title: Sexual Assault and Sexual Risk Behaviors Among Lower-Income Rural Women: The Mediating Role of Self-Worth.
abstract: 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.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dodd
authors.forename: Heather
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Littleton
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D054523:Adult Survivors of Child Abuse / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001294:Attitude to Health; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011203:Poverty; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012649:Self Concept; D012747:Sexual Partners; D016387:Women's Health; D055815:Young Adult