Childhood Trauma and College Sexual Harassment: Coping and Resilience as Moderators.

Childhood trauma has been identified as a risk factor for future revictimization, especially in young adulthood. There is an established link between childhood victimization and later sexual assault, but it is unclear if childhood trauma is associated with sexual harassment. Related research has examined coping and resilience as buffers, or moderators, against negative outcomes associated with childhood victimization and sexual assault, so the buffering effect of these variables will be explored for sexual harassment as well. In a sample of 583 young adults age 18-25, self-report measures of childhood trauma, sexual harassment, coping, and resilience, were collected via an online survey tool. Results of a path analysis suggest that, in general, childhood trauma places young adults at a risk for sexual harassment. Resiliency did not moderate the association between childhood trauma and sexual harassment in young adulthood, but coping did moderate this association. Specifically, when coping was high, trauma and sexual harassment were negatively related, but when coping was low to moderate, trauma and sexual harassment were positively related.

Childhood Trauma History and Negative Social Experiences in College.

While there is literature documenting the association between childhood trauma and later sexual assault or interpersonal violence victimization, less is known about risk of less severe, but still negative, victimization experiences such as sexual harassment, hazing, and bullying in college. The goal of this study was to explore the association between self-reported childhood trauma (both personally experienced and witnessed) and negative social experiences in college-age adults (e.g., sexual harassment, hazing, and bullying), and the role that internalizing difficulties (i.e., depression and stress) plays in this association. A sample of 620 college-aged adults (ages 18-25) was recruited. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to investigate two models concerning direct and indirect childhood trauma experience. The models demonstrated significant positive relations between experiences of childhood trauma (both direct and indirect) and negative social experiences. Internalizing difficulties (i.e., depression and stress) mediated the relation between indirect childhood trauma and negative social experiences, but it did not significantly mediate the relation between direct childhood trauma and negative social experiences. These findings help to inform prevention efforts and have important implications for both school and community based mental health providers.