Students responded to five questionnaires: the Psychosocial Function of Sports Scale (to assess sport ideology), a questionnaire measuring the types and amount of sports they participated in or viewed, the Attitudes Toward Women Scale (to measure attitudes towards women in society), the Coercive Sexuality Scale (to assess college males’ level of involvement in sexually coercive or aggressive behaviors), and a brief demographic questionnaire (which asked about age, class standing, and fraternity membership). Analysis of these data indicated that fraternity membership, conservative attitudes towards women, and viewing contact sports were significant predictors of sexual aggression against women. Higher scores predicted higher levels of aggression. Oddly, low scores on men’s contact sports participation also predicted higher levels of sexual aggression towards women.
These summaries were written by SVPEP staff and are based on original papers published within the last 6 years. The information available on this web site is provided as a public service and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, the Arizona Department of Health Services, or the University of Arizona. To conduct an individual search or locate older articles use the Search Summary Database which includes over 600 articles related to sexual violence.
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Brown, T. J., Sumner, K. E., & Nocera, R. (2002). Understanding sexual aggression against women. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 17, 937-952.
Davis, T. L., & Liddell, D. L. (2002). Getting inside the house: The effectiveness of a rape prevention program for college fraternity men. Journal of College Student Development, 43, 35-50.
Studies on perpetrators of stranger rape have suggested psychopathology as the cause of their actions, according to sociocultural theory, perpetrators of acquaintance rape and date rape may be motivated by gender role ideology. The authors of this study investigated whether sex role socialization modifies males’ attitudes and beliefs condoning rape. A total of 90 fraternity men (between the ages of 18–23 years old), attending a large college in the Midwest, were asked to participate in this study. The participants were divided into three groups: (a) a control group, (b) a group that attended a traditional date rape prevention program, and (c) a group that attended a program aimed at identifying and addressing the gender role ideals of the participants. Each group attended one 90-minute session and was given a pretest, posttest, and a follow-up posttest. Results indicate that both of the treatment groups exhibited lower acceptance of rape myths and an increased understanding of coercion and consent; with the group that attended the traditional date rape prevention program retaining the most information about consent/coercion after six weeks. Gender role conflict was significantly associated with rape myth acceptance. Future research might investigate whether more long-term rape prevention program regimens would prove to have longer lasting effects on gender role ideals and attitudes contributing to acquaintance rape and date rape perpetration.
Holcomb, D. R., Savage, M. P., & Seehafer, R. W. (2002). A mixed-gender date rape prevention intervention targeting freshmen college athletes. College Student Journal, 36, 165-179.
Studies have shown that a high percentage of college men admit to engaging in sexually coercive behavior. Researchers have suggested a relationship between rape tolerant attitudes and behavior and sexual assault perpetration. In this study, 141 freshmen college athletes at a large Mideastern university were separated into two groups in order to compare the effectiveness of a mixed-gender date rape prevention program. The Date Rape Attitudes Survey (DRAS) (Holcomb, Sondag, & Holcomb, 1993) was used to compare the treatment group’s posttest responses to the posttest responses of the control group (which received no mixed-gender date rape prevention training). Analysis of the results showed that attitudes more tolerant of date rape were more prevalent in the control group than in the treatment group. Also, male athletes were more likely to condone date rape than female athletes were. The impact of the mixed-gender date rape prevention program was not significantly different across gender.
Sawyer, R. G., Thompson, E. E., & Chicorelli, A. M. (2002). Rape myth acceptance among intercollegiate student athletes: A preliminary examination. American Journal of Health Studies, 18, 19-25.
The goal of this study was to provide a detailed understanding of college athletes' attitudes and perceptions toward sexual violence. Surveys were completed by 704 male and female college athletes from five public universities across the U.S. The surveys included demographic items, a revised version of Burt's Rape Myth Acceptance Scale, items relating to the definition of rape, and items on athletes’ perception of fellow athletes' involvement in sexual violence. Results showed that approximately 50% of male athletes thought that "about half" of women who reported rapes to police were lying and that "about half" of women invent the rapes that they report to police. Females, in contrast, were more likely to report that "very few" women lied or invented the rapes that they reported to police. Among men, underclassmen and participants of team sports (rather than individual-oriented sports) were more likely to subscribe to rape myths. Males participating in revenue-producing sports (e.g., football and basketball) were not more likely to support rape myths than were other athletes. While level of competition (Division I versus Division II) was not associated with rape myth acceptance among male athletes, rape myth acceptance was predicted by Division I status for female athletes. Other findings indicated that (a) female athletes were more likely to believe that nonathletes were less likely to be involved in date rapes than athletes, and (b) male athletes were more likely to believe that athletes were unfairly targeted in sexual assault or date rape incidents. Overall, the findings illustrate that college athletes are not a homogenous group and that prevention efforts can be designed and targeted accordingly.
Wasco, S., & Campbell, R. (2002). Emotional reactions of rape victim advocates: A multiple case study of anger and fear. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 26, 120-130.
Qualitative analysis was conducted on the emotional reactions of women who support rape victims through the criminal justice process and through other services provided after the assault (physical and mental). Results showed that women respond to individual factors and environmental factors surrounding rape with emotions of fear and anger. Also, some rape victim advocates viewed their emotional responses as beneficial to the victim specifically and within their work in general.
Wasco, S., Campbell, R., & Clark, M. (2002). A multiple case study of rape victim advocates’ self-care routines: The influence of organizational context. American Journal of Community Psychology, 30, 731-760.
Qualitative analysis was conducted on the types of self-care strategies used and the organizational settings of the work place of rape victim advocates. This study further evaluated the relationship between the advocates’ use of self-care strategies and organizational support provided. Results indicate that self-care routines were derived from various resources and provided the benefit of “cathartic releasing of traumatic material”, and “improving capacity to integrate traumatic material into one’s life.” Several organizational characteristics reviewed in this study were reported as being supportive. All of the victim advocates reported using self-care strategies; however, those who worked in organizations with higher levels of support were able to benefit from a combination of both self-care and organizational support methods.