Submissive and dominant sexual cognitions of college women with a history of sexual abuse

Abstract

The study investigated the effect of timing of sexual abuse on sexual cognitions of
submission and dominance. Female college students completed questionnaires containing
reports of history of sexual abuse, sex guilt, social desirability, and sexual cognitions. The
results show that the childhood and the adulthood abused group have more frequent
positive sexual cognitions, more frequent arousal to sexual cognitions, and higher
intensity of sexual arousal to these sexual cognitions. The frequency of overall cognitions
was the most significant predictor in predicting all submission and dominance sexual
cognitions variables. This study while replicating previous findings that survivors of
sexual abuse tend to report more frequent sexual cognitions, failed to replicate previous
findings demonstrating a timing effect on sexual submission cognitions. However,
previous finding failing to find a timing effect on sexual cognitions of dominance were
replicated. The findings from this study could assist both survivors of childhood and/or
adulthood sexual abuse and therapists who work with them by providing empirically
supported information about sexual cognitions.

Date of Award	2011
Original language	American English
Awarding Institution	Eastern Illinois University
Supervisor	Keith Wilson (Supervisor)