These summaries were written by SVPEP staff and are based on original papers published within the last 2 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.

Davis, K. C., Norris, J., George, W. H., Martell, J., & Heiman, J. R. (2006). Men’s likelihood of sexual aggression: The influence of alcohol, sexual arousal, and violent pornography. Aggressive Behavior, 32, 581-589. [Posted April 2007]

Key Points: Men’s sexual arousal to a hypothetical rape story predicted their self-reported likelihood of acting like the aggressor in the scenario.  

Summary: A total of 84 male social drinkers between 21-45 years old were randomly assigned to a group that received alcohol or a group that did not. Both groups were then asked to read one of two rape scenarios which differed by whether the victim experienced pleasure during the rape. Three factors related to sexual response were measured: alcohol intoxication; belief that intoxicated women were vulnerable to sexual coercion; and a victim’s positive sexual response to rape.

The single factor that predicted reporting likelihood of sexual aggression was a high level of sexual arousal. Intoxication and belief in drinking women’s vulnerability were not directly linked to increased aggression, although they were related to arousal. Both sober and intoxicated men reported greater arousal when the victim’s response in the scenario was positive. If any of the factors were present without increased arousal, they were not related to increased aggression.

Limits of the study included testing only two levels of intoxication (sober or drunk), self-report of arousal without physiological measures, and lack of measurement of men’s actual aggressive behavior. The study did not look at how likely men were to report the probability of aggressive sexual behavior if they were not exposed to violent pornography.

Topics: Alcohol; myths/stereotypes; perpetration

Farris, C., Treat, T. A., Viken, R. J., & McFall, R. M. (2008). Sexual coercion and the misperception of sexual intent.  Clinical Psychology Review, 28, 48-66. [Posted August 2008]
 
Key Points:  Misperceptions of sexual intent may lead to sexual coercion.

Summary:  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. 

Limitations: It is difficult to assess perception and interpret observed differences in perception.  Most literature assumes that men are prone to perceive sexual intent where it does not exist and that women’s perception of sexual intent of other women is the standard to measure interest. 

Topics: alcohol, male/female relations, myths/stereotypes

Fife, R. S., Ebersole, C., Bigatti, S., Lane, K. A., & Brunner Huber, L. R. (2008). Assessment of the relationship of demographic and social factors with intimate partner violence (IPV) among Latinas in Indianapolis.  Journal of Women’s Health, 17, 769-775. [Posted September 2008]
 
Key Points: Alcohol use by a woman or her partner was associated with intimate partner violence (IPV) among a sample of Latinas.

Summary: One hundred Latinas (76% from Mexico) who attended health fairs, educational sessions, and community health centers were recruited to complete surveys to examine the prevalence, demographic factors, and behaviors associated with IPV.  This exploratory, cross-sectional study: measured the prevalence of IPV in the Indianapolis Latino population and examined associations between demographic and other characteristics of IPV.  Among the participants, 51% reported some form of IPV.  Some of the forms of abuse that were reported were; yelling (38%), being followed (33%), having to ask permission to do things (18%), harassment (18%), and pushing/shoving/slapping (11%).  Women who reported IPV, 71% reported 1 to 3 forms of abuse.  Alcohol use by the woman or partner was found to be most significantly associated with IPV. 

Limitations:  Sample contained a small number of women in one community, who attended public events, and were willing to speak about IPV.  The sample also had missing data, only 75% answered all questions. An association does not mean that alcohol was the cause of IPV.

Topics: alcohol, racial/ethnic differences, underserved populations

Flack Jr., W. F., Caron, M. L., Leinen, S. J., Breitenbach, K. G., Barber, A. M., Brown, E. N. et al. (2008). "The red zone": Temporal risk for unwanted sex among college students. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, online. [Posted April 2008]

Key Points: First-year college women were not found to be at elevated risk for unwanted sex, but second-year women were at elevated risk during a period corresponding to sorority and fraternity pledging activities.

Summary: 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.

Limitations: This study was conducted at a small Eastern liberal arts college. College cultures and activities vary widely, and results of this study might have been different at a campus with different characteristics.

Topics: Alcohol; college; fraternities/sororities; prevalence; risk

Kaysen, D., Neighbors, C., Martell, J., Fossos, N. & Larimer, M. (2006). Incapacitated rape and alcohol abuse. Addictive Behaviors, 31, 1820-1832. [Posted December 2006]

Key Points: High rates of alcohol consumption both predicted and followed sexual assault among a sample of college students.

Summary: Male and female students at three colleges completed questionnaires about alcohol use at three time points over three years. Incapacitated rape was assessed with the question, “have you ever been pressured or forced to have sex with someone because you were too drunk to prevent it?” More women than men reported ever having experienced incapacitated sexual assault (10.0% vs. 5.7%).

Students who drank the most and had the most self-reported alcohol-related problems were more likely to experience incapacitated sexual assault. The relationship was cyclical: after sexual assault, students drank more and had more alcohol-related problems. Women who had never experienced incapacitated rape and who were not raped during the study period drank less than other students.

Results from the study indicated that programs to discourage high-risk drinking among college students may help reduce incidence of sexual assault. The researchers suggested that early intervention following sexual assault may help prevent later increases in alcohol use and alcohol-related problems.

Topics: Alcohol; college

Livingston, J. A., Hequembourg, M. T., & VanZile-Tamsen, C. (2007). Unique aspects of adolescent sexual victimization experiences.  Psychology of Women Quarterly, 31, 331-343.  [Posted September 2008]
 
Key Points: Adolescent females may experience an increased risk of sexual victimization due to a combination of developmental, vulnerability, lifestyle, and environmental factors.

Summary:  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.

Limitations:  Sample included retrospective reports from women in one community that had telephones in their homes.

Topics: adolescent/high school, alcohol, risk, vulnerability

Parkhill, M. R. & Abbey, A. (2008). Does alcohol contribute to the confluence model of sexual assault perpetration?  Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 27, 529-554. [Posted September 2008]
 
Key Points: Men who reported higher levels of general alcohol behaviors and expectancies reported high levels of impersonal sex, hostile masculinity, and situational alcohol use.

Summary: 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.
 
Limitations:  The confluence model developed for research with college students may not be generalizable to other community samples.

Topics: alcohol, college, perpetration

Schad, M. M., Szwedo, D. E., Antonishak, J., Hare, A., & Allen, J. P. (2007). The broader context of relational aggression in adolescent romantic relationships: Predictions from peer pressure and links to psychosocial functioning. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 37, 346-358. [Posted January 2008]

Key Points: The qualities of adolescent friendships and peer groups are related to the qualities of their later romantic relationships and higher levels of later depression and alcohol abuse.

Summary: Relational aggression can be defined as an attempt to inflict harm on another person through manipulation or by damaging other social relationships by indirect or covert means (e.g., gossiping, lies, betrayal, isolation). It can occur in peer relationships as well as intimate relationships. This study looked at the association between experiencing relational aggression in best friend relationships and peer groups during adolescence and perpetrating or being a victim of relational aggression in later romantic relationships. Observational and written data was collected from a group of 15-year-olds (n=97) and their best friends; in the second wave of data collection three years later, target youth and their romantic partners completed written questionnaires.
Youth were more likely to exhibit relational aggression in future romantic relationships if their best friends and peer groups used pressuring behaviors. Those who had experienced peer pressure from their social groups were also more likely to report feeling victimized by relational aggression in later romantic relationships. Higher levels of alcohol use and depression were reported among youth in romantic relationships characterized by relational aggression.

Limitations: The study used a small sample, and some of the measurements need to be replicated and validated. The links between peer pressure, relational violence, alcohol use, and depression should be further investigated.

Topics: adolescent/high school; alcohol; male-female relations

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Updated 09/16/08