Sexual Assault, Campus Resource Use, and Psychological Distress in Undergraduate Women

"I Don't Care if it Would Kill the Mood. I'm Going to Use My Words": Perceptions and Use of Explicit Verbal Sexual Consent in Neurodiverse Undergraduate Students

Adults entering college, especially autistic individuals, may have a higher likelihood of unwanted or distressing sexual experiences. Additionally, autistic adults appear to endorse dissatisfying sexual education experiences and difficulties with consent cues. The current mixed-methods study examined the types of consent cues college students rely on and potential barriers to seeking sexual consent. We combined data from two studies of undergraduate students: 1) an in-person cross-sectional study exploring conceptualizations and interpretations of consent in autistic and non-autistic young adults (n = 30), and 2) an online, short-term longitudinal study examining predictors of mood concerns in neurodiverse students transitioning into their first semester at 4 northeastern United States university systems in Fall 2022 and 2023 (n = 230). In-person participants completed a semi-structured interview asking about consent expression and interpretation. Participants from both studies completed self-report surveys measuring autistic traits, attitudes and perceptions toward sexual consent, and sexual education history. Qualitative analysis suggested students preferred to rely on explicit verbal consent, but felt they were unusual for doing so. In contrast, quantitatively, students across both studies expressed comfort with explicit verbal consent, to a high and similar degree. Further research may benefit from investigating differences between young adults' perceived and actual sexual consent preferences of peers, with attention to neurodivergent individuals.

'A profound effect on how I see myself and the world around me': what students found meaningful about taking an academic course intended to reduce campus sexual violence

Sexual violence is common on US college campuses and can result in negative health and academic outcomes. Credit-bearing courses are a possible innovative intervention, but few have been studied, and little is known about enrolled students' experiences. Our institution, located in the Southern United States, developed a semester-long class as a curricular intervention after our institutional climate survey results showed high rates of sexual violence among undergraduate students. Students enrolled in the course wrote a final reflection paper on what they found meaningful about the class (N = 62). Qualitative conventional content analysis was used to examine what students found most salient. Three overarching categories emerged: course content, course delivery and course impact, each with multiple themes. For course content, students wrote about 22 different topics from the class. For course delivery, students discussed the open forum to discuss sexuality, the importance of taking the course in their first year of college and the course structure. For course impact, students discussed gaining new knowledge, questioning prior assumptions, experiencing personal transformation and feeling empowered to act. Results indicated that students had a powerful class experience and that this kind of educational intervention has the potential to positively impact enrolled students.

Evaluating an online module for sexual violence prevention in a tertiary educational setting: An exploratory study

ISSUE ADDRESSED

Sexual violence is an important public health issue affecting significant numbers of university students across Australia and internationally. In response, online modules have been widely implemented and there is an urgent need to better understand their effectiveness. The aim of this study was to evaluate an online sexual violence prevention and response education module designed for and implemented in one Australian university.

METHODS

We used a mixed-methods approach that included pre/post module completion surveys of key measures relating to sexual consent, being a bystander, and response to disclosures as well as knowledge of resources and support services. We conducted post module completion semi-structured interviews.

RESULTS

Results indicated potential effectiveness of the module on beliefs about sexual consent, confidence intervening when witnessing potentially harmful situations, willingness to report incidents, confidence supporting a peer who discloses an incident, and knowledge of support services. Qualitative results indicated support for the online module as an accessible, private and self-paced tool for sexual violence education. Interactive, relevant and engaging content that can be applied in real-life contexts was noted as key for effectiveness.

CONCLUSIONS

This exploratory study suggests there may be potential for online modules to be effective, as one aspect of universities' sexual violence prevention and response strategies-particularly modules aimed at addressing primary, secondary and tertiary prevention. Further rigorous research is required to strengthen best practice in the development and implementation of online modules as part of whole-of-campus strategies. SO WHAT?: Universities across Australia and internationally are grappling with sexual violence response and prevention in light of high prevalence rates among students. Online modules may be one effective tool when implemented as part of a wider strategy.

A Systematic Review of Campus Characteristics Associated With Sexual Violence and Other Forms of Victimization

Violence researchers have highlighted a need to understand connections between campus characteristics and violent victimization among students. Responding to those calls, we systematically reviewed research examining the characteristics of secondary and post-secondary educational settings associated with sexual violence and related victimization experiences, including dating/intimate partner violence, stalking, bullying, hate crimes, and crime more broadly. We screened 1124 quantitative and qualitative records, 43 of which met the inclusion criteria for this systematic review. Evidence emerged for institution demographics, institution type, institution climate, institution financial characteristics, and educational characteristics being related to various forms of victimization; institution setting (urban vs. rural) was not associated with victimization. Additionally, evidence was observed for institution location and size/density. Some factors, including institution type and campus demographics, operated differently for different forms of victimization. We highlight limitations of existing data, including variability in the measurement of victimization outcomes, lack of power to detect differences at the campus level, and challenges of creating a database on victimization that contains campus identifiers. We also reinforce calls for more intersectional research, both in terms of the types of victimization experienced by students as well as in the disproportionate impact victimization may have on students with marginalized identities.

The Gory Details: Asylum, Sexual Assault, and Traumatic Memory

For asylum seekers to be granted asylum, they must convince immigration officials that they have been persecuted or that they fear they will be persecuted if returned to their home country. This article discusses the reluctance of asylum seekers to be forthcoming about sexual assault as a form of persecution and the ways in which traumatic memory can affect narratives of persecution for rape survivors. Many asylum seekers, particularly those who have been sexually assaulted, show symptoms consistent with trauma survivors. Consequently, their narratives of persecution are often shaped by partial and incomplete memory recall. The result is that how asylum seekers who have been sexually assaulted tell their stories of persecution is the antithesis of the expectations of credibility. This article is based on qualitative research in Los Angeles, California, and New York City, New York, in the United States. It includes interviews with asylum seekers, immigration attorneys, immigrant service providers, asylum officers, and immigration judges; observations of immigration court hearings; and content analysis of asylum applications. I use these sources to argue that the harm of rape and its long-lasting effects evidenced by symptoms of traumatic memory impacts how asylum seekers articulate stories of persecution. How these stories are told can have devastating effects for asylum seekers that may jeopardize their ability to gain asylum if immigration officials do not view them as credible applicants.

Structural Barriers to Accessing the Campus Assault Resources and Education (CARE) Offices at the University of California (UC) Campuses

In order to continue pushing college campuses to the forefront of survivor-centered practice and student-centered care, it is imperative that the barriers students experience in accessing campus sexual violence resource centers be documented and addressed. This research evaluates student and staff perceptions of barriers to accessing the Campus Assault Resources and Education (CARE) offices on three University of California (UC) campuses. Data were collected by researchers from UC Speaks Up, a cross-campus research initiative at UC Los Angeles (UCLA), UC Santa Barbara (UCSB), and UC San Diego (UCSD) aimed at understanding factors that both contribute to and prevent sexual violence among college students. This analysis only included data that yielded insights into CARE's accessibility. Thematic analysis of 63 interviews and 27 focus group discussions was conducted using Dedoose. The following six thematic codes emerged from the data: (1) awareness of office, (2) confidentiality of services, (3) physical accessibility, (4) accessibility for vulnerable and marginalized groups, (5) utilization experiences, and (6) limited institutional support. To increase the accessibility of sexual violence resource centers in higher education, this study indicates that universities and campus sexual violence resource centers should (1) encourage survivor-centered cross-campus collaborations between sexual violence resource centers and other campus entries, (2) add more trainings that are tailored to the needs of vulnerable and marginalized communities, (3) increase the resource's campus-wide office exposure through multiple prevention education opportunities, and (4) better fund sexual violence resource centers. Implications for future research are discussed to maximize this study's public health impact.

Correlates of Support Utilization After Experiencing a Sexual Assault Among College Women and Men

Though previous research has examined survivors' use of formal and informal services, less research has looked at whether sexual orientation, race, and different sexual assault types (e.g., coercive) are associated with seeking support services. The purpose of this study is to examine factors associated with utilizing services or support from informal sources (e.g., telling a friend) and formal sources (e.g., psychological counseling) following a sexual assault. Data were gathered in Fall and Spring of 2019-2020 from undergraduate students at a Midwestern university. Logistic regression results showed that heterosexual students had 56% lower odds of using informal supports, while females were 2.05 times more likely to have used informal supports compared to their counterparts. Students who reported more heavy drinking had 37% lower odds of using informal supports compared to their counterparts. Those who experienced physical and incapacitated sexual assault were 2.09 times and 3.60 times more likely to have used informal supports, respectively. Additionally, older students were 1.35 times more likely to have used formal supports compared to younger students, whereas heterosexual students had 67% lower odds of using formal supports compared to sexual minority students. Those with greater PTSD symptoms were 1.07 times more likely to access formal services. Finally, students with greater depressive symptoms had 8% lower odds of using formal supports. Identifying college students who are less likely to access support services following a sexual assault has important implications for targeted prevention and intervention.