Substance Use in Emerging Adulthood: The Effect of Early Sexual Trauma on Young Women

Background:  According to previous research, victims of child sexual abuse are more likely to misuse substances later in life, presumably in an attempt to reduce anxiety and obtrusive thoughts.  This study explores the issue with greater specificity, examining whether both child and adolescent sexual assault affect trajectories of substance use during years of emerging adulthood (i.e., ages 18-25).  This is a time when individuals are exploring relationships and employment paths and making educational choices.  Excessive reliance on substances during these years may make a successful “launch” into adulthood more difficult.

Method:  Sample:  The data come from the nationally representative Panel Study of Income Dynamics, which includes interviews with girls and their caregivers from birth through childhood, adolescence and into adulthood.  The sample consists 956 women who reported that they had not been sexually assaulted before age 18, 47 women who reported having been sexually assaulted at age 12 or younger, and 53 women who reported they were first sexually assaulted between the ages of 13 and 17. 

            Measures:  In the first interview after turning age 18, women were asked whether they had ever been raped or sexually assaulted, and if so, at what age it first occurred.  Socio-economic status of the family had been measured when the child was born.  Frequency of marijuana use in the previous 12 months, frequency of binge drinking in the previous 12 months, and the number of cigarettes smoked per day were measured at four two-year intervals: age 18-19, age 20-21, age 22-23, and age 24-25.

            Analysis:  Linear mixed-effects modeling was conducted with controls for socioeconomic status.

Results:  Young women who had been sexually assaulted for the first time during adolescence used marijuana with greater frequency over the course of emerging adulthood than did women who had not been sexually assaulted before age 18 (effects for child victims were not significant);  frequency of marijuana use did not change over the course of emerging adulthood for any of the three groups.  Victims of child sexual assault engaged in binge drinking more frequently than either of the other two groups of women.  The binge-drinking frequency of child  victims, however, declined over the course of emerging adulthood.  Both child and adolescent survivors of sexual assault smoked cigarettes with greater frequency than women who had not been sexually assaulted before age 18.  Cigarette smoking did not decline over the course of emerging adulthood for any of the three groups.   

Conclusions:  The findings indicate that young women who were sexually assaulted before age 18 used substances with greater frequency during emerging adulthood compared to women who had not been sexually assaulted before age 18.  The substance of choice, however, differed depending on whether the first sexual assault took place in childhood or adolescence.  The greater rate of binge drinking among child victims suggests that they may be at greater risk of a repeated sexual assault than are adolescent victims—a topic that can be explored in future research.  Implications of these findings for practice are discussed.