The current study examines the relationships among world assumptions, history of adult sexual assault, depressive symptoms, and fearful attitudes toward relationships. Three hundred and sixty-one female college students completed the Assumptive World Scales and a set of questionnaires to assess their sexual assault history subsequent to age 15, levels of depressive symptoms, sexual aversion, paranoia/self-consciousness, and fear of intimacy. Factor analysis of the Assumptive World Scales items revealed five dimensions that had clear relationships with factors proposed in the initial study. These five Assumptive Worlds dimensions accounted for significant variance in depression. These dimensions also accounted for significant variance in sexual aversion, paranoia/self-consciousness, and fear of intimacy, even when controlling for levels of depressive symptoms and sexual assault severity. The implications of these findings for research on sexual assault, cognitive schema, and interpersonal functioning are discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Ahrens, C. E. , & Campbell, R. (2000). Assisting rape victims as they recover from rape: The impact on friends.Journal of Interpersonal Violence,15, 959-986.
2.
American Psychiatric Association . (1987).Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (3rd ed., rev.). Washington, DC: Author.
3.
Arata, C. M. (2000). From child victim to adult victim: A model for predicting sexual revictimization.Child Maltreatment,5, 28-38.
4.
Beck, A. T. , Rush, A. J., Shaw, B. F., & Emery, G. (1979).Cognitive therapy of depression.New York: Guilford.
5.
Beck, A. T. , Ward, C. H., Mendelsohn, M., Mock, J., & Erbaugh, J. (1961). An inventory for measuring depression.Archives of General Psychiatry,4, 561-571.
6.
Briere, J. , & Runtz, M. (1987). Postsexual abuse trauma: Data and implications for clinical practice.Journal of Interpersonal Violence,2, 367-379.
7.
Bownes, I. T. , O'Gorman, E. C., & Sayers, A. (1991). Psychiatric symptoms, behavioral responses, and posttraumatic stress disorder in rape victims.Issues in Criminological & Legal Psychology,1, 25-33.
8.
Calhoun, K. S. , Atkeson, B. M., & Resick, P. A. (1982). A longitudinal examination of fear reactions in victims of rape.Journal of Consulting Psychology,29, 655-661.
9.
Calhoun, L. G. , Cann, A., Tedeschi, R. G., & McMillan, J. (1998). Traumatic events and generational differences in assumptions about a just world.Journal of Social Psychology,138, 789-791.
10.
Cloitre, M. , Scarvalone, P., & Difede, J. (1997). Posttraumatic stress disorder, self and interpersonal dysfunction among sexually retraumatized women.Journal of Traumatic Stress,10, 437-452.
11.
Descutner, C. J. , & Thelen, M. H. (1991). Development and validation of a fear-of-intimacy scale.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology,3, 218-225.
12.
Ehlers, A. , & Clark, D. M. (2000). A cognitive model of posttraumatic stress disorder.Behavior Research and Therapy,38, 319-345.
13.
Ellis, E. M. (1983). A review of empirical rape research: Victim reactions and response to treatment.Clinical Psychology Review,3, 473-490.
14.
Ellis, E. M. , Atkeson, B. M., & Calhoun, K. S. (1981). An assessment of longterm reaction to rape.Journal of Abnormal Psychology,90, 263-266.
15.
Epstein, S. (1980). The selfconcept: A review and the proposal of an integrated theory of personality. In E. Staub (Ed.),Personality: Basic issues and current research. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
16.
Fenigstein, A. , & Vanable, P. A. (1992). Paranoia and selfconsciousness.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,62, 129-138.
17.
Finkelhor, S. D. (1979). Sexually victimized children and their families. Unpublished doctoral dissertation.
18.
Foa, E. B. , Ehlers, A., Clark, D. M., Tolin, D. F., & Orsillo, S. M. (1999). The Posttraumatic Cognitions Inventory (PTCI): Development and validation.Psychological Assessment,111, 303-314.
19.
Foa, E. B. , & Riggs, D. S. (1993). Posttraumatic stress disorder in rape victims. In J. Oldhaam, M. B. Riba, & A. Tasman (Eds.),Annual psychiatric press review of psychiatry (Vol. 12, pp. 273-303). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press.
20.
Foa, E. B. , & Rothbaum, B. O. (1998).Treating the trauma of rape: Cognitive-behavioral therapy for PTSD. New York: Guilford.
21.
Follette, V. M. , Polusney, M. A., Bechtle, A. E., & Naugle, A. E. (1996). Cumulative trauma: The impact of child sexual abuse, adult sexual assault, and spouse abuse.Journal of Traumatic Stress,9(1), 25-35.
22.
Franklin, K. M. , Janoff-Bulman, R., & Roberts, J. E. (1990). Long-term impact of parental divorce on optimism and trust: Changes in general assumptions or narrow beliefs?Journal of Personality & Social Psychology,59, 743-755.
23.
Graesser, A. C. , & Nakamura, G. V. (1982). The impact of a schema on comprehension and memory. In G. H. Bower (Ed.),The psychology of learning and motivation (pp. 59-109). New York: Academic Press.
24.
Horowitz, M. J. (1974). Stress response syndromes.Archives of General Psychiatry,31, 768-781.
25.
Horowitz, M. J. (1997).Stress response syndromes: PTSD, grief and adjustment disorders. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.
26.
Janoff-Bulman, R. (1989). Assumptive worlds and the stress of traumatic events: Applications of the schema construct.Social Cognition,7, 113-136.
27.
Janoff-Bulman, R. , & Frieze, I. H. (1983). A theoretical perspective for understanding reactions to victimization.Journal of Social Issues,39, 1-17.
28.
Katz, R. C. , Gipson, M. T., Kearl, A., & Kriskovich, M. (1989). Assessing aversion to sexual activity in college students: The aversion to sexual activity scale.Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy,15, 135-140.
29.
Longman, R. S. , Cota, A. A., Holden, R. R., & Fekken, G. C. (1989). A regression equation for the parallel analysis in principal components analysis: Mean and 95th percentile eigenvalues.Multivariate Behavioral Research,24, 59-69.
30.
O'Neill, M. L. , & Kerig, P. K. (2000). Attributions of self-blame and perceived control as moderators of adjustment in battered women.Journal of Interpersonal Violence,15, 1036-1049.
31.
Resick, P. A. , Calhoun, K. S., Atkeson, B. M., & Ellis, E. M. (1981). Social adjustment in victims of sexual assault.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology,49, 705-712.
32.
Resick, P. A. , & Schnicke, M. K. (1993).Cognitive processing therapy for rape victims: A treatment manual. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
33.
Resnick, H. S. , Kilpatrick, D. G., Dansky, B. S., Saunders, B. E., & Best, C. L. (1993). Prevalence of civilian trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder in a representative sample of women.Journal of Consulting Clinical Psychology,61, 984-991.
34.
Schaaf, K. K. , & McCanne, T. R. (1998). Relationship of childhood sexual, physical, and combined sexual and physical abuse to adult revictimization and posttraumatic stress disorder. Child Abuse and Neglect,22, 1119-1133.
35.
Schwartz, I. L. (1991). Sexual violence against women: Prevalence, consequences, societal factors, and prevention.American Journal of Preventive Medicine,6, 363-373.
36.
Schwartzberg, S. S. , & Janoff-Bulman, R. (1991). Grief and the search for meaning: Exploring the assumptive worlds of bereaved college students.Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology,10, 270-288.
37.
Weaver, T. L. , & Clum, G. A. (1995). Psychological distress associated with interpersonal violence: A meta-analysis.Clinical Psychology Review,15, 115-140.
38.
Widom, C. S. , & Morris, S. (1997). Accuracy of adult recollections of childhood victimization, Part 2: Childhood sexual abuse.Psychological Assessment,9, 34-46.
39.
Zoellner, L. A. , Foa, E. B., & Brigidi, B. D. (1999). Interpersonal friction and PTSD in female victims of sexual and nonsexual assault.Journal of Traumatic Stress,12, 689-699.
