Psychology Service (116B), Boston VA Healthcare System, 150 S. Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02130, USA.
Arch Sex Behav. 2010 Dec;39(6):1359-74. doi: 10.1007/s10508-010-9600-9. Epub 2010 Mar 14.
Childhood sexual trauma has been demonstrated to increase survivors' risk for engaging in unrestricted sexual behaviors and experiencing adolescent sexual assault. The current study used the sexual self-schema construct to examine cognitive representations of sexuality that might drive these behavioral patterns. In Study 1 (N = 774), we attempted to improve the content validity of the Sexual Self Schema Scale for child sexual abuse (CSA) survivors, introducing a fourth sexual self-schema factor titled the "immoral/irresponsible" factor. In Study 2 (N = 1150), the potential differences in sexual self-views, as assessed by the four sexual self-schema factors, between CSA survivors and non-victims were explored. In addition, Study 2 evaluated how these sexual self-schema differences may contribute to participation in unrestricted sexual behaviors and risk for sexual assault in adolescence. Results indicated that a history of CSA impacted the way women viewed themselves as a sexual person on each of the four factors. CSA survivors were found to view themselves as more open and possessing more immoral/irresponsible cognitions about sexuality as compared to women who did not have a CSA history. In addition, the CSA survivors endorsed less embarrassment and passionate/romantic views of their sexual selves. The interaction of CSA severity and the sexual self-schemas explained variance in adolescent sexual assault experiences above and beyond the severity of CSA history and participation in risky sexual behaviors. The findings suggest that sexual self-views may serve to moderate the relationship between CSA and adolescent sexual assault. Implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.
童年期性创伤已被证明会增加幸存者从事无限制性行为和经历青少年性侵犯的风险。本研究使用性自我图式结构来检验可能驱动这些行为模式的性认知表征。在研究 1（N=774）中，我们试图通过引入第四个性自我图式因素，即“不道德/不负责任”因素，来提高儿童性虐待（CSA）幸存者性自我图式量表的内容效度。在研究 2（N=1150）中，探讨了 CSA 幸存者和非受害者在四个性自我图式因素评估的性自我观点上的潜在差异。此外，研究 2 还评估了这些性自我图式差异如何导致无限制性行为和青少年性侵犯风险的参与。结果表明，性虐待史会影响女性对自己作为性人的看法。与没有 CSA 史的女性相比，CSA 幸存者被发现对自己的看法更加开放，对性的认知更加不道德/不负责任。此外，CSA 幸存者对自己的性自我的尴尬和热情/浪漫的看法更少。CSA 严重程度与性自我图式的相互作用，在 CSA 史严重程度和参与高风险性行为之外，解释了青少年性侵犯经历的差异。研究结果表明，性自我观点可能有助于调节 CSA 与青少年性侵犯之间的关系。讨论了这些发现的意义和未来研究的方向。
