Attitudinal, Experiential, and Situational Predictors of Sexual Assault Perpetration

Abstract

Past research demonstrates that sexual assault perpetration is caused by multiple factors including attitudes, early experiences, and situational factors. In this study, 343 college men described either a sexual assault they had committed or their worst date. Discriminant function analysis indicated that attitudes about gender roles and alcohol, number of consensual sex partners, how well the man knew the woman, how isolated the setting was, alcohol consumption during the event, the man's misperception of the woman's cues during the event, and prior consensual sexual activity between the man and the woman discriminated between sexual assaults and worst dates. Additionally, tactics used to obtain sex, self attributions, the perceived seriousness of the assault, and the extent to which it disrupted relationships with others significantly discriminated between men who committed forced sexual contact, sexual coercion, and rape. These results demonstrate the importance of considering both individual characteristics and situational factors in theories and prevention activities.Sexual assault is a complex phenomenon, caused by multiple factors both across and within perpetrators. Depending on the definitions and measures used, studies of college men have found that 25% to 57% acknowledged committing sexual assault, with 7% to 15% describing an act that met standard legal definitions of rape (Abbey, McAuslan, & Ross, 1998;Koss, Gidycz, & Wisniewski, 1987;Muehlenhard & Linton, 1987). The study described in this article had three goals. The first goal was to distinguish between college men who had and had not committed sexual assault using a number of attitudinal, experiential, and situational variables. The second goal was to determine if men who had committed different types of sexual assault varied in their attributions and outcomes. The third goal was to highlight different ways in which alcohol contributed to sexual assault, HHS Public Access Author Manuscript Author ManuscriptAuthor ManuscriptAuthor Manuscript including attitudes about alcohol that facilitate sexual assault, past experiences with alcohol in sexual situations, and alcohol consumption during the assault. Although sexual assault research has addressed each of these goals (Koss, Leonard, Beezley, & Oros, 1985;Malamuth, Linz, Heavey, Barnes, & Acker, 1995;Muehlenhard & Linton, 1987), previous studies have not simultaneously examined them with a large group of perpetrators. The relevant literature is summarized below and then the study's hypotheses are described. Attitudes About Gender Roles and AlcoholOne explanation for why sexual assault is so common focuses on societally sanctioned gender role beliefs that justify forced sex. Since the 1970s, feminist writers have described how traditional attitudes about women, dating, and sexual behavior contribute to sexual assault. In Western culture, sex is frequently described in terms of conquest and as a "battle between the sexes" in which eager men seduce reluctant women (Brownmiller, 1975;Clark, Sha...

Sexual assault and alcohol consumption: what do we know about their relationship and what types of research are still needed?

“…First, heavy drinkers are likely to drink heavily in many types of situations, especially at parties and bars which are the types of situations in which sexual assault frequently occurs. Abbey et al (2001) found that college men who had perpetrated sexual assault tended to consume more alcohol in sexual situations than did college men who had not committed sexual assault. Second, heavy drinkers may simply use intoxication as an excuse for engaging in sexual assault (Scully, 1991).…”

“…College students have lower rates of agreement, although forcing sex is perceived as most justifiable in circumstances similar to those endorsed by high school students (Cook, 1995). College student perpetrators of sexual assault believe that using verbal pressure to obtain sex is more acceptable than do nonperpetrators (Abbey et al, 2001). As noted below, these attitudes about forced sex may be activated in drinking situations.…”

“…In one exception, Muehlenhard and Linton (1987) found that dates in which college men and women felt moderately or extremely intoxicated were more likely to involve sexual assault than dates that involved mild intoxication or no alcohol consumption. In another study that used a similar methodology, men drank more on dates that included sexual assault than on selfdefined "worst" dates (Abbey, McAuslan, Zawacki, Clinton, & Buck, 2001). Additionally, the strong correlation between perpetrators' and victims' alcohol consumption makes it difficult to examine the independent effects of each individual's intoxication.…”

“…who have sex at an early age and who have many consensual sexual partners are more likely to commit sexual assault than are less sexually active men (Abbey et al, 1998(Abbey et al, , 2001Kanin, 1985;Koss & Dinero, 1988;Malamuth et al, 1991Malamuth et al, , 1995. Early and frequent sexual activity may reflect an individual difference in sexual interest and motivation.…”

Cross-sectional predictors of sexual assault perpetration in a community sample of single African American and Caucasian men

“…Numerous researchers have replicated these basic findings. Depending on the university and exactly how questions were phrased, self-reported rates of sexual assault perpetration have been as high as 61% and rates of attempted or completed rape have been as high as 15% [Abbey et al, 1998[Abbey et al, , 2001Craig et al, 1989;Mills and Granoff, 1992;Muehlenhard and Linton, 1987;Rapaport and Burkhart, 1984;Wheeler et al, 2002].…”