Teenagers' Attitudes Towards Rape

• NCJ Number: 87563
• Author(s): E R Hall
• Date Published: 1982
• Length: 117 pages
• Grant Number(s): 79-JN-AX-0022
• Sponsoring Agency: US Securities and Exchange Cmssn
• Corporate Author: University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This survey of juveniles focuses on their attitudes toward rape, concepts of the rapist and the rape situation, reactions to a hypothetical sexual assault experience, the prevalence and correlates of sexual assault, and views of sexual assault treatment centers.

Abstract

After testing for validity, interview and attitude scales were administered to 973 Milwaukee-area youth (460 males and 513 females) who were selected by random digit dialing. Subjects viewed the rapist as trying to satisfy sexual motives thwarted or psychologically distorted. They were relatively unaware of power and anger drives as motives for rape. They overestimated the percentage of rapes committed by a stranger, which was related to their tendency not to view sexual assault by an acquaintance as rape. In responding to vignettes of rapes by a stranger and an acquaintance, the females' greatest fear in such situations was that of becoming pregnant. The psychological consequences of the rape were hardly mentioned. While virtually all of the females thought the rape by the stranger was rape, a lower percentage perceived the attack by an acquaintance at a party as rape. Rape by the stranger was more likely to be reported to parents, who were perceived as likely to be supportive, than was the rape by an acquaintance. In responding to a vignette of rape by two strangers on the street, the males thought that social concerns and fears would be felt. Lower percentages of the males would tell their parents than with the females. Respondents generally had a positive attitude toward sexual assault treatment centers. The females preferred a clinic independent of other institutions. Tolerance of rape was strongly related to male 'chauvinist' attitudes toward heterosexual relationships; for males, this mildly related to low scores on the socialization scale. The appendixes include tabular data, a discussion of the development of the scales used, and the scales themselves. Thirty-one references are listed.