NCJ Number
208376
Journal
Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume: 16 Issue: 8 Dated: August 2001 Pages: 784-807
Editor(s)
Jon R. Conte
Date Published
August 2001
Length
24 pages
Annotation
In this study, college men’s past attitudes and experiences and specific circumstances associated with a social interaction with a woman were hypothesized to discriminate between men who committed sexual assault and those who did not.
Abstract
Past literature explains sexual assault as a complex phenomenon caused by multiple factors which include attitudes, early experiences, and situational factors. This study had three goals: (1) to distinguish between college men who had and had not committed sexual assault using the above variables; (2) to determine if men who had committed different types of sexual assault varied in their attributions and outcomes; and (3) to highlight different ways in which alcohol contributed to sexual assault, as well as attitudes about alcohol and past experiences with alcohol. Three hundred and forty-three male undergraduates at a large, urban, commuter university were asked to describe a social interaction with a woman that involved sexual assault; if they had never committed sexual assault, they were asked to describe their worst date. One-third of the men surveyed reported that they had committed a sexual assault and 8 percent reported that they had committed an act that met standard legal definitions of rape or attempted rape. Overall, the attitudinal, experiential, and situational variables that were included to represent complementary models of sexual assault perpetration did an excellent job of discriminating between those men who committed sexual assault and those who did not. Study limitations and implications are presented and discussed. References