Longitudinal study demonstrates sexual assault history predicts higher political stress in sexual minority women via maladaptive coping, highlighting targets for psychotherapy.
Key Points
To evaluate whether sexual assault history predicts perceived political stress six months later among sexual minority women, and to examine the mediating role of adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies.
Conducted a two-wave longitudinal online survey across a 6-month interval (August 2024 to February 2025) among N=195 cisgender sexual minority women.
Assessed self-reported measures of sexual assault history, coping strategies (adaptive and maladaptive), and perceived political stress.
Greater sexual assault history significantly predicted higher perceived political stress at the 6-month follow-up.
Maladaptive coping mediated the association between sexual assault history and increased political stress, whereas adaptive coping showed no mediating effect.