Experience of sexual violence and satisfaction with life: a 20-year prospective cohort study

ABSTRACT

This Danish prospective cohort study assessed associations between exposure to any kind of sexual violence (SV), exposure to labelled SV (self-labelled as rape, sexual abuse, or incest), and satisfaction with life (SWL) in young adulthood (approximately 32 years) (N = 688) and at midlife (up-to-20 years later) (n = 230). Data are from the Prenatal Development Project (a subsample of the Copenhagen Perinatal Cohort). Nearly 20% of participants reported experiencing some kind of SV before young adulthood. Exposure to any kind of SV before young adulthood was not significantly associated with the initial SWL assessment or with SWL at the up to 20-year follow-up. However, exposure to SV participants labelled as rape, incest, and/or serious sexual abuse was significantly associated with lower SWL during young adulthood but not at the midlife follow-up. These results could indicate that exposure to SV may not severely influence SWL over the long term.

PRACTICE IMPACT STATEMENT

The present research findings indicate that exposure to sexual violence before age 35, that the victim/survivor has labelled as rape, incest, and/or serious sexual abuse can negatively affect satisfaction with life during young adulthood. However, for many these associations were were not enduring. This finding suggests resilience among those exposed to sexual violence, and that exposure to sexual violence does not necessarily imply diminished life satisfaction across the life course.

KEYWORDS:

• Child sexual abuse
• satisfaction with life
• rape
• cohort study

Acknowledgements

The present study was supported by a grant to T.F-M. from the IMK Almene Fond. In addition, the study was supported by grants no. HD-17655 and no. HD-20263 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to June Reinisch, grant number DA-05056 from the National Institute of Drug Abuse to June Reinisch, grant number 9700093 to E.L.M. from the Danish Research Council and grant number 1400/2-4-1997 to E.L.M. from the Danish National Board of Health. We acknowledge the crucial role of A. L. Willumsen and B. Zachau-Christiansen in the establishment of the Copenhagen Perinatal Cohort and thank the Steering Committee for permission to conduct this study. The Copenhagen Aging and Midlife Biobank was funded by a generous grant from the VELUX FOUNDATION. This manuscript was prepared in collaboration with members of the CAMB steering committee. The list of the CAMB steering committee and those responsible for the collection of historical data can be found at http://www.camb.ku.dk/.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 The studies cited provide data regarding the prevalence of SV and CSA in the following countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, Egypt, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway, Palestine, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

2 The term “incest” (blodskam) in Danish is defined as “sexual relationship between close relatives, in Denmark: between parents and children or between siblings” (Det Danske Sprog- og Litteraturselskab, n.d.) and participants were likely to have understood the word in these terms.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Institute of Child Health and Human Development: [Grant Number HD-17655,HD-20263]; National Institute of Drug Abuse: [Grant Number DA-05056]; Danish National Board of Health: [Grant Number 1400/2-4-1997]; IMK Almene Fond; Danish Research Council: [Grant Number 9700093].