Lifetime Sexual Victimization and Dissociation: Longitudinal Pathways Through Emotion Dysregulation

The current study examined temporal associations between emotion dysregulation and dissociation among sexual violence survivors in a sample of 490 women. Results revealed higher levels of emotion dysregulation and dissociation among women who experienced sexual victimization in both childhood and emerging adulthood (i.e., lifetime revictimization), compared to women with victimization in either childhood or emerging adulthood (i.e., single period victimization) and those without a sexual victimization history. Moreover, one dimension of emotion dysregulation, emotional clarity difficulties, showed an indirect association between revictimization status and dissociation 16 months later, with lifetime revictimization associated with higher later dissociation through greater emotional clarity difficulties, relative to those without revictimization histories.