Sexual Assault Prevention With Student-Athletes: Exploring Perceptions of the Campus Climate and Awareness of Sexual Assault Policies and Resources

The Insidiousness of Institutional Betrayal: An Ecological Systematic Review of Campus Sexual Violence Response Literature

Recently, post-secondary institutions have been under increased public and academic scrutiny regarding their ability to prevent and respond to instances of campus sexual violence. Emerging research has explored institutional betrayal (IB), which is a theoretical framework that states that actions and inactions on the part of the institution can cause further harm to survivors of violence. The goals of this review were, using an ecological systems lens, to identify what specific behaviors, policies, responses, and other factors constitute IB or institutional support (IS) as defined by the existing literature. A search of 16 databases across 8 disciplines led to the identification of 100 articles that mentioned either IB or IS verbatim. Factors that can be categorized as IB and IS were identified across nine levels: (1) the individual level, (2) the interpersonal level, (3) within institutional spaces, (4) within institutional procedures, (5) within institutional policies, (6) at the institutional structural level, (7) at the institutional culture level, (8) at a government and public policy level, and (9) within greater societal cultural values and established social norms. IB itself manifests across all levels of the institution and is, in fact, quite insidious-it is largely invisible and deeply rooted in systemic oppression, woven into the structure of institutions of higher education. IB remains a looming, almost inevitable outcome of the structural violence that occurs in post-secondary settings. Yet, IS and the related concept of institutional courage are emerging fields of study that pose important implications for institutional change.

Student Knowledge of University Confidential Resources and Title IX Training Effectiveness

Though many universities offer resources to student survivors of sexual violence, student survivors who do not know about these resources cannot utilize their services. Students who are unaware of the confidentiality status of these services may seek assistance from an on-campus service without realizing the potential consequences. Under the theory of institutional betrayal, knowledge of confidential resources may prevent experiences of institutional betrayal for students who have experienced sexual violence. This research examines predictors of student knowledge regarding the confidentiality status of university resources for student survivors. Several variables were found to be associated with student knowledge of confidential on-campus resources. Implications for Title IX training and student resource availability are discussed, including the need for additional support for specific student populations.

Association Between Sexual Harassment Intervention Strategies and the Sexual Harassment Perception and Attitude of University Students in Beijing, China

Sexual harassment in universities harms the physical and psychological health and development of students. Although Chinese universities are required to implement sexual harassment interventions, few studies have estimated how well interventions are perceived by students and the association with their perceptions and attitudes toward sexual harassment. This study aims to examine the perceptions and attitudes toward sexual harassment and perceived sexual harassment interventions among university students. Further, it evaluated the association between sexual harassment interventions and sexual harassment perceptions and attitudes among university students and explored potential gender differences in the observed associations. We categorized sexual harassment interventions into three types of strategies (informal education activities, prevention mechanisms, and multiformat publicity) and designed an 8-item scale for sexual harassment perception and a 10-item scale for sexual harassment attitude. A total of 872 students were recruited from six universities in Beijing, China. Association between intervention strategies and sexual harassment perceptions and attitudes was analyzed using multiple linear regression. The results showed that 78.56% of the university students recognized all sexual harassment behaviors, and 11.58% felt angry about all sexual harassment behaviors. Male students felt angrier at same-sex harassment than female students (p < .001). Overall, the students were aware of approximately 3 of the 13 sexual harassment interventions. None of the three intervention strategies was significantly associated with perceptions of sexual harassment (p > .050). The attitude toward sexual harassment was positively associated with informal education activities (coeff = 0.055, p = .015) and multiformat publicity (coeff = 0.077, p = .030) among female students, and negatively associated with prevention mechanisms (coeff = -0.123, p = .033) among male students. Our findings imply that sexual harassment interventions are not well known among university students. Universities should develop and propagate more sexual harassment informal education activities and multiformat publicity intervention strategies and pay more attention to gender differences in intervention strategies.

Alcohol Use, Rape Myth Acceptance, Rape Empathy, and Sexual Assault History Influence the Believability of a Hypothetical Victim's Report of Sexual Assault

College sexual assault is a common problem, and survivors often do not report their experience to college campus officials or law enforcement for fear of not being believed. This study examined how contextual factors such as alcohol use and whether the perpetrator was described as a student-athlete or student, and rater characteristics, such as the history of sexual assault and attitudes toward rape, influenced college students' perceptions of the believability of a hypothetical victim's sexual assault account. In all, 449 (N = 449) undergraduates read a vignette describing a hypothetical sexual assault and were assigned randomly to one of four conditions with varying contextual features: college athlete-no alcohol, college athlete-alcohol, college student-no alcohol, or college student-alcohol. They then rated how much they believed the victim in the vignette had been raped (0 [not at all] to 100 [completely]). The presence of alcohol use in the vignette was associated with lower ratings of believability, and participants who were higher in rape myth acceptance and lower in rape empathy rated the hypothetical victim's rape account as less believable. In addition, women who had been raped previously rated the victim in the vignette as more believable than women with no history of sexual assault. Implications for how college campuses might respond more effectively to reported sexual assaults are discussed.

Intention of Staff and Students to Use Internal Whistleblowing to Report Sexual Violence: A Case Study of a Nigerian University

Sexual violence with its enormous negative consequences has become an epidemic most especially among the young populations. An effective danger-proof reporting system is necessary for curbing this menace including use of the internal whistleblowing mechanism. The study employed a concurrent (parallel) mixed method descriptive design for explaining the sexual violence experiences of university students, the intention of staff and students to blow the whistle, and their preferred whistleblowing strategies. A total of 167 students and 42 members of staff (69% males and 31% females, respectively) were randomly selected from four academic departments (50%) of a university of technology in Southwest Nigeria. An adapted questionnaire containing three vignettes on sexual violence and a focus group discussion guide were used for data collection. We discovered that 16.1% of the students reported to have experienced sexual harassment, 12.3% had attempted rape, and 2.6% had experienced rape. Tribe (Likelihood-Ratio, LR = 11.16; p = .004) and sex (χ² = 12.65; p = .001) were strongly associated with sexual violence experiences. Also, 50% staff and 47% students had high intention. Regression analysis showed that industrial and production engineering students will be 2.8 times more likely to have intention to internally blow the whistle more than other students (p = .03; 95% CI [1.1, 6.97]). Female staff had 5.73 odds of intention more than male staff (p = .05; [1.02, 32.1]). Also, we observed that senior staff will 31% less likely blow the whistle than the junior staff (Adjusted Odd Ratio, AOR = 0.04; [0.00, 0.98]; p = .05). In our qualitative findings, courage was mentioned as a factor necessary for blowing the whistle while anonymous reporting was emphasized for successful whistleblowing. However, the students preferred external whistleblowing. The study has implication for the establishment of sexual violence internal whistleblowing reporting system in higher education institutions.

Prevalence and Formal Reporting of Sexual Violence among Undergraduate Student-Athletes: A Multi-State Study

Sexual violence (SV) is a serious problem on college campuses, and student-athletes are one group of college students at risk for experiencing SV. The administrative context and close-knit bonds of college teams introduce opportunities and structures for responding to SV and delivering uniquely tailored prevention programming, but there is limited research about formal reporting of SV among student-athletes. The current study examines the prevalence of SV and SV reporting history and perceptions among a multi-state sample of undergraduate student-athletes. Student-athletes at 10 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I institutions across the US participated in an online survey about their experiences of SV victimization, formal reporting of SV, knowledge of resources, and perceptions of responses to SV at their institutions. Among 1004 student-athletes who completed the survey, 29% experienced some type of SV since enrolling at their university, with higher prevalence of SV among student-athletes on women's teams (36%) compared to men's teams (13%). About one fifth of student-athletes felt very or extremely knowledgeable about where to make a report of SV, and only about 10% felt very or extremely knowledgeable about what happens when a student reports SV. Only 9% of participants who experienced SV filed a formal report at their institution. Perceptions about whether campus officials would take the report seriously or would conduct a fair investigation were most positive for students who experienced and formally reported SV. Further research with student-athletes about their decision to formally report and barriers to reporting is needed to build a more comprehensive understanding of the unique experiences of SV among student-athletes. Our results highlight the importance of including and targeting student-athletes in campus SV prevention efforts to build knowledge and trust in hopes of ultimately decreasing the prevalence and adverse consequences of SV.

Understanding College Students' Perceived Help-Seeking Knowledge and Awareness about Sexual Misconduct Policies and Procedures

Institutions of higher education have attempted to respond to students' experiences of sexual victimization by developing resources and processes for addressing sexual misconduct. However, extant research suggests that students rarely use campus-based resources and many students lack knowledge about campus services and the processes that institutions of higher education take to respond to sexual misconduct. This study uses data from a campus climate survey at one midsized southeast university to examine students' perceived and actual knowledge about help-seeking and policies and procedures (i.e., mandatory reporting, investigation mandates, confidential resources, accommodations for survivors) at their university. Additionally, we explore gaps in their knowledge of these measures (N = 2261). We also consider the factors that predict these outcomes. On average, students report moderate perceived knowledge about help-seeking on campus. However, roughly 67% did not have a fully comprehensive and accurate understanding of policies and procedures to address sexual misconduct at the university. These findings are problematic, as institutions of higher education rely on survivors coming forward to report their experiences and participate in investigative processes when detecting and elevating complaints. We highlight implications for institutions of higher education.