Interaction Effects of Emotional Status and Sexual Abuse on Adult Sexuality

Abstract

This study examined the additive, interaction effects of emotional status with sexual abuse on adult sexual functioning and sexual responsibility. The Golombok Rust Inventory of Sexual Satisfaction (GRISS; Rust & Golombok, 1986), the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI; Morey, 1991), and a questionnaire regarding sexual experiences, number of unwanted pregnancies, number of unsafe sexual partners, and sexual abuse history, were administered to 200 psychology students. One hundred and forty-three participants were retained in the study. Two-way multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA) were conducted for the sexual functioning variables (as measured by the GRISS), while two-way analyses of variance (ANOVA) were conducted for the sexual irresponsibility variables (as measured by the sexual experiences questionnaire). It was found that women who have high anxiety scores on the PAI and have a history of sexual abuse reported higher numbers of unwanted pregnancies, while sexual abuse history was not associated with numbers of unwanted pregnancies for women with lower levels of anxiety. Results were not significant, however,for the sexual functioning variables. In addition, depression and alcoholism did not have interacting effect on the association between sexual abuse history and any of the sexuality variables. These results may suggest that the effects of sexual abuse on adult sexuality may not be as pervasive as was once thought.