Master of Arts, Miami University, 2022, Psychology

A quarter of men in the United States experience sexual victimization during their lifetime (Breiding et al., 2014). Research regarding men's experiences post-sexual victimization is lacking. The current investigation examined associations between lifetime sexual victimization and sexual difficulties among men. Survey data were collected from 410 men (mean age = 33.99, 80.7% White/Caucasian) through Amazon's Mechanical Turk. Difficulties accessing emotion regulation strategies was tested as mediating associations between lifetime sexual victimization and sexual difficulties among men. Furthermore, as men differ in conformity to masculine norms, conformity to masculine norms of emotional inexpressiveness (beliefs that men should suppress displays of emotion) and hypermasculine sexual persona (beliefs that men should possess high sexual drive and desire) were assessed as moderators. The presence of lifetime sexual victimization was associated with greater sexual concerns and with dysfunctional sexual behavior both directly and indirectly through difficulties accessing emotion regulation strategies among men. Greater reported adherence to hypermasculine sexual persona norms strengthened associations between sexual victimization and dysfunctional sexual behavior. Implications for research, clinical practice, and public policy to address sexual victimization among men are discussed.

Committee: Terri Messman (Advisor); Vrinda Kalia (Committee Member); Elizabeth Kiel (Committee Member) Subjects: Gender; Psychology; Public Health