Personality profiles of women who report and who do not report physical assault or sexual harassment: Comparisons with traumatic brain injury

Standardized personality profiles of young university women who reported they had been either: 1) never assaulted or harassed, 2) sexually harassed or assaulted, or 3) physically assaulted, were compared with each other and with a group of age- and educationally-matched women, who had sustained verified traumatic brain injuries; 49% of the university volunteers reported the experience of either physical or sexual assault. The groups who had reported a history of physical assault, or who had sustained brain trauma, displayed significantly higher scores for scales that infer egocentricity and deviations from rule systems, relative to the group who reported no history of assault. The possibility that even mild brain trauma (from physical assault or from injury during a motor vehicle incident) can adversely affect the sense of self is discussed.