The Impact of Adolescence Sexual Assault on Young Women's Relationships

Background/purpose:  Our understanding of the consequences of sexual assault is based largely on research using clinical samples (rather than representative samples of all young women) and cross-sectional surveys (that inadequately control for sexual assault risk factors).  Thus, conclusions that sexual assault creates problems for how young women relate to other people are vulnerable to the criticism that they exaggerate the impact of sexual assault. The current study strengthens the empirical evidence that adolescent sexual assault undermines aspects of young women’s well-being by using a representative sample and controlling for risk factors measured during childhood. 

Method: Data and sample:  The data come from the nationally representative Panel Study of Income Dynamics, 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 young women who reported that they had not been sexually assaulted before age 18 and 53 young women who reported they were first sexually assaulted between the ages of 13 and 17.  Forty-one women who reported having been sexually assaulted at 12 or younger were excluded from the analysis.  The final sample comprised 1,035 women.

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.  Relationship type and quality were assessed when the girls were age 18-20. 

Analysis:  Logistic regression was conducted with controls for sexual assault risk factors. 

Results:  Survivors of adolescent sexual assault differed from never-assaulted young women in that they were more likely to be in an intimate relationship (75% vs. 50%), primarily because they were more likely to be married or cohabiting (35% vs. 14%).  However, they were less satisfied in these intimate relationships than were never-assaulted young women.  Survivors were just as likely as never-assaulted young women to report they had warm and trusting relationships with other people and the two groups did not differ in how close they rated their relationships with their mothers and fathers.  Survivors, however, were less likely to feel they belonged to a community (31% vs. 52%) and that people are basically good (21% vs. 42%).  All relationships remained statistically significant when risk factors were controlled.

Conclusion/implications:  A first sexual assault occurring during adolescence appears to negatively affect young women’s relationships in some aspects but not in others.  The higher rate of early marriage and cohabitation among girls first assaulted in adolescence, often by a boyfriend or acquaintance rather than by a family member, may be due primarily to a heightened desire for security – a reluctance to date new people coupled with fear of being alone.  The pattern of findings and their implications for practice are discussed.