Online and Offline Disclosures of Unwanted Sexual Experiences: A Comparison of Reactions and Affect
Abstract
:1. Introduction
1.1. Disclosing Unwanted Sexual Experiences Online
1.2. The Present Study
2. Methods
2.1. Participants
2.2. Materials
2.2.1. Unwanted Sexual Experiences (SES-SFV; Koss et al., 2006)
2.2.2. Childhood Sexual Abuse Experiences Questionnaire (Bartoi & Kinder, 1998)
2.2.3. Social Reactions Questionnaire (Ullman, 2000)
2.2.4. Positive and Negative Affect Scale (Watson et al., 1988)
2.2.5. Reasons for (Non-)Disclosure
2.3. Procedure
3. Results
4. Discussion
4.1. Implications and Suggestions for Further Research
4.2. Limitations
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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N | M (SD) | Range | Skew | Kurtosis | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Reasons for non-disclosure | |||||
Shame | 296 | 2.23 (0.73) | 1–4 | 0.34 | −0.71 |
Ambivalence | 292 | 1.61 (0.69) | 1–4 | 1.08 | 0.55 |
Reasons for disclosure | |||||
Protect others | 301 | 1.53 (0.59) | 1–4 | 1.18 | 1.08 |
Weariness | 299 | 1.88 (0.78) | 1–4 | 0.69 | −0.29 |
Environmental reasons | 300 | 1.17 (0.35) | 1–4 | 3.10 | 15.14 |
Disclosure reactions | |||||
Turning against | 290 | 0.51 (0.63) | 0–3.77 | 1.91 | 4.20 |
Unsupportive attacking | 290 | 0.74 (0.62) | 0–2.80 | 1.12 | 0.88 |
Positive reaction | 292 | 1.94 (0.79) | 0–3.63 | −0.36 | −0.40 |
Disclosure affect | |||||
Positive | 289 | 2.02 (0.71) | 1–4.25 | 0.64 | −0.25 |
Negative | 290 | 2.62 (0.82) | 1–4.60 | 0.14 | −0.80 |
USE severity | 301 | 4.82 (1.50) | 2–6 | −0.94 | −0.64 |
Non-Disclosure (n = 59) | Online Disclosure (n = 29) | Offline Disclosure (n = 218) | Online and Offline Disclosure (n = 65) | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Absolute | Mutually Exclusive | Absolute | Mutually Exclusive | Absolute | Mutually Exclusive | Absolute | Mutually Exclusive | |
Sexual contact | 86.4 | 13.6 | 100 | 20.7 | 93.1 | 16.1 | 96.9 | 10.8 |
Attempted coercion | 50.8 | 13.6 | 58.6 | 10.3 | 53.2 | 6.0 | 67.7 | 1.5 |
Coercion | 42.2 | 16.9 | 58.6 | 6.9 | 43.6 | 8.3 | 67.7 | 18.5 |
Attempted rape | 47.5 | 13.6 | 51.7 | 17.2 | 53.2 | 16.5 | 61.5 | 16.9 |
Rape | 40.7 | 40.7 | 44.8 | 44.8 | 51.8 | 51.8 | 52.3 | 52.3 |
Discrepancy | 3.4% | 6.9% | 2.8% | 12.3% |
Positive Affect | Negative Affect | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Online | Offline | Both | Online | Offline | Both | |||
Online | Offline | Online | Offline | |||||
Severity of USE | 0.01 | 0.18 * | 0.34 ** | 0.21 | −0.08 | 0.21 ** | 0.39 ** | 0.42 *** |
Reactions | ||||||||
Turning against | −0.17 | 0.09 | 0.20 | 0.07 | 0.10 | 0.48 *** | 0.35 ** | 0.28 * |
Unsupporting Attacking | −0.07 | 0.21 ** | 0.22 † | 0.17 | 0.34 † | 0.54 *** | 0.47 *** | 0.40 *** |
Positive | 0.35 † | 0.33 *** | 0.36 ** | 0.44 *** | 0.34 † | 0.26 *** | 0.40 ** | 0.22 † |
Non-disclosure | ||||||||
Shame | 0.33 | 0.16 * | 0.30 * | 0.18 | 0.10 | 0.61 *** | 0.37 ** | 0.47 *** |
Ambivalence | 0.14 | 0.10 | <0.01 | 0.03 | 0.23 | 0.02 | −0.13 | 0.04 |
Disclosure | ||||||||
Protect others | 0.06 | 0.26 *** | 0.19 | 0.21 | 0.16 | 0.47 *** | 0.35 | 0.45 *** |
Weariness | 0.53 ** | 0.23 *** | 0.18 | 0.25 † | 0.32 | 0.31 *** | −0.04 | 0.13 |
Internal reasons | 0.27 | 0.18 ** | 0.32 * | 0.05 | 0.37 † | 0.37 *** | 0.04 | 0.23 † |
Environmental reasons | −0.29 | 0.07 | 0.22 † | 0.01 | 0.27 | 0.19 ** | 0.23 † | 0.21 |
Online and Offline | Offline Only | p | 95% CI | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mean | SE | Mean | SE | |||
Protect others | 1.78 | 0.07 | 1.45 | 0.04 | <0.001 | 0.13; 0.53 |
Weariness | 2.24 | 0.10 | 1.77 | 0.05 | <0.001 | −0.74; −0.20 |
Internal reasons | 2.67 | 0.12 | 1.13 | 0.02 | 0.03 | 0.02; 0.66 |
Environmental reasons | 1.25 | 0.40 | 1.13 | 0.02 | 0.014 | 0.02; 0.24 |
Online Disclosure | Offline Disclosure | t | p | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Turning against | 0.67 (0.71) | 0.96 (0.95) | −2.77 | 0.008 |
Unsupporting attacking | 0.83 (0.69) | 1.15 (0.80) | −3.72 | <0.001 |
Positive reaction | 1.87 (0.96) | 1.97 (0.77) | −0.79 | 0.435 |
Positive affect | 2.34 (0.80) | 2.14 (0.76) | 2.41 | 0.019 |
Negative affect | 2.45 (0.73) | 2.84 (0.83) | −4.30 | <0.001 |
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de Roos, M.S.; Caon, G.; Veldhuizen Ochodničanová, E. Online and Offline Disclosures of Unwanted Sexual Experiences: A Comparison of Reactions and Affect. Behav. Sci. 2025, 15, 102. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15020102
de Roos MS, Caon G, Veldhuizen Ochodničanová E. Online and Offline Disclosures of Unwanted Sexual Experiences: A Comparison of Reactions and Affect. Behavioral Sciences. 2025; 15(2):102. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15020102
Chicago/Turabian Stylede Roos, Melissa S., Giorgia Caon, and Elza Veldhuizen Ochodničanová. 2025. "Online and Offline Disclosures of Unwanted Sexual Experiences: A Comparison of Reactions and Affect" Behavioral Sciences 15, no. 2: 102. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15020102
APA Stylede Roos, M. S., Caon, G., & Veldhuizen Ochodničanová, E. (2025). Online and Offline Disclosures of Unwanted Sexual Experiences: A Comparison of Reactions and Affect. Behavioral Sciences, 15(2), 102. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15020102