Sexual Self-Schemas in the Real World: Investigating the Ecological Validity of Language-Based Markers of Childhood Sexual Abuse

Abstract

This is the first study to examine language use and sexual self-schemas in natural language data extracted from posts to a large online forum. Recently, two studies applied advanced text analysis techniques to examine differences in language use and sexual self-schemas between women with and without a history of childhood sexual abuse. The aim of the current study was to test the ecological validity of the differences in language use and sexual self-schema themes that emerged between these two groups of women in the laboratory. Archival natural language data were extracted from a social media website and analyzed using LIWC2015, a computerized text analysis program, and other word counting approaches. The differences in both language use and sexual self-schema themes that manifested in recent laboratory research were replicated and validated in the large online sample. To our knowledge, these results provide the first empirical examination of sexual cognitions as they occur in the real world. These results also suggest that natural language analysis of text extracted from social media sites may be a potentially viable precursor or alternative to laboratory measurement of sexual trauma phenomena, as well as clinical phenomena, more generally.

Sexual Self-Schema Scale for Women—Validation and Psychometric Properties of the Polish Version

“…However, the study by Lindgren et al was conducted in a younger and more homogeneous group, implying the differences noted earlier. In contrast to other studies, 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 but also in line with the original validation study, 1 the associations between negative sexual experiences (sexual assault in childhood) or sexual guilt and sexual self-schema were not confirmed in the present study. It can be presumed, as suggested by Rellini et al, 25 that victims of sexual assault might not link sex to pleasure, which might change their views on sexual activity.…”

“LIWC auf Deutsch”: The Development, Psychometrics, and Introduction of DE- LIWC2015

“…While the modern study of natural language use in the psychological sciences has historically evolved from expressive writing studies (e.g., Horn & Mehl, 2004;Pennebaker & Beall, 1986), research on the "Psychology of Language" has been extended into a variety of topics in the social sciences, including emotional states, health, social interactions, personality, age, and gender (Tausczik & Pennebaker, 2010). At the same time, the digital revolution has led to an increasing availability of language data at a large scale (Boyd & Pennebaker, 2017), and language research has expanded into more modern communication contexts such as online social media (Caton, Hall, & Weinhardt, 2015;Ritter, Preston, & Hernandez, 2014;Schwartz et al, 2013;Stanton, Meston, & Boyd, 2017).…”

The Personality Panorama: Conceptualizing Personality through Big Behavioural Data

“…In the widespread discussion on ethics and big data, there is, of course, the recognized potential for societal benefits in the new age of personality measurement. Many symptoms of depression and other psychopathologies are already observable on social media using current methods (Birnbaum, Ernala, Rizvi, De Choudhury, & Kane, 2017; Guntuku, Yaden, Kern, Ungar, & Eichstaedt, 2017; Hassanpour, Tomita, DeLise, Crosier, & Marsch, 2019; Reece & Danforth, 2017; Stanton et al, 2017; Thorstad & Wolff, 2019); it would be a grave mistake to ignore the reduction in human suffering that could be afforded by faster and more accurate diagnosis and treatment. But a utilitarian framework such as this may be insufficient, not just because the distribution of winners and losers is dramatically uneven, but also because it conflicts with a Kantian view in which one does not use others as means to an end (Celie & Paris, 2019; Tunick, 2014).…”