Risk and Protective Factors for Men's Sexual Violence Against Women at Higher Education Institutions: A Systematic and Meta-Analytic Review of the Longitudinal Evidence

Development of a Measure of Anti-Rape Attitudes as a Potential Protective Factor Against Rape Perpetration

The role of attitudes toward women and sexual violence in predicting men's perpetration of rape has been well documented in the literature. While research on rape perpetration has primarily focused on identifying risk factors, the limited understanding of protective factors has hindered the development of psychometric measures to assess attitudinal protective factors. However, comprehending these protective factors is essential for a comprehensive understanding of the risk of rape perpetration and the advancement of strength-based approaches. This research describes the development of a new scale designed to measure anti-rape attitudes (ARA) in young heterosexual men. To generate the initial item pool, relevant information was gathered from sexual violence support service websites and academic literature. This item pool underwent an external expert review for further item generation and cognitive interviews for content validation. This qualitative phase was followed by four quantitative studies for item reduction and scale validation. The resulting 19-item scale demonstrates good internal consistency (Cronbach's α = .84). The ARA scale exhibits strong negative correlations with rape myth acceptance (RMA) and hostile sexism, and strong positive correlations with positive consent attitudes (PCA), supporting the scale's construct validity. We further conducted hierarchical regression analyses to test the unique relationship of ARA with those constructs while controlling for RMA. These showed that ARA have significant, unique associations with PCA and ambivalent sexism. The development of this new scale enables a more comprehensive assessment of the risk of rape perpetration and opens up new avenues for research on protective factors against rape. Ultimately, this study constitutes an important step toward fostering strength-based approaches to combat sexual violence.

Social Connections as a Protective Factor for Sexual Violence-Related Attitudes

Endorsing problematic sexual violence-related attitudes including rape myth acceptance (RMA), hostile sexism, and disapproval of sexual consent is associated with negative outcomes, including the perpetration of sexual violence. This study examined social connections as a protective factor for sexual violence-related attitudes among a sample of 770 participants. Results indicate that in the full sample, connections to a workplace were protective for RMA and hostile sexism while family connections were protective for disapproval of sexual consent, RMA, and hostile sexism. Patterns of other social connections differed in separate models for men and women. Unexpected findings indicating that connections to a religious social group are a risk, not a protective, factor are discussed.

Myths of trauma memory: on the oversimplification of effects of attention narrowing under stress

The present article addresses claims commonly made by prosecution witnesses in sexual assault trials: that attention narrows under stress, and that these attended aspects of the event are encoded in a way that ensures accuracy and resistance to fading and distortion. We provide evidence to contradict such claims. Given that what is encoded is largely the gist of one's interpretation of experience, we discuss the way in which attention and emotion can bias the interpretation of experience. We illustrate with issues of memory reports in cases of acquaintance rape, where the primary issue is the presence or absence of consent. We provide some specific illustrations concerning effects of emotion on interpretation of sexual consent. Finally, based on what is known regarding priming effects on memory retrieval and judgment, we conclude with discussion of the potential of some "trauma-informed" interviewing strategies to promote false memories (such as FETI: Forensic Experiential Trauma Interview).

An Increased Need to Identify Protective Factors for Sexual Assault

The Article Abstract is not available.    

The Prevalence of Sexual Assault Among Higher Education Students: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analyses

Sexual assault among higher education students has detrimental impacts on the health and educational outcomes of survivors. This systematic review aims to describe and synthesize the available quantitative evidence on sexual assault prevalence among this population. We searched Medline, EMBASE, Global Health, PsycINFO, Web of Science, ERIC, and CINAHL for studies published in English, French, Italian, and Spanish from database inception to August 2020 (updated May 2022). We screened studies using prespecified inclusion criteria for the population and context (registered higher education students), condition (self-reported sexual assault), and study design (quantitative survey). The Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Checklist was used to assess study quality. Prevalence estimates disaggregated by type of sexual assault, gender identity, and world region were meta-analyzed using a random-effects model and reported following PRISMA guidance. We identified 131 articles, from 21 different countries. The meta-analyzed prevalence of sexual assault was 17.5% for women, 7.8% for men, and 18.1% for transgender and gender diverse people. Four types of sexual assault were identified: rape, attempted rape, forced sexual touching, and coercive sex. Forced sexual touching was the most common act experienced. The African Region had the highest prevalence estimates for women's sexual assault, and the Western Pacific region had the highest prevalence estimates for men's sexual assault. Higher education institutions, especially those outside of the United States, should commit to the implementation of surveys to monitor sexual assault prevalence and dedicate increased resources to supporting student survivors of sexual assault.

Drug-Facilitated Sexual Assault: A Systematic Review

Since the last two decades, the scientific community has made an effort to analyze drug-facilitated sexual assault (DFSA). However, a lack of understanding remains about the DFSA problem, particularly concerning the opportunistic variant. Facing this situation, a systematic review of the term DFSA is carried out from its first appearance in the scientific databases consulted (Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed) to the current day. The search resulted in 773 publications, reduced to a final study sample composed of 19 articles. Eligible studies for this review had to meet certain inclusion criteria, in addition to providing information on DFSA prevalence, DFSA victim profile, DFSA offender profile, involved drugs, or contextual information about the assault. The results demonstrated that the assailants are men, who mostly know victims before the assault. The victims are young women under 30 years old. Alcohol is the drug involved in most DFSA cases, prevailing a voluntary use. Most assaults occur in private spaces, particularly the aggressors' own homes. Furthermore, there is a detected need for a standard definition of DFSA to allow the different actors involved in dealing with sexual violence to work effectively together, and, at the same time, it is detected that the available studies overrepresent proactive DFSA and underestimate opportunism, the most common modus operandi involved in DFSA cases.

Hostile Masculinity, Male Peer Support for Violence, and Problematic Anger: Linking Childhood Abuse to Men's Partner Violence Perpetration

Child abuse and masculinity have been linked to intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration. However, there is a lack of work examining multiple aspects of masculinity as links between early abuse experiences and men's IPV perpetration. Grounded in notions of gendered power and patriarchy, this study aimed to examine hostile masculinity, male peer support for violence against women, and problematic anger as aspects of masculinity connecting childhood victimization and men's violence against women. Structural equation modeling results demonstrated that childhood adversity was indirectly related to IPV perpetration via the proposed factors. However, various patterns emerged based on the type of childhood abuse experienced. Practice-based implications are offered.

Sexual Violence Among Higher Education Students in the United Kingdom: Results from the Oxford Understanding Relationships, Sex, Power, Abuse and Consent Experiences Study

Sexual violence (SV) experienced by higher education students is a prevalent public health problem. Collecting data on SV through self-report surveys in higher education institutions (HEIs) is essential for estimating the scope of the problem, the first step to adequately resourcing and implementing prevention and response programming and policies. However, in the United Kingdom, data is limited. We used data from the cross-sectional Oxford Understanding Relationships, Sex, Power, Abuse and Consent Experiences survey, administered to all students at a university in the United Kingdom in May 2021 (n = 25,820), to estimate the past year prevalence of SV. We analyzed data from respondents who answered at least one question on SV (n = 1,318) and found that 20.5% of respondents experienced at least one act of attempted or forced sexual touching or rape, and 52.7% of respondents experienced at least one act of sexual harassment (SH). We found that women experienced the highest rates of SV. Attempted forced sexual touching was far more common than forced sexual touching, or rape. Sexist remarks or jokes were the most common act of SH. Most acts of SV took place at the university. These findings reveal that the prevalence of SV in HEIs in the United Kingdom could be far higher than what is experienced in the general population. While this study reflects the context in only one institution, it underlines the need for continued monitoring to develop rigorous, evidence-based, and targeted prevention and response strategies.

Protective Factors for Sexual Violence Perpetration Among High School and College Students: A Systematic Review

To prevent sexual violence (SV), it is important to understand both risk and protective factors for SV perpetration. Although considerable research has examined risk factors for perpetration of SV among high school and college students, less research is dedicated to investigating protective factors which might mitigate the risk of perpetration. This review summarizes existing research on protective factors for perpetration of SV among high school and college students. Thirteen articles were included in this study after reviewing 5,464 citations. Inclusion criteria included peer-reviewed scholarly journals, written in English, and published between 2010 and 2021. The included articles indicate that 11 factors were significantly related to less SV perpetration. Key protective factors identified in this study include empathy, impulse control, social support, parental factors, peers, church attendance/ religiosity, and school connections. In addition to protective factors, this review also examined study characteristics for the included articles and found that most participants were White and just over half of the studies were longitudinal. Overall, these findings indicate a lack of research focused on protective factors for SV perpetration, and a need for more research on the identified protective factors and to investigate additional protective factors. Such studies should include longitudinal designs and more diverse samples to understand the range of protective factors that can be bolstered through interventions to prevent SV among high school and college students.

Empirically-based dynamic risk and protective factors for sexual offending

This review provides an overview and update of empirical evidence for psychologically meaningful dynamic risk factors and protective factors for sexual offending. Using the review by Mann et al. (2010) as a starting point, we reviewed relevant literature that has appeared since this publication, focusing on meta-analyses, systematic and scoping reviews of dynamic risk factors, recent evaluations of commonly used dynamic assessment tools, and studies of dynamic risk and protective factors in community samples in addition to clinical or forensic samples. Two risk factors previously deemed promising by Mann et al. (2010), hostility towards women and dysfunctional coping (conceptualized as hostile masculinity and emotional regulation deficits, respectively, in this review), could now be considered supported using this review's criteria of three or more studies demonstrating an effect size of 0.15 or greater. No new risk factors were identified. We conducted a broader search of protective factors in recognition of the relative newness of this literature: Positive social support was the only protective factor identified as empirically supported. We also discuss situational risk and protective factors.

Mapping the disparities in intimate partner violence prevalence and determinants across Sub-Saharan Africa

Objective

This study aimed to map disparities in prevalence and associated factors across countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Methods

We used National Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data from 26 countries in the region with 114,340 participants. Women and girls in the reproductive age group of 15 to 49 years were included in the study. To map disparities across countries and their provinces, we employed the kriging interpolation technique. We used STATA for data management.

Result

The prevalence of physical, emotional and sexual IPV in Sub-Saharan Africa was 30.58, 30.22, and 12.6% respectively, and at least one form of IPV was 42.62%. Disparities were observed across the countries and provinces in each country. Younger age, secondary-level education and above, moderate participation in decision-making, not working out of home, not afraid of the spouse, rich (wealth index), not having a child, high maternal literacy, and rural residence relatively decreased the odds of IPV. The husbands' lower education, alcohol consumption, and high controlling behavior increased the probability of IPV.

Conclusion

The prevalence of Intimate Partner Violence in Sub-Saharan Africa is the highest in the world, a signal that the global agenda to end all forms of violence against women will be difficult to achieve. There is a large gap across countries and provinces in each country. Area-specific intervention packages that focus on modifiable factors should be strengthened.

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.

Social Media Communication About Sexual Violence May Backfire: Online Experiment with Young Men

Sexual violence harms millions of individuals each year in the United States. Survivors of sexual violence endure long-term hardships such as significant financial setbacks, physical and mental health consequences, academic challenges, and stunted career achievement. Digital feminist activism (DFA) has created space online where women can disclose experiences of sexual violence. Research thus far has been limited to documenting the existence and value of DFA for those who participate and has not addressed whether DFA can influence a key demographic for prevention, young men. We conducted an experiment to examine the impact of DFA on college-aged men's reactance to messaging, rape myth acceptance, knowledge about severity, and susceptibility to perpetrate sexual violence. University men (n=230, 18-29 years old) were randomized to one of three conditions: (1) tweets from women challenging rape myths, (2) tweets from women providing information about sexual violence harms, or (3) no exposure control. Tweets challenging rape myths or providing information did not impact rape myth perceptions, knowledge, or susceptibility. Participants had greater reactance (unintended outcome) to tweets challenging rape myths, and subsequently higher rape myth acceptance and lower knowledge about the severity of sexual violence. Rape myth acceptance was associated with susceptibility to perpetrate sexual violence overall. Our finding that some forms of DFA have a negative, indirect influence among college-aged males highlights important unintended consequences and the need for more efficacious communication to prevent sexual violence perpetration.

Scripts for consensual sex as risk factors for sexual aggression: A three-wave longitudinal study with university students in Germany

BACKGROUND

Sexual aggression is a major problem among young adults. Sexual scripts are cognitive schemata representing typical elements of sexual interactions and serve as guidelines for sexual behavior. They may be linked to the risk of sexual aggression if they contain elements known to be associated with the perpetration of sexual aggression, such as alcohol use, sex with casual partners, and ambiguous communication of sexual intentions.

OBJECTIVES

The study was designed to examine pathways from risky sexual scripts for consensual sex to risky sexual behavior and sexual aggression perpetration in men and women.

DESIGN

The study employed a three-wave longitudinal design with 12-month intervals. Participants were 2425 university students in Germany (58% female).

METHODS

At each wave (Time 1-Time 3), participants completed measures of risky sexual scripts and risky sexual behavior, defined by three aspects: Casual sex, alcohol consumption, and ambiguous communication of sexual intentions. Reports of sexual aggression perpetration were collected since the age of consent (14 years; Time 1) or in the past 12 months (Time 2 and Time 3) using the Sexual Aggression and Victimization Scale.

RESULTS

Perpetration rates for men were 9.8% at Time 1, 12.2% at Time 2, and 9.5% at Time 3. For female participants, the corresponding rates were 6.0% at Time 1, 6.3% at Time 2, and 5.1% at Time 3. The gender difference was significant at Time 1 and Time 2, but not at Time 3. As hypothesized, more risky sexual scripts prospectively predicted more risky sexual behavior, which predicted a higher risk of sexual aggression perpetration. The findings held for men and women and for participants with exclusively opposite-sex and with both opposite- and same-sex contacts.

CONCLUSION

Scripts for consensual sex may be risk factors for sexual aggression among men and women if they contain elements identified as risk factors for sexual aggression. The findings suggest that changing risky sexual scripts for consensual sex may be a promising strategy for preventing sexual aggression perpetration.

Barriers to addressing alcohol use in college sexual assault prevention: Where we stand and future steps

Purpose of Review

The aims of this paper are two-fold. First, we review the current evidence on sexual assault prevention programming that also targets alcohol. Second, we identify barriers to including alcohol use in sexual assault programs and provide recommendations to overcome these barriers.

Recent Findings

We identified six sexual assault programs that also include alcohol use content, four of which have yet to be rigorously evaluated. To further refine sexual assault prevention efforts, we identified four barriers that need to be overcome including: (1) alcohol and sexual assault prevent efforts are currently siloed, (2) fear of victim blaming when integrating alcohol into programs for women, (3) a lack of evidence on how alcohol impacts bystanders, and (4) uncertainty about how to include content related to alcohol and sexual consent communicated.

Summary

Researchers and preventionists with expertise in alcohol and/or sexual assault prevention need to work together with stakeholders and students on college campuses to overcome these barriers and address a key correlate of sexual assault.

An Evaluation of the Methodological Underpinnings of a Laboratory Paradigm for the Study of Sexual Violence

Ethically constructed laboratory paradigms can provide behaviorally based opportunities to study sexual violence as an addition to questionnaires. One such paradigm invites male participants to watch and show sexual materials to a female confederate as an analog of sexual perpetration. However, there has been inconsistency in the confederate's presentation, such that she either expresses a dislike of sexual material or her preferences are omitted. Some researchers have also questioned whether an expressed dislike is analogous to an expressed nonconsent. As such, the primary goal of the current study was to determine whether confederate expressions of dislike, nonconsent, or the omission of a preference, differentially affect male participants' behavior within a well-established paradigm. That is, we attempted to clarify the appropriate methodology for future researchers (i.e., the validity of the paradigm) and determine the impact of such a situational manipulation on laboratory-based sexual violence. Participants were 276 adult men, who were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (1) dislike, (2) nonconsent, or (3) said nothing (the omission of a preference) and then asked to show a brief video clip to the female confederate who expressed these preferences. Overall, exposure to experimental condition predicted sexual video-showing over and above that of social desirability, hostile sexism (HS), and sexual violence history, suggesting that situational variables can play a significant role in laboratory-based sexual violence. Greater HS was associated with greater likelihood of sexual video-showing in the nonconsent condition relative to the dislike condition. Sexual video-showing was most frequent in the said nothing condition. In sum, researchers should be mindful of the confederate expression (or lack thereof) of preferences for sexual materials when using the sexual imposition paradigm.

Building Capacity for Prevention of Gender-Based Violence in the School Context

School-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) is highly prevalent worldwide which calls for a range of early prevention and innovative solutions. The presence of GBV in the school context is well-documented and it highlights the importance of building competencies of teachers and other school professionals for recognizing and intervening in SRGBV cases. This paper analyses the current and future teachers' training needs, and their level of preparedness for detecting and intervening in cases of GBV in the school context, with the objective of developing a targeted training program. The participants in this study were 597 current and future teachers and other school professionals from Croatia, Finland, and Spain. An ad-hoc built questionnaire was distributed in the three participating countries. Results show that the interest in receiving training is related to the perceived importance of coping with GBV in the (future) work and that the main topics of the training should focus on addressing parties of SRGBV, guidelines for prevention and intervention in schools as well as online GBV. These findings were similar in three countries, and they provided user-generated topics and tools that served as a guideline for the development of a training program that aims to increase the knowledge about SRGBV and to develop skills for coping with GBV in the school context regarding victims, bystanders and perpetrators.