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Aili Jones, Psy.D., is a 2023 graduate of the Psy.D. Program in Clinical Psychology at Antioch University, New England

Dissertation Committee:

  • Roger Peterson, PhD, Committee Chair
  • Lorraine Mangione, PhD, Committee Member
  • Shannon McIntyre, PhD, Committee Member

Keywords

sexual assault, sexual shame, sexual functioning, sexual health

Document Type

Dissertation

Publication Date

2023

Abstract

A large portion of women will experience sexual violence in their lives. As many as one in four women report having experienced sexual assault, and there are some who believe that the true number of sexual assault survivors is much higher. Women who are sexually assaulted experience a wide range of emotional, physical, and sexual symptoms related to the trauma. The psychological impacts of sexual violence, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety have been studied and treatments developed. The sexual functioning of sexual assault survivors, however, has not been as thoroughly studied. One relatively new area of study is sexual shame. There has been a link found between sexual shame and sexual functioning in women who experienced sexual violence in childhood. There had not been any studies done to determine if the same is true for women who first experienced sexual violence in adulthood, after they became sexually active and therefore had a developed level of sexual functioning before the assault occurred. The current study sought to fill in this gap in knowledge. The study examined if the same relationship existed between sexual shame and sexual functioning in adult women sexual assault survivors, between the ages of 18 and 50, who did not experience their first sexual assault until after they became sexually active. The researcher found that there was a correlation between multiple aspects of sexual functioning and sexual shame, although not all components were positively correlated.

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Aili Jones

ORCID Scholar ID# 0009–0008–0457–8906

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