Citation

Charak R, DiLillo D, Messman-Moore TL, Gratz KL. Psychol. Violence 2018; 8(5): 570-579.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, University of Toledo, OH, U.S.A.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, American Psychological Association)

DOI

10.1037/vio0000154

PMID

30546924

PMCID

PMC6287920

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: The aims of the present study were to investigate latent classes of sexual victimization among young adult women based on characteristics of their victimization experiences (e.g., relationship with the perpetrator, nature of act, frequency), and examine differences in dimensions of emotion dysregulation across these classes and among non-victims.

METHOD: Participants were 491 women in the age range of 18-25 years from the United States; of these, 335 participants (M = 22.0, SD = 2.22) reported at least one experience of sexual victimization during their lifetime. Latent class analysis was employed to identify groups of women based on characteristics of their sexual victimization experiences.

RESULTS: A three-class solution was found to be most parsimonious. The classes were labeled as High severity developmental revictimization (DRV; 43.3%), Low severity child/adolescent sexual abuse (CASA: 20.3%), and Low severity adult sexual assault (ASA; 36.4%). The DRV class reported higher rates of penetrative abuse and longer duration of abuse than the CASA class, and higher rates of injury during assault than the ASA class. Further, the DRV class reported greater difficulties in three dimensions of emotion regulation than the ASA class and greater deficits in emotional clarity than the CASA class. Finally, the three latent classes reported greater difficulties in at least four dimensions of emotion regulation than the non-victimized group.

CONCLUSIONS: Findings of different classes of sexual victimization suggest the multidimensionality of these experiences.

RESULTS also highlight the potential utility of interventions aimed at improving emotion regulation among women with severe childhood sexual abuse.

Language: en

Keywords

LCA; emotion dysregulation; sexual revictimization; sexual victimization characteristics; women