factors for suicidal ideation and behavior.

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