College Women's Experiences of Psychological Maltreatment and Sexual Assault

Abstract

A sample of 648 college women recruited from undergraduate psychology classes was examined to explore the relationship between past psychological maltreatment and sexual assault. Based on responses to the Sexual Experiences Survey and the Psychological Maltreatment Inventory, women were classified by level of unwanted sexual contact (i.e., vaginal or anal intercourse; oral genital contact and/or object penetration; or kissing and/or fondling), by method used to obtain the sexual assault (i.e., women were classified as experiencing coerced assaults, forced assaults, or both), and by identity of perpetrator (i.e., acquaintances or strangers). Results pointed to significant differences in the amount of past psychological maltreatment reported by women experiencing any type of assault as compared to women without assault experiences, regardless of perpetrator identity. Moreover, higher levels of psychological maltreatment were associated with having experienced any type of coerced sexual activities. There were no differences by type of assault. Finally, a series of ANOVAs was conducted to examine the interaction between coercion and force in the psychological maltreatment reported by women experiencing different forms of assault. With few exceptions, greater maltreatment was associated both with the occurrence of coerced assaults and with the occurrence of forced assaults. A significant interaction was seen with one form of assault, unwanted kissing and/or fondling perpetrated by an acquaintance. This interaction may suggest that, at least for this one form of contact perpetrated by acquaintances, the presence of past psychological maltreatment is uniquely associated with experiencing adult sexual assaults involving both force and coercion.