title: Sexual Contact in Childhood, Revictimization, and Lifetime Sexual and Psychological Outcomes.
abstract: Using data from the 2010 to 2011 wave of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project-a nationally representative probability sample of older U.S. adults-this study queried distinctive linkages of mild and of severe childhood sexual contact with lifetime sexual and psychological outcomes among women and men aged 60-99 years (N = 3283). In addition, we examined stratification of these associations by sexual revictimization (forced sex and/or harassment). Among women, sequelae of childhood contact seemed consistently negative for the mild rather than severe variant-but only in the co-presence of revictimization-a pattern that may have remained obscured in previous analysis of event effects. Men's results suggested lifelong eroticizing but not psychological effects of this early experience-with the co-presence of revictimization potentially enhancing rather than lowering their mental health. Overall, findings appeared to reflect gendered patterns of risk-with mild childhood contact potentially channeling women but not men into revictimization and finally to elevated sexuality and poor mental health in late life. Early sexual experiences should thus be conceptualized not as singular events, but as part of a lifelong career with regularities and rhythms that may influence their pathogenic potential.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, McGill University, Montreal, QC, H3A 2T7, Canada. aniruddha.das@mcgill.ca.|Department of Sociology, McGill University, Room 712, Leacock Building, 855 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, QC, H3A 2T7, Canada. aniruddha.das@mcgill.ca.
authors.forename: Aniruddha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Das
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, McGill University, Montreal, QC, H3A 2T7, Canada.
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Otis
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders; D008875:Middle Aged; D011902:Rape; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017406:Sexual Harassment
keywords: Childhood sexual contact; Eroticization; Forced sex; Mental health; NSHAP; Revictimization