NCJ Number
208760
Journal
Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume: 16 Issue: 4 Dated: April 2001 Pages: 291-296
Date Published
April 2001
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This study estimated the prevalence of date rape experienced by female high school students in a statewide random sample from a rural Midwestern State (South Dakota) during 1993, 1995, and 1997.
Abstract
The students surveyed were in grades 9 through 12 in schools throughout the State. For 1993, useable surveys were obtained from 1,348 students. For 1995 and 1997, the useable surveys were 1,192 and 1,604, respectively. Date rape prevalence was assessed by including a date-rape item on the South Dakota Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), which was conducted in 1993, 1995, and 1997. The data-rape item was constructed as an amalgamation of several items from Koss' 10-item Sexual Experiences Survey. The item was worded as follows: "Have you ever been forced to have sexual intercourse when you didn't want to on a date?" For each administration of the survey, nearly all respondents were White and were nearly equally distributed on the basis of gender and grade. Between 11.8 percent and 14.9 percent of the female students in the three samples indicated that they had been raped on a date. Study limitations included the lack of a specific definition of sexual intercourse, failure to distinguish between physical force and other forms of intimidation, and the ambiguity of the meaning of "date." These limitations are most likely to produce an underreporting of date rape. 2 tables and 13 references