Adolescence Sexual Assault and Young Women's Interpersonal Functioning over Time

Background/purpose:  Adolescence is a time when females are at a heightened risk of sexual assault, yet the consequences for women of a first sexual assault occurring in adolescence are not well understood.  Our understanding of the consequences of sexual assault is based largely on cross-sectional surveys that provide point-in-times estimates of outcomes.  This leaves unanswered the question of whether adverse consequences diminish or are exacerbated over time.  The current study focuses on the impact of a first sexual assault that occurred between the ages of 13 and 17 on several aspects of interpersonal functioning at four points in time between ages 18 and 26. 

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 956 women who reported that they had never been sexually assaulted and 53 women who reported they were first sexually assaulted between the ages of 13 and 17.  Women who reported having been sexually assaulted at 12 or younger were excluded from the analysis.  The final sample comprised 1,009 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 and individual characteristics (e.g., externalizing behavior, internalizing behavior, intellectual disabilities) were measured during interviews that took place before the girls were age 13.  Aspects of interpersonal functioning were assessed when the girls were age 18-20 and at three subsequent two-year intervals.  These outcomes included social anxiety, perception of poor treatment by others (using the Everyday Discrimination Scale), and belief in the goodness of others.

Analysis:  Ordinary least squares and logistic regressions were conducted with controls for background factors. 

Results:  Social anxiety was no higher for sexual assault survivors than for other women, once background factors were controlled.  Survivors of adolescent sexual assault differed from never-assaulted young women in that they scored higher on all components of the Everyday Discrimination Scale at age 18-20. Survivors’ enhanced perception of poor treatment diminished over time and was no longer significant by age 26.  Survivors were less likely than other young women to think that people are basically good (21% vs. 42%); this association did not diminish over time. 

Conclusion/implications:  A first sexual assault occurring during adolescence undermines a young women’s belief in the basic goodness of people, which may be a more realistic perspective than that held by young women who have never been victimized by another person.  More problematic, however, is survivors’ heightened sense that they are disrespected, mistrusted, feared, or looked down upon on an everyday basis by other people, although this heightened sense of discrimination diminishes over time.  Social workers can assess the extent to which sexual assault survivors’ self-perception and behaviors contribute their real or imagined discrimination by others.  Social workers may determine that cognitive restructuring and other methods are appropriate to address interpersonal difficulties.