Research Summaries

This study investigated how judgments about rape victims may be influenced by social reactions of others and varies by type of rape and gender.  Results were based on reports from 110 college students and showed exposure to negative social reactions decreased emotional support, perpetrator blame and sympathy and support to victim.  Negative reactions were associated with negative judgment but positive reactions had no effect.

The goals of this study were to examine male rape myths and to look at variables that may be associated with three male rape myths; denial, blame, and trauma.  The specific variables under investigation were; acceptance of interpersonal violence, sex beliefs and ambivalent sexism towards men.  The study sample consisted of 423 college students from a medium sized, private Catholic university and a small Eastern public college.  Using the Male Rape Myth Scale, the results found that men were more supportive of rape myths in general than women.  Both men’s and women’s acceptance of rape myths did not significantly differ based on the gender of the victim.  Ideologies that support rape of women were also associated with rape myths about men.

The study analyzed data from two national surveys on victimization of women enrolled in colleges and universities: the National College Women Violent Victimization (NCWVV; n=4,432) and the National College Women Sexual Victimization (NCWSV; n=4,446). Respondents were asked if they had experienced violent or sexual victimization during the school year, and when the incident occurred. This allowed researchers to determine the sequence in which repeat victimizations occurred. Almost half of the victims experienced about three-quarters of all victimizations. Victims were at an elevated risk of re-experiencing violence within a few months following the first incident. Repeat incidents usually were the same kind of violence as the initial incident. Of non-sexual violent attacks, only simple assault carried a risk of repeated violence, and was the only type of violence more likely to be perpetrated by a stranger. The only victim behavior associated with single victimization was the use of forceful physical resistance. Because most victims who report their attack do so to friends (rather than parents or authorities), researchers recommend including information on risks of repeat victimization in college sexual assault prevention education programs.

This review article focused on gender differences on the perception of female sexual behaviors and intents, the association between sexual coercion and misperception, situational factors that may increase misperception, and clinical implications.  The study concentrated on sexually coercive behavior, between partners, that is not premeditated but purposeful and on men’s ability to distinguish sexual interest from platonic interest. Men were more likely to perceive more sexual intent in a woman’s behavior but this gender difference may be attributed to a small sub-group of males at high risk for sexual coercion or men more supportive of sex-role stereotypes.  Some situational factors were correlated with an increase in men’s estimates of women’s sexual intent.

There is a popular perception that inexperienced college freshman women are at greatest risk for sexual assault, especially during the first few weeks or months of the fall semester. To test this, the researchers surveyed first-year (n=104) and second- year (n=101) male and female college students about unwanted experiences of sexual contact. Those who had experienced unwanted sex were asked to place the event(s) in one of 7 time periods. Women reported significantly higher rates of unwanted sex than men (44% vs. 7%). Most experiences involved the consumption of alcohol (81%) and almost one-third of the offenders were well-known to their victims (all were students at the university). Relatively more unwanted touching experiences occurred during the last time period—the second year from about one month after the start of school to the middle of October—than any other time. Researchers were told by sorority members that this corresponded to the period called “pledging”, during which young (second-year) women were invited to frequent fraternity parties at which alcohol was consumed.

This study had several goals: to investigate rates of forced and verbal sexual coercion and sexual revictimization around the world, association between sexual coercion and adversarial sexual beliefs, and association between childhood sexual abuse and current victimization of sexual aggression in both men and women. Information was gathered from the International Dating Violence Study where questionnaires were completed by students in a classroom setting at various universities around the world.  The findings suggest that adversarial beliefs about romantic relationships were associated with sexual coercion for both genders.  The sites with high rates of hostile beliefs about the opposite sex observed a higher number of reports of verbal and forced sexual coercion victimization.

This study explored verbal sexual coercion against women by their male sexual partners. Once hundred ninety-three undergraduate women in consensually sexual dating relationships were asked about male partner verbal sexual coercion, conflict behaviors, and relationship quality.  The findings showed an association between women feeling pressured to have sex and their perceptions of psychological abuse and destructive conflict behavior patterns.  In general, women reported less relationship satisfaction and less sexual satisfaction and desire.

Between 2000 and 2002 in Erie County, New York in-person interviews were conducted with 1,014 women between the ages of 18 and 30 to investigate factors that may lead to an increased vulnerability to sexual aggression during adolescence. Of the 1,014 women interviewed, women who indicated sexual victimization since age 14, 319 completed a brief event-based interview. The study used quantitative and qualitative methods to pursue two goals: identify contexts in which adolescent girls experience sexual aggression and to identify factors within those contexts that may contribute to vulnerability. The findings indicated that the following were the most common developmental influences: inexperience with sex and dating, social and relationship status concerns, and powerlessness. Sexual victimization was most often experienced in the context of intimate relationships (40%). The second most common was in the context of social gatherings (36%), in which most incidents involved substance use by the perpetrator (82%), the victim (76%), or both.

A national telephone survey of 1,500 youth between ages 10-17 was conducted in 2005. The survey examined online sexual solicitation and harassment.  Youth were divided into 3 categories; those who kept an online journal (bloggers), those who interacted with people known in person (interactors), and those who interacted with people they met online (interactors).   The findings suggested that it is the actual interaction youth conduct with people they meet online that increases the likelihood of solicitation that may lead to sexual victimization.  Youth who were interactors were 2 times more likely to report sexual solicitation regardless if they were bloggers.  Bloggers who were not interactors were not found to have an increased risk of solicitation.  All youth who were bloggers and/or interactors were found to have an increased risk for harassment.

This study expanded on past research on the Confluence Model of Sexual Assault Perpetration by examining how alcohol use may contribute to men’s likelihood of perpetrating sexual assault. Two key components of the Confluence Model were tested: impersonal sex and hostile masculinity.  The sample consisted of 365 men at an urban university who were at least 21 years old, drank alcohol, and had heterosexual dating experiences within the past year. The survey measured delinquency, drinking behaviors and expectancies, impersonal sex, hostile masculinity, situational alcohol consumption, and sexual assault perpetration.  At least one sexually aggressive act (making a woman have sex who clearly did not consent or who was unable to consent) was reported by 58% of the men, 48% perpetrated only when sober, 27% only when intoxicated, and 25% had perpetrated both when sober and intoxicated.

This was a qualitative study that examined family, peer, school, and community contexts among male urban youth in New England who were perpetrators of IPV.  Interviews were conducted with 25 young men from five school and community-based IPV intervention programs for male perpetrators.  Themes that emerged from the interviews included; disruptive home environments, lack of positive male role models, peers who used substances, gang involvement, supporting behaviors of sexual mistreatment of females, lack of educational support, and impact of exposure to violence and/or fear of violence in their communities.

In 2004, 4,131 students from a high-risk school district were assessed on dating and peer physical violence and psychological aggression.  The objective of the study was to determine if boys’ and girls’ experiences of interpersonal violence differ by gender and grade level.  Students completed an anonymous, self-administered questionnaire that asked about dating and same-sex peer violence victimization that occurred in the past 12 months.  Results showed that several sex differences do occur in victimization and perpetration of physical violence in both relationship contexts. Females reported a higher incidence of reported physical violence perpetration within a dating context and boys reported more physical violence in same-sex peer relationships.  Boys were more likely to inflict injury in both types of relationships.  Experiences of interpersonal violence for boys and girls varied by age.

This case study of the Fraternity Peer Rape Education Program (FPREP), examined men’s perceptions of change within themselves, their interactions, and fraternity community. Ten men participated in the class; only 4 interviews were selected for transcription.  Findings suggested that participants: recognized rape-supportive behaviors and challenged those views, and internalized the role of a responder.  Relationships with fraternity became strained and changed when they challenged friends and brothers, created a shared sense of partnership and responsibility and disrupted traditional masculine relationships within fraternal community.  The author suggested that educators must provide support to those who suffer losses within their communities and empower them to broaden their sense of community, while finding ways that they can stay connected to their fraternity.

This article summarizes current research on online sexual victimization and compares it to media accounts. The authors identify the known characteristics of online crimes, victims, and offenders, using data from the nationally representative Youth Internet Safety Surveys (YISS) and the National Juvenile Online Victimization Study (N-JOV). The YISS studies surveyed Internet users aged 10-17, and the N-JOV study collected information from law enforcement agencies on Internet-related sex crimes with underage victims.

The authors note that only 5% of crimes from the N-JOV study involved the use of force, and none involved children under the age of 12. They suggest that the emotional immaturity and strong sexual feelings of young adolescents may lead them to develop romantic attachments to people they meet online. The authors point out that traditional therapeutic treatment that emphasizes recovery from abuse may not be appropriate for youth who do not identify as victims, and that new models need to be developed. They recommend that prevention efforts with adolescents be targeted, age-appropriate, and include frank discussions of sexuality and the hazards of relationships with older people. Finally, they caution that the dynamic and evolving sphere of electronic communication, including text messaging and new online technologies, make continuing research into monitoring online environments essential to prevent victimization.

At a private university in the Rocky Mountain region, 126 undergraduate males and females were assigned to a stranger or date-rape scenario and asked to complete several surveys to assess the impact that BS, HS, and GRT had on external observer’s rape perceptions and the relationship between ambivalent sexism (AS) and GRT.  Three forms of secondary victimization were assessed in the study: minimization of seriousness of rape, blaming the rape victim, and excusing the rapist. The results support previous findings that BS, HS, and GRT significantly influence external observers’ rape perceptions.  External observers use different reasons to judge the rape incident, victim, and rapist.  Observers minimize rape, blame the victim, and excuse the rapist more in cases of date rape than stranger rape.  Those who score higher on HS scale deny victim’s psychological damage, level of violence, and the fact that the incident was rape.