Experience of sexual violence and satisfaction with life: a 20-year prospective cohort study

Abstract

This Danish prospective cohort study assessed associations between exposure to any kind of sexual violence (SV), exposure to labelled SV (self-labelled as rape, sexual abuse, or incest), and satisfaction with life (SWL) in young adulthood (approximately 32 years) (N = 688) and at midlife (up-to-20 years later) (n = 230). Data are from the Prenatal Development Project (a subsample of the Copenhagen Perinatal Cohort). Nearly 20% of participants reported experiencing some kind of SV before young adulthood. Exposure to any kind of SV before young adulthood was not significantly associated with the initial SWL assessment or with SWL at the up to 20-year follow-up. However, exposure to SV participants labelled as rape, incest, and/or serious sexual abuse was significantly associated with lower SWL during young adulthood but not at the midlife follow-up. These results could indicate that exposure to SV may not severely influence SWL over the long term.