Trajectories of male sexual aggression from adolescence through college: A latent class growth analysis

Abstract

Approximately 25% of male college students report engaging in some form of sexual coercion by the end of their fourth year of college. White and Smith (2004) found that negative childhood experiences-childhood sexual abuse, childhood physical abuse, and witnessing domestic violence-predicted sexual aggression perpetrated before college, but not during the subsequent college years, a puzzling finding in view of the reasonably consistent rates of sexual aggression from adolescence to the first 2 years of college. The current study takes a person-centered approach to sexual aggression in an attempt to resolve this discrepancy. We examined the possibility of cohesive subgroups of men in terms of their frequency of sexual aggression across the pre-college and college years. A series of latent class growth models were fit to an existing longitudinal dataset of sexual experiences collected across four time points-pre-college through year 3 of college. A four-trajectory model fit the data well, exhibiting significantly better fit than a three-trajectory model. The four trajectories are interpreted as men who perpetrate sexual aggression at (1) low (71.5% of the sample), (2) moderate (21.2%), (3) decreasing (4.2%), and (4) increasing (3.1%) frequencies across time. Negative childhood experiences predicted membership of the decreasing trajectory, relative to the low trajectory, but did not predict membership of the increasing trajectory, explaining the discrepancy uncovered by White and Smith. Implications for primary prevention of sexual aggression are discussed.

Predicting the Emergence of Sexual Violence in Adolescence

“…Current findings add to the extant research suggesting that the etiology of SV is complex and multifactorial (Abbey et al, 2012; Cale, Lussier, & Proulx, 2009; Lussier & Davies, 2011; Swartout et al, 2015) and is explained by exposures at each level of the social ecology. Prior exposure youth have to violent romantic partnerships as modeled by their caregivers ( family -level) predicts subsequent SV perpetration.…”

“…Most longitudinal studies of SV focus on men as perpetrators and women as victims (Abbey & McAuslan, 2004; Maxwell et al, 2003; Swartout et al, 2015; White & Smith, 2009). As a result, much of what is known about SV perpetration is based upon men’s reports.…”

In Search of Teen Dating Violence Typologies

“…In addition, as the field begins to focus on shared risk and protective factors for violence, it is important to consider the nuances of these subgroups when looking at effectiveness and outcomes of interventions. For example, Swartout et al [35] examined adolescent to emerging adult males and perpetration of sexual violence. They found four trajectories of perpetration: stable low, stable moderate, decreasing, and increasing.…”

Sexual Aggression Victimization and Perpetration among Male and Female College Students in Chile

“…Recent studies from the U.S. found that about 30% of male college students reported some form of sexually aggressive behavior since adolescence (Swartout et al, 2015; Dardis et al, 2016). In a recent German study, the overall prevalence of male perpetration was lower, but still substantial with 13.2% (Krahé and Berger, 2013).…”