Does Athlete Status Explain Sexual Violence Victimization and Perpetration on College Campuses? A Socio-Ecological Study

Abstract

In the United States, college students have been identified as a high-risk group for sexual violence (SV) victimization and perpetration, with one in three women and one in four men experiencing SV in their lifetimes. Therefore, studies investigating both perpetration and victimization across genders are pertinent. Additionally, in the context of higher education, athletics is often viewed as a high-risk environment for SV. Despite established relationships between SV and intercollegiate athletics, research on this topic is not conclusive due to the heterogeneous nature of college sports, as well as a dearth of research on recreational athletes. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the differences in SV victimization and perpetration among intercollegiate, recreational, and non-athlete populations. Additional context was provided by exploring variables at multiple levels of the socio-ecological model for violence prevention, as these factors can be important aspects of a person’s development and may inform behavior. Utilizing a sample of 62,996 students from 199 institutions of higher education in the United States, multilevel logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess individual- (i.e., personal demographics), relationship- (i.e., athlete status), and community-level (i.e., institutional characteristics) predictors of SV victimization and perpetration. The results indicated that recreational athletes are the most at-risk group, experiencing and perpetrating SV at higher rates than non-athletes. Results on institutional status and individual characteristics, as well as implications for practitioners and future research is discussed.

Co-creating change: design thinking approaches to sexual violence prevention in higher education

“…LGBTQIA+ community members (CDC, 2010; 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey Report), athletes (Foubert et al, 2020;Martin, 2016;McCray et al, 2023), and fraternity and sorority members (Barnes, et al, 2021;Martin, 2016;Muehlenhard et al, 2017). An intentional effort was made to recruit a participant pool of diverse identities and backgrounds.…”

“…For example, systems of oppression at a societal level allow people of dominant groups to have power over others on a relationship level (Linder, 2018). This review builds on the work of those already examining sexual assault through the lens of the socio-ecological model (Armstrong et al, 2006;Bloom et al, 2022;CDC, 2022a;McCray et al, 2023;Moylan et al, 2021;Moylan & Javorka, 2020;WHO, 2002) for a more comprehensive understanding of sexual assaultnecessary for effective prevention.…”

“…Relationships also influence an individual's risk of perpetrating violence. On campuses, affiliation with hypermasculine or all-male peer social groups such as fraternities or athletic teams has been linked to higher sexual assault perpetration (Armstrong et al, 2006;Foubert et al, 2020;Jozkowski & Wiersma-Mosley, 2017;Martin, 2016;McCray et al, 2023;Nason et al, 2023;Seabrook et al, 2018;Tharp et al, 2012).…”

“…Men's athletics teams hold similar ideologies to fraternities that reinforce hypermasculine norms, rape myth acceptance, and sexually aggressive behaviors (Moylan & Javorka, 2020;Murnen & Kohlman, 2007;Tharp et al, 2012). As with fraternity members, men who were student-athletes are more likely to be perpetrators of sexual violence than their non-athlete peers (McCray et al, 2023), with leaders of the teams exhibiting even higher rates (Foubert et al, 2020). This high-risk population includes both recreational athletes and intercollegiate athletes.…”

“…This high-risk population includes both recreational athletes and intercollegiate athletes. Recreational athletes, a less studied population than intercollegiate athletes, are at an even greater risk of perpetration than their intercollegiate and non-athlete peers (McCray et al, 2023). This may be due to prevention education primarily being focused on intercollegiate athletes.…”