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Individual Differences in Personality Predict Externalizing versus Internalizing Outcomes Following Sexual Assault
Jessica L Combs1, Carol E Jordan1, Gregory T Smith1
1University of Kentucky.
Psychological Trauma : Theory, Research, Practice and Policy
|February 12, 2019
Summary
Sexual assault can increase women's risk for externalizing behaviors like substance use or internalizing distress like depression. Pre-assault personality traits, such as negative urgency, significantly influence these outcomes, suggesting personalized interventions.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Trauma Studies
- Behavioral Science
Background:
- Sexual assault is a significant trauma that can lead to various psychological distresses.
- Responses to sexual assault vary, with some women exhibiting externalizing behaviors (e.g., substance use) and others internalizing distress (e.g., depression, anxiety).
- Pre-assault personality traits may moderate the impact of sexual assault on post-assault psychological outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the interaction between pre-assault personality traits and sexual assault experiences in predicting externalizing and internalizing distress.
- To determine if personality traits like negative urgency and internalizing tendencies moderate the relationship between sexual assault and subsequent distress.
Main Methods:
- Surveyed 750 women prior to their freshman year at a large public university.
- Assessed personality traits, including negative urgency and internalizing tendencies.
- Examined concurrent relationships between sexual assault history and measures of externalizing behaviors (problem drinking, drug use) and internalizing distress (depression, anxiety symptoms).
Main Results:
- Sexual assault exposure was strongly associated with externalizing behaviors only at high levels of negative urgency.
- Sexual assault was strongly associated with internalizing distress only at high levels of pre-assault internalizing personality traits.
- At low levels of these personality traits, sexual assault had minimal association with either externalizing or internalizing distress.
Conclusions:
- Pre-assault personality traits significantly interact with sexual assault experiences to predict specific types of distress.
- Negative urgency moderates the link between sexual assault and externalizing behaviors.
- Personality assessment may facilitate the development of tailored, person-specific post-assault interventions.
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