The Sexual Self-Perceptions of Young Women Experiencing Abuse in Dating Relationships

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METHOD

Participants

At the outset of the study, the participants were 108 women who ranged in age from 18 to 26 years (M = 19.43, SD = 1.49). All of the women invited to participate had indicated in a prior mass-testing forum that they were currently in heterosexual relationships. Participants' length of involvement in an intimate relationship ranged from a few weeks to 5 years (M = 19.04 months, SD = 13.07). Approximately 38% of participants withdrew before the final session of the study, which left a total of 78 women at the second measurement time, and 66 women in the third phase. A series of t tests revealed no significant differences between women who withdrew and those who continued in the study in terms of their initial levels of satisfaction with the amount of time spent with their partners, satisfaction with the quality of time spent together, or age. Although we could not determine whether those women who did not continue had terminated their relationships, at the second measurement time, only eight of the women reported having ended their relationships, and all of them had been in nonabusive relationships. A further five women in nonabusive relationships, and four who had been abused, had ended their relationships by the final measurement phase. All of these women were included in all of the analyses. None of the women had commenced a new serious relationship prior to the completion of the study.

Of those women who reported their ethnic or racial status, the majority were White (n = 77, 77.8%). The visible minority women self-identified as Hispanic (n = 6), Asian (n = 5), Black (n = 5), Arabic (n = 4), and Native Canadian (n = 2). Of those women who were not in abusive relationships, 82.6% were White, whereas only 66.7% of the abused women were White. The reason why a higher proportion of minority women indicated involvement in abusive relationships is unknown. Although it may stem from social circumstances that leave minority women more vulnerable to abusive relationships, it is also possible that the styles of conflict resolution defined as abusive are culture-bound, either in practice or in terms of reporting biases (Watts & Zimmerman, 2002).

Although the focus of this study was on the ongoing effects of current date abuse, the possibility of past experiences of abuse must also be considered. To this end, the women completed a Traumatic Life Events Questionnaire (Kubany et al., 2000). A minority (n = 16, 29.6%) of the women in nonabusive relationships reported past traumatic experiences of assault, including threats to their lives (n = 5), assault from a stranger (n = 4), or past intimate partner (n = 4), or child physical abuse (n = 4). Of the 21 women in abusive relationships who completed this measure, 52.4% reported past traumatic experiences of assault, including childhood physical assault (n = 6), previous partner abuse (n = 5), their lives being threatened (n = 3), and being stalked (n = 2). In several instances, women reported more than one of these experiences. Thus, as noted in previous research (Banyard, Arnold, & Smith, 2000), the effects of current abuse cannot be entirely isolated from the effects of previous traumatic experiences of assault.

Procedure

Female first-year university students involved in heterosexual dating relationships were selected on the basis of a premeasure of relationship status that was administered in over 50 first year seminar classes in a variety of disciplines. Participants were informed that the study consisted of completing questionnaires at three times during the academic year. The first session was in October/November, the second in January (midyear), and the final session was in March (just prior to final exams).

All three sessions were conducted in small group settings. As incentives, participants were informed of their eligibility to receive course credit for their time (if they were in the introductory psychology course), as well as their inclusion in a draw for $100 that was held at the end of each week of data collection during the second and third phases of the study (7 weeks total). Informed consent was obtained in each phase. The initial questionnaire package included a measure of sexual self-perceptions, the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the State Self-Esteem Scale. A Traumatic Life Events Questionnaire was included in the second phase. Only the sexual self-perceptions scale was administered in all three phases (imbedded among other measures, some of which were not relevant to this study). Participants were debriefed in the final phase of the study.

Measures

Sexual Self-Perceptions

A sexual self-perceptions scale was compiled for this study by writing some original items and selecting others from a variety of scales that covered different areas of women's sexuality. Sixteen items were taken from a measure of sexual attitudes (Hendrick, Hendrick, Slapion-Foote, & Foote, 1985), three items were taken from a measure of sexual awareness and control (Snell, Fisher, & Miller, 1991), and a further 12 items were created to assess perceptions of sexual interactions with partners. The 31 items about how they perceived their own sexuality were rated on a scale that ranged from -2 (disagree strongly) to +2 (agree strongly).

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A principal components analysis was conducted to assess the factor structure of this scale. On the basis of a scree plot, three factors were identified that explained 39.7% of the total variance; the factors were then subjected to a varimax rotation. The subscales, which were based on factor loadings greater than .40 (see Table I), included an index of negative sexual self-perceptions (Factor I) with 12 items (e.g., "Sometimes I'm ashamed of my sexuality") and a positive sexual self-perceptions factor (Factor II) with nine items (e.g., "I consider myself a very sexual person"). Mean responses were calculated for each of the negative and positive sexual perceptions subscales (r = -.02, ns), and these demonstrated high internal consistency (Cronbach's [alpha]s = .84, and .82, respectively). The third factor (Factor III) included five items that appeared to concern perceptions of power (e.g., "I think good sex gives one a feeling of power"). However, not only did this factor explain less variability (6.3%) in the factor structure than the others did, its internal consistency was also less satisfactory (Cronbach's [alpha] = .59). Thus, this factor was not analyzed further.

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Last updated 10/05

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