Childhood physical and sexual abuse and lifetime number of suicide attempts: a persistent and theoretically important relationship

BACKGROUND: Research to date has indicated that childhood abuse is associated with suicide, though little research has examined the unique contribution of specific types of abuse to suicidal behavior. We predict that childhood physical and violent sexual abuse will have a greater effect on suicide attempts than molestation and verbal abuse. METHODS: The National Comorbidity Survey data were used to test these predictions while controlling for a number of psychiatric and psychosocial variables. RESULTS: As expected, childhood physical and violent sexual abuse showed similar effects on lifetime suicide attempts, which were stronger than the effects of molestation and verbal abuse. LIMITATIONS: This was a cross-sectional, retrospective study, so true causality cannot be shown. Some measurement limitations exist. Additionally, effect sizes were small but still significant. CONCLUSIONS: While all forms of childhood abuse are troubling and create risk for future psychopathology and suicidality, the present study indicates that childhood physical and violent sexual abuse should be seen as greater risk factors for future suicide attempts than molestation and verbal abuse.     

Women’s Close Friendships across Sexual Orientation: A Comparative Analysis of Lesbian-Heterosexual and Bisexual-Heterosexual Women’s Friendships

Interviews were conducted in close friendship pairs with women who ranged in age from 18 to 52 years at the time of interview. Results suggest that women of different sexual orientation identities had different friendship profiles. Comparisons across friendship type suggest that bisexual-heterosexual friends consistently experienced a shift in friendship dynamic based on the sex of partner for the bisexual friend and were more likely than lesbian-heterosexual friends to integrate their friendship into their social lives. Lesbian-heterosexual friendships were significantly more likely to include an explicit acknowledgment of non-heterosexual identity. Although cross-orientation friendships did not consistently include a feminist/political dimension, when friends also differed in racial identity a feminist/political dimension in the friendship became apparent. In cross-race friendships racial minority identities were explicitly acknowledged even when non-heterosexual identities were not.     

Conceived Through Rape/Incest? Adoptive Parents’ Experiences Managing Uncertainty and Disclosure Surrounding their Children's Origins

Adoptive parents may be placed with children conceived under difficult circumstances, such as via rape or incest. At the same time, adoptive parents are generally encouraged to communicate openly with their children about their adoption stories and birth families. No research has examined the experiences of parents who adopt children who were conceived through rape or incest. This exploratory study examines how parents discuss their decision-making when adopting children conceived via rape or incest, how they manage varying levels of uncertainty about their children's origins, and whether and how they plan to disclose this information to children. The researchers used thematic analysis to examine the experiences of 11 couples (22 parents) interviewed at four time points after adopting children who were reportedly conceived via rape or incest. Findings revealed that even soon after adopting, parents discussed the need to eventually talk to their children about their conception circumstances. Parents generally struggled to determine how and when to disclose this information, particularly when they felt uncertain about the veracity of the conception stories they had been told. Some hoped to rely on professionals or birth mothers to guide them in these communications. Findings have implications for supporting adoptive families as they navigate the complexity of managing sensitive information and uncertainty when adopting children conceived through rape or incest. Practitioners should provide ongoing guidance to adoptive parents about how and when to disclose developmentally appropriate information to children about difficult conception circumstances.     

SEXUAL ABERRATION OR INSTINCTUAL VICISSITUDE? REVISITING FREUD'S “THE SEXUAL ABERRATIONS”

The author reconsiders Freud's “The Sexual Aberrations,” the first of his Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (1905), in light of contemporary psychoanalytic theory. Are the concepts of sexual aberration and norm still viable? The author argues that they are necessary but insufficient elements in current theory. He then presents a competing model in which sexuality can be reduced to a more elemental level of disturbance and wish, where it is an expression of a nonsexual wish—for example, to possess or control the object to eliminate separateness. The author presents clinical material to demonstrate this alternative model.     

Aspects of impulsivity are differentially associated with risky sexual behaviors

Risky sexual behavior (RSB) greatly increases the risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, as well as a host of other negative outcomes. Recent advances in personality research have defined multiple and separate dispositions to engagement in impulsive behaviors, including RSB. Little is known concerning the ways in which aspects of impulsivity place individuals at risk for various types of RSB. The purpose of the current study, therefore, was to further clarify the unique ways in which aspects of impulsivity were differentially associated with various forms of RSB within a large, diverse sample of university students ages 18-to-24 years (N = 917). Results suggest low self-control confers a general risk while a tendency toward impulsive behavior in the context of intense emotion confers a more specific risk as for various types of RSB. The current study confirms the importance of focusing on both various pathways to impulsive behaviors as well as specific types of RSB.     

Self-objectification,body self-consciousness during sexual activities,and sexual satisfaction in college women

Few studies examine the mechanisms that link body image to sexual satisfaction in women. Using the tenets of objectification theory, this study investigated the relationships between body surveillance, body shame, body self-consciousness during sexual activities, and sexual satisfaction in an ethnically diverse sample of American female college students (N = 368), while controlling for relationship status and body mass index. Results based on self-report measures of these constructs suggested that body shame and body self-consciousness during sexual activity were negatively correlated with sexual satisfaction. Additionally, path analysis indicated that body surveillance predicted increased body self-consciousness during sexual activity, partially mediated by body shame. Body self-consciousness, in turn, predicted decreased sexual satisfaction. Overall, study findings highlight the negative consequences of body image concerns for women's sexual satisfaction.     

Predicting Bystander Behavior to Prevent Sexual Assault on College Campuses: The Role of Self-Efficacy and Intent

Bystander intervention has been increasingly applied to prevent sexual violence on college campuses. Its underlying theory assumes unidirectional relationships between variables, predicting that bystander behaviors (i.e., actions taken to intervene in sexual violence situations) will be influenced by bystander intentions (BI; i.e., likelihood to intervene in the future), which in turn will be affected by bystander efficacy (BE; i.e., confidence to intervene). One question for theory is whether a reciprocal relationship exists between BI and BE. We used structural equation modeling (SEM) with longitudinal data to test unidirectional and reciprocal causal relations between BI and BE. Participants (n = 1390) were students at a northeastern US university. Four models were examined using SEM: (1) a baseline model with autoregressive paths; (2) a model with autoregressive effects and BI predicting future BE; (3) a model with autoregressive effects and BE predicting future BI; and, (4) a fully cross‐lagged model. Results indicated that reciprocal causality was found to occur between BI and BE. In addition, a final model demonstrated indirect effects of a bystander intervention program on bystander behaviors through both BI and BE at different time points. Implications for theory and practice are described, and directions for future research discussed.     

Call for Research on Bystander Intervention to Prevent Sexual Violence: The Role of Campus Environments

An important next step for the field is to determine what setting‐level factors beyond the individual are critical to fostering campus environments that support pro‐social, helpful bystander intervention action to prevent sexual violence. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to provide a research agenda to investigate key areas of the campus environment and their potential influence on bystander intervention. To create the research agenda, a number of steps were followed including: (1) systematically reviewing the larger bystander literature to identify key environmental areas, (2) assessing what research is available specific to college campuses and sexual assault in each of these areas, and (3) outlining future research to address each of these areas on college campuses and determine their applicability to sexual violence situations. Five main groups of factors were found to influence bystander intervention beyond the individual, group and situational levels, including: social norms, sense of community, pro‐social modeling, policies, and the physical environment. Certain areas of research on environmental influences on bystander intervention are more developed such as social norms, with little research on areas such as policies and the physical environment. However, further research is needed in each of the identified five areas to help identify how college campuses can support bystander intervention.     

Conceptualizing and measuring perceptions of sexual attractiveness: Are there differences across gender and sexual orientation?

There is no consistent conceptualization of sexual attractiveness in the literature. The present paper reviews previous literature on sexual attractiveness, examining the different terms used to refer to sexual attractiveness, as well as the measures designed to evaluate perceptions of sexual attractiveness. A new measure of self-perceptions of sexual attractiveness is proposed and psychometrically tested based on this material. The review of the literature demonstrates that there are multiple, often ambiguous, terms used in relation to sexual attractiveness, with few definitions provided. Additionally, there is no standardized measure of perceptions of sexual attractiveness. Single item measures are commonly used to assess an individual’s perceptions of their own or of another’s sexual attractiveness, and few studies provide a psychometric evaluation of the measures used. A clearer picture of sexual attractiveness is formed in this paper and, with this, a new scale measuring self-perceptions of sexual attractiveness is developed. The new scale is a valid and reliable measure of self-perceived sexual attractiveness that may be used among men and women who identify as heterosexual, gay, lesbian or bisexual. Furthermore, the findings suggest that sexual attractiveness may be conceptualized similarly across gender and sexual orientation.     

The relationship between anti-gay prejudice and the categorization of sexual orientation

A relatively large literature has demonstrated that sexual orientation can be judged accurately from a variety of minimal cues, including facial appearance. Untested in this work, however, is the influence that individual differences in prejudice against gays and lesbians may exert upon perceivers’ judgments. Here, we report the results of a meta-analysis of 23 unpublished studies testing the relationship between anti-gay bias and the categorization of sexual orientation from faces. Aggregating data from multiple measures of bias using a variety of methods in three different countries over a period of 8 years, we found a small but significant negative relationship between accuracy and prejudice that was homogeneous across the samples tested. Thus, individuals reporting higher levels of anti-gay bias appear to be less accurate judges of sexual orientation.