Adolescence Sexual Assault: Its Impact on Aspects of Young Women's Well-Being
The current study strengthens the empirical evidence that adolescent sexual assault undermines young women’s well-being by using nationally representative, longitudinal data that include indicators of sexual assault risk factors measured during childhood as well indicators of well-being measured during late adolescence. The study examines whether sexual assault during adolescence compromises aspects of young women’s emotional, social and psychological well-being, while controlling for sexual assault risk factors.
Method: Data and sample: The data come from the nationally representative Panel Study of Income Dynamics (child development component), which includes interviews with girls and their caregivers during childhood and follow-up interviews with the girls once they reach age 18. The sample consists of 1,082 girls who reported that they had not sexually assaulted before age 18 and 53 girls who reported they were first sexually assaulted between the ages of 13 and 17. Forty-one girls who reported having been sexually assaulted at 12 or younger were excluded from the analysis. The final sample comprised 1,035 girls.
Measures: Young women age 18-20 were asked whether they had ever been raped or sexually assaulted, and if so, at what age it first occurred. Socio-economic background (family income, mother’s education, family structure) and individual characteristics (externalizing behavior, internalizing behavior, intellectual disabilities and the Positive Behaviors Index) were measured during an interview that took place before the girl was age 13. Fourteen ordinal measures of emotional, social and psychological well-being (developed by Keyes and Ryff) were assessed when the girls were age 18-20.
Analysis: Ordered logistic regression was conducted with controls for sexual assault risk factors.
Results: Young women who had been sexually assaulted during adolescence scored lower on 9 of the 14 measures of well-being compared to young women who had never been sexually assaulted. Controlling for background risk factors reduced the magnitude of the relationships somewhat, but they remained strong and statistically significant.
Conclusion/implications: The study provides strong support for the contention that sexual assault during adolescence reduces young women’s emotional well-being (e.g., happy, interested in and satisfied with life), social well-being (e.g., a sense of belonging to a community, that people are basically good, that our society works well) and aspects of personal well-being (e.g., self-acceptance and warm, trusting relations with others). Several aspects of psychological well-being were not significantly associated with being a survivor of an adolescent sexual assault. These included a sense of environmental mastery and personal growth. This pattern of findings, in conjunction with previous research, indicates that sexual assault tends to reduce many, but not all, aspects of young women’s well-being. The pattern of findings and their implications are discussed.