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- Title
The Impact of Sexual Victimization on Personality: A Longitudinal Study of Gendered Attributes.
- Authors
McMullin, Darcy; Wirth, R. J.; White, Jacquelyn W.
- Abstract
Little is known about how sexual victimization may affect a woman’s self-reported personality ratings. In the present study endorsement ratings of gendered attributes, as measured by the Extended Personal Attributes Questionnaire, were examined over a 3-year span using multiple group latent growth modeling. Differences in the endorsement of gendered attributes between college female non-victims ( N = 158) and victims ( N = 158) of sexual aggression were tested. Whereas endorsement of communal and positive agentic attributes were stable across time, victims remained consistently less traditionally feminine (i.e., positively communal and nurturing) than non-victims. Victims also appeared to become relatively more self-focused (i.e., negative masculinity) across time than non-victims. This pattern suggests that sexual victimization may have lasting effects on victims’ ability to focus on the nurturing, trusting aspects of relationships; rather they have a preoccupation with their own needs and goals that appears to strengthen with time. Such a pattern sheds insight into how self-processes may contribute to the relationship difficulties often observed in sexual assault victims. Implications of these results for both personality and sexual aggression researchers are discussed.
- Subjects
CRIMES against women; SEXUAL abuse victims; FEMALE rape victims; CRIME victims; SEXUAL aggression; SEX crimes; GENDER role; GENDER differences (Psychology); SOCIAL role
- Publication
Sex Roles, 2007, Vol 56, Issue 7-8, p403
- ISSN
0360-0025
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s11199-006-9179-8