Sexual assault and body esteem.
Past studies indicate that sexual assault is negatively associated with victims' general self-esteem, but little is known about how the experience affects body esteem. We hypothesized that sexual assault would have a long-term negative association with measures of both general self-esteem and body esteem. Participants were 76 women, ages 18 to 45 years, 13 of whom had been sexually assaulted at least one year previously. Analysis supported the hypothesis that the sexually assaulted women scored lower than nonassaulted women on Rosenberg's Self-esteem Scale but not on the Body Esteem Scale. When individual body-attitude items were analyzed, the assaulted women's negative ratings of sexual activities fell just short of significance, so further and longitudinal study of a larger group is needed.
Kulkoski
K
K
Marquette University, USA.
Kilian
C
C
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001828:Body Image; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011902:Rape / Q000523:psychology*; D012649:Self Concept