Poster #187 - Childhood Victimization and Engagement in Unwanted Consensual Sex among College Students

• In Event: 1-169 - Poster Session 04
  In Poster Session: PS 04 Section - Sex, Gender

Integrative Statement

Introduction: Childhood victimization disrupts development and is associated with negative physical and psychological outcomes in adulthood. Researchers have found that childhood sexual abuse specifically has adverse effects on adult sexuality and increased sexual risk-taking behavior; this relation persists after controlling for other abuse and adverse experiences. Less is known about the role of childhood sexual abuse on Unwanted Consensual Sex (UCS), a “gray area” on the sexual violence spectrum in which someone consents to engage in sexual activity that is unwanted in some way. The purpose of the present study was to explore the relation between types of childhood victimization and likelihood of engagement in UCS in young adults.

Study Population: Students (N=866) from a mid-size university in a semi-rural area of Ohio completed an online survey of college students’ intimate relationships. The present analyses focused on a subset (n = 586) who reported being sexually active in the past year. Of these 586 students, 55% percent endorsed engaging in UCS in the past year. The majority of the sample was sophomores or seniors (Mean age = 21, SD = 4), with 68% female, 90% White/Caucasian, and 85% heterosexual.

Methods: University sophomores and seniors were emailed an advertisement to complete a confidential survey on Qualtrics about college students' intimate relationships. Participants reported on their victimization experiences before and after high school using nine items from the The Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire-Key Domains Short Form (JVQ Short Form; Hamby, Finkelor, Turner, & Kracke, 2011). The focus of the current study is on victimization reported before high school. Participants also reported whether they had engaged in UCS in the past year as well as frequency of engaging in UCS. SPSS 21 was used to compute descriptive statistics, bivariate correlations, and chi-squared tests.
Results: Slightly over half of the sample reported having experienced at least one type of childhood victimization before high school, most frequently verbal abuse (32%) and physical abuse (21%); 17% of the sample reported experiencing at least one type of sexual abuse (e.g., abuse perpetrated by an adult). See Table 1 for frequencies and percentages of childhood victimization type. Frequency of UCS was positively correlated with frequency of victimization in childhood (r = .15, p <.001). When analyzing by victimization type, participants who endorsed having any UCS in the past year were more likely to report having experienced three types of sexual abuse (perpetrated by an adult, perpetrated by a minor, and/or rape; see Table 2). Experiencing physical abuse, verbal abuse, neglect, dating violence, community violence or witnessing domestic violence was unrelated to the likelihood of engaging in UCS.

Discussion: Our results affirm previous research that suggests childhood sexual abuse is related to adult sexual functioning, but these analyses extend previous findings to include engaging in unwanted but consensual sex. Implications for these findings include possible interventions for college students on healthy sexual behavior related to consent and sexual desire for those who have experienced childhood victimization, particularly sexual abuse.

Authors

• Lindsay Hamilton, Bowling Green State University
  Presenting Author

• Lynnel C. Goodman, Bowling Green State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Hannah Geis, Bowling Green State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Maren Froemming, Bowling Green State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Gina Mattei, Bowling Green State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Eric Dubow, Bowling Green State University
  Non-Presenting Author