NCJ Number
213040
Journal
Family Violence & Sexual Assault Bulletin Volume: 21 Issue: 2/3 Dated: Summer/Fall 2005 Pages: 5-10
Date Published
2005
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This study of the association between a woman's body image and her being a victim of sexual assault focused on whether there was a link between the woman's age at the time of the assault and her body image.
Abstract
The study found that women who were sexually abused as children (before the age of 14) had lower opinions of their bodily appearance than women who were sexually assaulted as adults or who were never assaulted. The authors advise caution in interpreting these findings, however, since causal links were not established. They note that a number of factors, other than childhood sexual abuse and trauma, can influence how a woman perceives her physical appearance. The study sample consisted of 94 women (ages 18 through 25) enrolled in a general psychology course at a university in the Pacific Northwest. The women were administered the Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire (Cash, 2000) in order to assess their body image; and sexual victimization was assessed with a sexual abuse questionnaire. Nineteen of the women reported being sexually assaulted as an adult, 8 reported being assaulted as a child, and 3 reported begin sexually assaulted both as a child and as an adult. For the age comparison analyses, data from the latter three women were not included. 3 tables and 21 references