The Role of Mistrust in Sexual Revictimization: An Analysis of Serial Indirect Effects.

A sample of 819 female college students completed measures of childhood sexual abuse (CSA), adult sexual victimization (ASV), mistrust, trauma-related symptoms, and drinking problems. Using a serial indirect effects model, we hypothesized that CSA would be associated with ASV through the indirect effects of mistrust → trauma-related symptoms → drinking problems. The results indicated that this serial indirect effects model was significant. When the order of the first two indirect effects was reversed, the model was not significant. These results highlight the importance of examining potential factors involved in sexual revictimization in tandem rather than in isolation.

Mediators and Moderators of the Association Between Stalking Victimization and Psychological Distress.

The current study aims to understand mediators and moderators of the relationship between stalking victimization and depression. Based on the reformulated learned helplessness theory, which emphasizes the role of internal, global, and stable attributions for negative events in the development of depression, we predicted that the association between stalking victimization and depression would be mediated by attributions for the stalking and characterological self-blame. We predicted that the association between stalking victimization and helplessness attributions or characterological self-blame, in turn, would be moderated by gender, sex-role identity, and length of stalking. Specifically, we hypothesized that female victims, victims possessing a feminine sex-role identity, and victims experiencing longer stalking episodes would be more likely to experience depression in comparison with male victims, victims possessing a masculine sex-role identity, and victims experiencing shorter stalking episodes. The results indicated that global attributions for the cause of stalking significantly mediated the relationship between stalking victimization and depression. The results for stable attributions, internal attributions, and characterological self-blame were nonsignificant. Furthermore, gender, sex-role identity, and length of stalking did not moderate the association between stalking and attributional style or characterological self-blame. The implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.

Affective, behavioral, and social-cognitive dysregulation as mechanisms for sexual abuse revictimization.

Using a sample of 1117 female college students, this study examined emotional, behavioral, and social-cognitive mechanisms of sexual abuse revictimization. It was hypothesized that numbing, alexithymia, alcohol problems, mistrust, and adult attachment dimensions would mediate the relationship between childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and adult sexual abuse (ASA). Aside from the close adult attachment dimension, the results indicated that all of the hypothesized mediators were associated with CSA. However, only alcohol problems and mistrust met the necessary conditions of mediation. The results with respect to mistrust are especially unique in that it is one of the first empirical demonstrations of a social-cognitive mechanism for sexual abuse revictimization. Thus, these results enhance our understanding of interpersonal mediators of the relationship between CSA and ASA and provide a new direction for future research.

Female sexual-offenders: personality pathology as a mediator of the relationship between childhood sexual abuse history and sexual abuse perpetration against others.

OBJECTIVE: The goal was to examine, in an all female sample, possible mechanisms for the relationship between a history of childhood sexual abuse and the likelihood of perpetrating sexual abuse as an adult. It was hypothesized that Borderline and Antisocial Personality Disorder tendencies would mediate the relationship between these two forms of abuse. METHOD: One hundred forty two female participants (61 sex-offenders and 81 non-sex offenders) were recruited from a woman's prison in the Midwest. The participants completed measures that included a childhood history of sexual abuse, socially desirable responding, primary and secondary psychopathy, and Borderline Personality Disorder tendencies. RESULTS: Participants in the sexual-offender group reported more frequent instances of childhood sexual abuse (p<.05, M=16.4, SD=7.2) than participants in the non-sex offender group (M=12.2, SD=7.7). Consistent with past research, childhood sexual abuse was related to Borderline Personality Disorder tendencies (r=.36, p<.01). However, discriminant function analyses did not reveal support for our mediational hypotheses. Finally, the results indicated that participants in the sexual-offender group experienced childhood sexual abuse for a greater duration of time (p<.05, M=27.8, SD=20.5 months) than participants in the non-sex offender group (M=16.6, SD=10.4). CONCLUSIONS: This study replicated previous research conducted on all male samples suggesting that the nature of the sexual abuse suffered in childhood is an important variable in predicting future sexual abuse perpetration.