Sexual attitudes and behaviors among men who are victims, perpetrators, or both victims and perpetrators of adult sexual assault.

Abstract

Objective: Criminologists consistently find a correlation between criminal victimization and criminal offending across a variety of populations and types of crime; however, research on the relationship between adolescent and adult sexual assault (ASA) perpetration and ASA victimization is limited. Comparing the sexual attitudes of men who are both victims and perpetrators of ASA, men who are victims only, men who are perpetrators only, and men who are neither victims nor perpetrators may highlight unique sexual attitudes that create a dual vulnerability to ASA perpetration and victimization. Method: A convenience sample of community men (N ϭ 268) completed an online survey and reported on their ASA perpetration and victimization history and their experiences of child sexual abuse. They also completed measures of traumatic sexual beliefs, dysfunctional sexual behaviors, sexual avoidance, sexual preoccupation, and distorted sexual self-concept. Results: Results revealed a statistically significant overlap between men's perpetration and victimization of ASA. Compared with victims-only, perpetrators-only, and men with no ASA history, men with a history of both perpetration and victimization reported the highest rates of childhood sexual abuse and the highest levels of distorted sexual self-concept. Conclusions: Targeting men's sexual self-concept may be an effective way to reduce their risk of both ASA victimization and ASA perpetration.

Physical and Sexual Violence Experienced by Male War-Affected Youth: Implications for Post-Conflict Functioning and Intimate Relationships

“…Males in the sample who were sexually victimized during conflict were less likely to be perpetrators of sexual IPV later; however, males who reported being physically victimized during wartime conflict were more likely to report sexual IPV perpetration. The negative association between sexual victimization during war and perpetration of sexual IPV found in this study differs from other research findings reporting a positive association between the two variables (Peterson, Beagley, McCallum, & Artime, 2019). Males who were physically victimized during the war may be more likely to perpetrate sexual IPV as a result of impaired impulse control and intense aggressive outbursts often associated with PTSD and depressive symptoms (Nandi, Crombach, Bambonye, Elbert, & Weierstall, 2015).…”

Prevalence of Sexual Aggression Victimization and Perpetration in a German University Student Sample

“…Because participants in the present study reported both victimization experiences and perpetration behavior, we could establish the degree of overlap between the two. In line with a previous study based on the SAV-S, significant associations between victimization and perpetration reports were found for both gender groups (Krahé & Berger, 2020 ), corroborating evidence based on male samples (Peterson et al, 2019 ) and extending it to participants with exclusively opposite-sex and both opposite- and same-sex contacts. This finding highlights the need to consider potential victimization experiences of perpetrators of sexual assault beyond recognizing the association of sexual assault perpetration with sexual abuse in childhood (Krahé & Berger, 2017a ).…”

“…In a large sample of university students in Germany, 6.3% of women and 6.6% of men reported at least one form of sexual victimization and perpetration since the age of 14, compared with 29.2% of women and 12.4% of men who reported only victimization and 1.5% of women and 6.7% of men who reported only perpetration (Krahé & Berger, 2020 ). This study, as well as the study by Peterson et al ( 2019 ), found significant associations between victimization and perpetration reports for men and women. The present study was designed to test the replicability of this finding using the same methodology as the study by Krahé and Berger ( 2020 ).…”

“…Due to the traditional separation of victimization and perpetration studies along gender lines, the question of victim–perpetrator overlap has received little attention in past research. This question is relevant for understanding the dynamics of sexual assault experiences in individual biographies and for establishing adequate support and prevention measures (Peterson et al, 2019 ). Studies that collected both victimization and perpetration reports from the same participants have found consistent evidence that a substantial proportion of respondents reported both victimization experiences and perpetration behavior (e.g., Meadows et al, 2020 ; Ybarra et al, 2016 ).…”

Correlates of victim-perpetrator overlap in sexual aggression among men and women: A conceptual replication and extension.

“…The study replicated and extended a study by Peterson, Beagley, McCallum, and Artime (2019), who studied differences in sexual attitudes and behaviors in men who were both victims and perpetrators of sexual assault, only victims, only perpetrators, or neither. They found a heightened rate of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and some evidence of greater traumatic sexualization in men who were both victims and perpetrators.…”