Citation

Reed R, McGrath RE, Armeli S. J. Trauma. Stress 2011; 24(1): 78-84.

Affiliation

Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/jts.20602

PMID

21305618

Abstract

A variant of the Implicit Association Test focusing on the association of sexual and aggressive themes was administered to 90 college students (61 women) and correlated with a series of variables based on participant history of sexually traumatic events. A history of sexual abuse was correlated with increased difficulties in processing sexual and aggressive concepts simultaneously. Furthermore, this relationship remained significant after controlling for general level of emotional distress, and even after controlling for self-reported aggressiveness and positive feelings towards sex. The findings provide grounds for further exploration of deficits in associations between sexual and aggressive concepts as a possible indicator of the cognitive effects of sexual abuse.

Language: en