Disgust as a unique affective predictor of mental contamination following sexual trauma

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2014.07.007Get rights and content

Highlights

  • A growing empirical literature links mental contamination to sexual assault.

  • Evidence supports a link between disgust vulnerability and mental contamination.

  • A link also emerged between peritraumatic self-focused disgust and mental contamination.

  • Current limitations, future directions, and clinical implications are discussed.

Abstract

Mental contamination has been described as an internal experience of dirtiness that can arise and persist in the absence of contact with observable physical contaminants. Recent research has examined mental contamination specifically related to unwanted physical contact and sexual trauma. This study evaluated the degree to which disgust propensity and both self-focused and perpetrator-focused peritraumatic disgust were associated with mental contamination in a sample of women who experienced sexual trauma (n = 72). Results showed that peritraumatic self-focused disgust, but not peritraumatic perpetrator-focused disgust or fear, was significantly associated with mental contamination. Additionally, disgust propensity contributed significantly to the incremental validity of the model. These findings support the nascent literature showing that disgust plays a significant role in mental contamination, particularly following sexual trauma. Future research directions, and clinical/theoretical implications of these results are discussed.

Section snippets

Participants

Seventy-two adult women (Mage = 31.15, SD = 13.17) with a history of at least one instance of sexual victimization were recruited from the community (see Section 1.3) as part of a larger investigation focused on affective processes involved in responses to sexual trauma (e.g., Badour et al., 2013b). Participants were excluded from the study based on (1) evidence of limited mental competency and the inability to give informed, voluntary, written consent to participate; (2) current suicidal intent;

Results

Table 1 displays indices of internal consistency for measures included in the current study as well as zero-order correlations among continuous predictor, criterion, and demographic variables. Given an unacceptably low Cronbach's alpha coefficient (α = .24), for the STAI-T, this measure was excluded from further analyses. Mental contamination was significantly correlated with both indices of disgust (disgust propensity, peritraumatic self-focused disgust) and posttraumatic cognitive appraisals.

Discussion

The current study examined the unique association between disgust and mental contamination, a phenomenon involving internal sensations of dirtiness and urges to wash that can emerge and persist in the absence of contact with physical contaminants. This was examined among a sample of women with a history of sexual trauma, as sexual victimization has been identified in previous research as an experience particularly likely to result in mental contamination (Fairbrother and Rachman, 2004, Badour

Acknowledgments

This research was supported, in part, by a NIMH National Research Service Award (F31 MH092994-01) awarded to the first author. The expressed views do not necessarily represent those of NIMH, the Department of Veterans Affairs, or the United States government. Dean McKay receives royalties from: Sage Publications, Elsevier, Johns Hopkins Press, Springer Science + Business, American Psychological Association, and Springer Publications (for book royalties and as Editor of Journal of Cognitive

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