title: Differences in psychological health and family dysfunction by sexual victimization type in a clinical sample of African American adolescent women.
abstract: We examined levels of sexual victimization among a sample of 249 14- to 19-year-old African American adolescent women. Victimization was common: 32.1% reported having been raped, 33.7% had experienced sexual coercion, and 10.8% reported an attempted rape. Only 23.4% had never been victimized. We investigated whether levels of psychological health and family dysfunction varied as a function of the type of sexual victimization. Girls who had been raped had lower levels of self-esteem and mastery and higher levels of depression compared to girls who reported no sexual victimization. Significantly higher levels of family cohesion and significantly lower levels of family support were reported by girls who had been raped versus girls who reported no sexual victimization. These findings are a starting point for future studies by providing evidence that levels of mental health and family dysfunction vary by the type of sexual victimization experienced.
authors.affiliation: Penn State University-Capital College, Middletown, PA 17057, USA. hkc3@psu.edu
authors.forename: Heather
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cecil
authors.forename: Steven C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Matson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003068:Coercion; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D054541:Family Conflict / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011340:Problem Solving; D011594:Psychometrics; D011902:Rape / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012649:Self Concept; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D012944:Social Support; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors