Childhood Sexual Assault, Schemas, and Revictimization: The Role of Early Maladaptive Schemas on Revictimization

RM 215

Childhood sexual assault (CSA) refers to a sexual act that is imposed on a child or adolescent who lacks the emotional capacity, maturity, and cognitive development to understand what they are engaging in, and is incapable or unwilling to give consent. Many individuals who experience CSA also experience adult sexual assault, such as rape. To date, there is only one known study looking at early maladaptive schemas, CSA, and revictimization. Interestingly, they did not explore factors that may underlie the relationship between CSA and revictimization in adulthood. The purpose of this current study is to first determine if CSA is positively correlated with adult sexual assault and to examine the role of early maladaptive schema in this association. We hypothesize that revictimization will be mediated by early maladaptive schemas among individuals who experienced CSA. To address these issues CSUSB students will be administered the Sexual Experiences Survey which assesses victimization and perpetration of unwanted sexual experiences and the Young Schema Questionnaire to measure early maladaptive schemas. We are currently in the data collection phase of the experiment. It is expected that CSA will be positively correlated with revictimization. Additionally, we expect that early maladaptive schemas, such as, mistrust/abuse and insufficient self-control/self-discipline will mediate the effect between CSA and revictimization. In conclusion, our findings could be used to further investigate what appropriate early childhood interventions could possibly be used to address and treat early maladaptive schemas, which in turn could help to prevent further revictimization.