Sexual Victimization and Health Risk Behaviors Among Lower Income Rural Women: The Mediating Role of Self-Worth
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2017
Description
Sexual victimization is associated with risky sexual behaviors. Limited research has examined mechanisms via which victimization affects risk behaviors, particularly following different types of sexual victimization. This study examined self-worth as a mediator of the relationship between sexual victimization history: contact childhood sexual abuse (CSA), completed rape in adolescence/adulthood (adolescent/adulthood sexual assault [ASA]), and combined CSA/ASA, and two sexual risk behaviors: past year partners and one-time encounters. Participants were diverse (57.9% African American), low-income women recruited from an OB-GYN waiting room (n = 646). Women with a history of sexual victimization, 29.8% (n = 186) reported lower self-worth, t(586) = 5.26, p < .001, and more partners, t(612) = 2.45, p < .01, than nonvictims. Self-worth was a significant mediator only among women with combined CSA/ASA histories in both risk behavior models.
Citation Information
Dodd, Julia; and Littleton, Heather. 2017. Sexual Victimization and Health Risk Behaviors Among Lower Income Rural Women: The Mediating Role of Self-Worth. Violence and Victims. Vol.32(1). 110-125. https://doi.org/10.1891/0886-6708.VV-D-15-00119 ISSN: 1945-7073