Sexual victimization, fear of sexual powerlessness, and cognitive emotion dysregulation as barriers to sexual assertiveness in college women.
Abstract
The current study examined sexual victimization and two barriers to young women's
sexual assertiveness: fear of sexual powerlessness and cognitive emotion dysregulation.
College women (N = 499) responded to surveys and indicated that fear of sexual powerlessness
and, to a lesser extent, cognitive emotion dysregulation were barriers to sexual assertiveness.
Compared with nonvictims, sexually victimized women had greater problems with sexual
assertiveness, fear of sexual powerlessness, and cognitive emotion dysregulation.
Among victims, fear of sexual powerlessness and emotion dysregulation interacted to
impede sexual assertiveness. Findings support targeting identified barriers in interventions
to improve sexual assertiveness and reduce risk for unwanted sexual experiences and
sexual victimization.
Type
Journal articleSubject
cognitive emotion dysregulationsexual assertiveness
sexual powerlessness
sexual victimization
Adolescent
Adult
Assertiveness
Cognition
Crime Victims
Data Collection
Emotions
Fear
Female
Humans
Interpersonal Relations
Power (Psychology)
Rape
Sexual Behavior
Universities
Women's Health
Young Adult
Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/11250Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1177/1077801213517566Publication Info
Zerubavel, Noga; & Messman-Moore, Terri L (2013). Sexual victimization, fear of sexual powerlessness, and cognitive emotion dysregulation
as barriers to sexual assertiveness in college women. Violence Against Women, 19(12). pp. 1518-1537. 10.1177/1077801213517566. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/11250.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Noga Zerubavel
Assistant Consulting Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Noga Zerubavel, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist and Assistant Professor in the Department
of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University Medical Center. Dr. Zerubavel
is the Director of the Stress, Trauma, and Recovery Treatment Clinic (START Clinic),
which provides treatment for trauma-related disorders including PTSD, dissociative
disorders, and other sequelae of trauma within the Cognitive Behavioral Research and
Treatment Program at Duke. She specializes in working with

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