Associations among childhood sexual abuse, language use, and adult sexual functioning and satisfaction.

OBJECTIVES

To better understand the link between childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and adult sexual functioning and satisfaction, we examined cognitive differences between women with (N=128) and without (NSA, N=99) CSA histories.

METHODS

We used the Linguistic Inquiry Word Count, a computerized text analysis program, to investigate language differences between women with and without CSA histories when writing about their daily life (neutral essay) and their beliefs about sexuality and their sexual experiences (sexual essay).

RESULTS

Compared to NSA women, women with CSA histories used fewer first person pronouns in the neutral essay but more in the sexual essay, suggesting women with CSA histories have greater self-focus when thinking about sexuality. Women who reported CSA used more intimacy words and more language consistent with psychological distancing in the sexual essay than did NSA women. Use of positive emotion words in the sexual essay predicted sexual functioning and satisfaction in both groups.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings support the view that language use differs in significant ways between women with and without sexual abuse histories, and that these differences relate to sexual functioning and satisfaction.