Renate Scheinberger-Olwig

Childhood sexual abuse and revictimization in adolescence

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to examine the link between childhood experiences of sexual abuse and subsequent revictimization in adolescence. METHOD A sample of 281 female adolescents between 17-20 years of age, who participated in a prevalence survey of unwanted sexual contacts, completed the Sexual Experiences Survey as a measure of unwanted sexual contacts in adolescence and indicated whether or not they had experienced childhood sexual abuse. RESULTS Childhood experiences of sexual abuse were reported by 8.9% of the respondents, a further 8.5% indicated they were not sure if they had been sexually abused as children. Both abused women and women uncertain about their victimization status were significantly more likely to report unwanted sexual contacts as adolescents than women who did not state abuse. The link between childhood abuse and subsequent victimization was mediated by a higher level of sexual activity among the abuse victims. CONCLUSIONS The results support existing evidence on the impact of childhood sexual abuse on sexual relationships in subsequent developmental stages and underline the need to consider childhood sexual abuse as a risk factor of adolescent sexual victimization.

Ambiguous Communication of Sexual Intentions as a Risk Marker of Sexual Aggression

Three studies are reported that explored the role of ambiguous communication of sexual intentions as a risk factor for sexual aggression and victimization. Two main forms of ambiguous communication were distinguished: token resistance (saying “no” when you mean “yes”) and compliance (saying “yes” when you mean “no”). Two samples of heterosexual men and women and a sample of homosexual men with a total N of 1284 completed a measure of sexual victimization or aggression and indicated whether or not they had ever shown token resistance or compliance in a sexual encounter. Moreover, the heterosexual male respondents indicated whether they had ever perceived token resistance or compliance in a female partner. Logistic regression analyses revealed that the risk of experiencing sexual victimization was significantly increased as a function of token resistance. Two of the three studies also showed compliance to be a risk factor for sexual victimization. For the male respondents, token resistance was consistently linked to a higher likelihood of perpetrating sexually aggressive acts in the three studies. Perceived compliance was also found to increase the risk of sexual aggression in three of four analyses. Support for a link between perceived token resistance and sexual aggression was found in the first study only. Overall, the findings suggest that the use of ambiguous communication in negotiating sexual encounters is associated with an increased risk of sexual victimization as well as perpetration of sexually aggressive acts in both heterosexual and homosexual contacts. The implications of the findings are discussed with respect to the issue of rape prevention.

Men's reports of nonconsensual sexual interactions with women: prevalence and impact.

Two studies examined the prevalence and emotional impact of mens nonconsensual sexual interactions with women. The first study included a sample of 247 heterosexual men with a mean age of 18.3 years. The second study was a replication with a sample of 153 heterosexual men with a mean age of 22.3 years. All respondents completed a measure of nonconsensual sexual interactions including the use of three aggressive strategies (physical force, exploitation of the mans incapacitated state, and verbal pressure) and three forms of unwanted sexual contact (kissing/petting, sexual intercourse, and oral sex). In addition, the relationship to the female initiator was explored. For each type of nonconsensual sexual interaction, respondents indicated the affective impact of the experience. In Study 1, 25.1% of respondents reported at least one incident of nonconsensual sex with a woman and 23.9% reported attempts by women to make them engage in nonconsensual sexual activity. In Study 2, the overall prevalence rate for completed nonconsensual sexual interactions was 30.1%, and 23.5% of the men reported attempts at making them engage in nonconsensual sex. In both samples, exploiting the mans inability to offer resistance was the most frequently reported aggressive strategy. Kissing/petting was the most frequently reported unwanted sexual activity, followed by sexual intercourse and oral sex. Prevalence rates were higher for nonconsensual sex with an (ex-)partner or friend than for nonconsensual sex with an unknown women. Ratings of affective impact revealed that men rated their nonconsensual experiences as moderately upsetting. The findings are discussed in the light of previous studies on mens unwanted sexual experiences and the extant literature on womens nonconsensual sexual interactions with men.

Measuring Sexual Aggression The Reliability of the Sexual Experiences Survey in a German Sample

This study examined the reliability of a German version of the Sexual Experiences Survey (SES) using a retest design. A total of 114 respondents were asked to complete the SES twice within a period of 3 to 4 weeks. Overall percentages of consistent responses at the two data points were high, with a mean score of 95% across all items. Separate analyses for positive and negative responses revealed the high overall consistency to be due in large part to the high consistency of negative responses that dominated the response distribution. Positive responses, indicating experiences of sexual victimization or aggression, showed less stability over the two data points. Moreover, a distinct asymmetry in inconsistent responses was found, with retractions at Time 2 being far more frequent than revelations of previously undisclosed experiences. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of the ability of the SES to detect sexual aggression and victimization.

Can safer-sex promotion leaflets change cognitive antecedents of condom use? An experimental evaluation.

An experimental evaluation of a safer sex promotion leaflet was undertaken to assess its capacity to change antecedent cognitions of condom use. The leaflet was identified in a previous study as addressing research-based cognitive antecedents of condom use. A pre-post-test experimental study including three conditions was conducted: (a) presentation of the leaflet; (b) presentation of the leaflet plus incentive for systematic processing; (c) no-leaflet control. The leaflet was evaluated in terms of its capacity to change eight cognitive correlates of condom use identified in a recent meta-analysis. The sample consisted of 230 tenth-grade students. Following baseline assessments, leaflet-induced change was measured immediately following the intervention and at a follow up 4 weeks post-intervention. The target leaflet alone did not result in significant changes in the cognitive antecedents of condom use compared with the control condition. However, in combination with an incentive for systematic processing, the target leaflet had a greater impact on cognitive antecedents than the no-leaflet control condition. The findings are discussed with regard to the development and evaluation of research-based health-promotion materials.

Sexuelle Aggression zwischen Jugendlichen: Eine Prävalenzerhebung mit Ost-West-Vergleich

Zusammenfassung: Die vorliegende Studie untersucht die Pravalenz unfreiwilliger Sexualkontakte bei alteren Jugendlichen in Ost- und Westdeutschland. 560 mannlichen und weiblichen Befragten im Altersbereich zwischen 17 und 20 Jahren mit ost- bzw. westdeutschem Sozialisationshintergrund wurde eine deutsche Fassung der «Sexual Experiences Survey» vorgelegt, in der sexuelle Gewalterfahrungen weiblicher Opfer und sexuelle Aggression mannlicher Tater in Abhangigkeit von verschiedenen Beziehungskonstellationen erfast wurden. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, das auch in Deutschland sexuelle Gewalt in den Beziehungen Jugendlicher und junger Erwachsener ein verbreitetes Problem darstellt. 25 % der befragten Frauen berichteten unfreiwillige sexuelle Kontakte, die sich strafrechtlich definierten Tatbestanden zuordnen lassen. Bei den mannlichen Befragten liegt die Pravalenzrate fur die juristisch definierten Tatbestande zwar deutlich niedriger, doch steigt die Pravalenz stark an, wenn man den Einsatz von verbalem Druck, falsche...

Sexuelle Skripts im Jugendalter

Zusammenfassung: Zur Analyse sexueller Skripts von Jugendlichen generierten 131 SchulerInnen der 10. und 11.Klasse drei Verhaltensdrehbucher fur sexuelle Interaktionen: (1) das allgemeine Skript fur den ersten Geschlechtsverkehr mit einem neuen Partner; (2) das individuelle, d.h. fur die Person selbst gultige Skript eines ersten Geschlechtsverkehrs mit einem neuen Partner; (3) das Skript fur einen unfreiwilligen Geschlechtsverkehr. Auserdem wurden normative Uberzeugungen zu Risikoaspekten sexueller Interaktionen sowie die Akzeptanz von Druckausubung erfasst. Es zeigte sich, dass die Skripts fur konsensuelle Interaktionen traditionelle Rollenvorstellungen widerspiegeln. Das Skript fur den unfreiwilligen Geschlechtsverkehr orientierte sich am Stereotyp des “real rape”. Die individuellen Skripts waren im Vergleich zu den allgemeinen konservativer und mit weniger Risikoelementen behaftet. Die normative Akzeptanz risikohafter Skriptmerkmale sagte die Auspragung der Risikomerkmale in den individuellen und allge...