Body dissatisfaction and sexual victimization among college women.

109 white, never-married undergraduate women between the ages of 17 and 24 years completed both a Body Dissatisfaction scale and a sexual coercion scale. Analysis showed no over-all correlation between body-dissatisfaction scores and sexual victimization scores. Since the correlations were as anticipated, the lack of significance may reflect the small group sizes. Women with higher and those with lower body-dissatisfaction scores were not different in mean sexual victimization scores, suggesting that women's body dissatisfaction may not be associated with risk for sexual victimization. There was a significantly higher mean body-dissatisfaction score for women who reported that they had experienced sexual victimization in dating relationships than for women who reported having had no such experience. Perhaps experiencing sexual victimization has a negative effect on how women view their bodies. This study suggests a complex link between sexual victimization and body dissatisfaction in women.