Sexual Assault Severity and Depressive Symptoms as Longitudinal Predictors of the Quality of Women’s Sexual Experiences

Abstract

Depressive symptoms are one consequence of adult/adolescent sexual victimization (ASV) and are linked to sexual health. Female non-problem drinkers (N = 440) with an ASV history participated in a one-year longitudinal study. Participants completed measures of lifetime ASV severity and four quarterly assessments of depressive symptoms, ASV severity, and sexual experience quality. Multilevel models revealed that depressive symptoms interacted with ASV severity: Women with low lifetime ASV severity reported higher ratings of sexual pain as depressive symptoms increased. ASV reported during assessment months predicted sexual experience quality. Interventions to improve survivors’ sexual experiences should consider incorporating treatment for depressive symptoms.