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Individual Differences In Personality Predict Externalizing Versus Internalizing Outcomes Following Sexual Assault, Jessica L. Combs, Carol E. Jordan, Gregory T. Smith Jul 2014

Individual Differences In Personality Predict Externalizing Versus Internalizing Outcomes Following Sexual Assault, Jessica L. Combs, Carol E. Jordan, Gregory T. Smith

Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women Publications

For some women, the experience of being sexually assaulted leads to increases in externalizing behaviors, such as problem drinking and drug use; for other women, the experience of being assaulted leads to increases in internalizing distress, such as depression or anxiety. It is possible that preassault personality traits interact with sexual assault to predict externalizing or internalizing distress. We tested whether concurrent relationships among personality, sexual assault, and distress were consistent with such a model. We surveyed 750 women just prior to their freshman year at a large public university. Consistent with our hypotheses, at low levels of negative urgency …


Trauma, Personality, And Behavior: A Longitudinal Study Predicting Adverse Outcomes After Sexual Assault From Personality Prior To The Assault, Jessica L. Combs Jan 2014

Trauma, Personality, And Behavior: A Longitudinal Study Predicting Adverse Outcomes After Sexual Assault From Personality Prior To The Assault, Jessica L. Combs

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Exposure to sexual assault results in ongoing harms for women. After an assault, some women engage higher levels of externalizing behaviors, such as drinking problems and drug use, and others experience higher levels of internalizing dysfunction, such as clinical anxiety and clinical depression. In a longitudinal sample of 1929 freshman college women assessed across three time points, I found the following. Pre-assault negative urgency (the tendency to act rashly when distressed) interacted with assault exposure to predict increased subsequent drinking and initiation of drug use. Pre-assault trait anxiety/depression interacted with assault exposure to predict increased subsequent clinical anxiety and depression. …