Rape - Perceptions of the Act, the Victim and the Perpetrator

• NCJ Number: 75070
• Author(s): R A Parvin
• Date Published: 1977
• Length: 19 pages
• Sale Source: Eric Document Reproduction Service; Not Available Through National Institute of Justice/NCJRS Document Loan Program
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

This study assessed the responses of college students to reports of sexual incidents involving varying degrees of physical struggle and psychological coercion. A high level of struggle elicited a judgment of the act as rape.

Abstract

Questionnaires containing one of nine stories about a sexual act between a man and woman, as well as bipolar judgment scales about the behavior and characteristics of the actors in the story, were given to 90 undergraduate college students. Low, moderate, and high levels of struggle on the part of the woman and of psychological coercion on the part of the man were varied in the stories. In addition to the judgment scales, questions were included asking each subject whether a rape had occurred and whether the man would be found guilty of rape in a court of law. Analysis of variance in the levels of struggle and coercion and of subject sex indicated very little effect of coercion, but consistent significance in the level of struggle on all ratings. There was a high degree of relationship between ratings of the actors in the stories and judgments of rape. Tables and three references are provided. (Author abstract modified)