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Motives For Sex And Sexual Perpetration In College Men: An Exploratory Study, Nili Gesser, Francis G. Eby, Raeann E. Anderson

Psychology Faculty Publications

Prior research has rarely focused on sexual motives (e.g., motives for having sex) when studying sexual violence perpetration prevention. The current study examined the role of sexual motives alongside other risk factors like alcohol expectancies in predicting sexual violence. We analyzed data from 205 male college students; 36% reported sexual perpetration of some type. Participants completed a series of questionnaires in a randomized order, including: measures of prior sexual perpetration, sexual motives, rape myth acceptance, alcohol expectancies, and a measure of social desirability. Data were analyzed using a series of T-tests and logistic regressions. With one exception (coping motives), all …

Measuring Sexual Violence Perpetration Acknowledgement: Testing The Effects Of Label And Response Format, Raeann E. Anderson, Hannah N. Doctor, Danielle M. Piggott

Psychology Faculty Publications

Individual acknowledgment of sexual assault and rape perpetration is extraordinarily low in prior research. Only about 1% of individuals report perpetrating rape, in contrast to the 6% perpetrating rape as estimated by using behaviorally specific items that exclude stigmatized words such as rape. The goal of this study was to examine two possible measurement mechanisms for increasing perpetration acknowledgment: label choice and response format. In Sample 1 (N = 291), participants completed two acknowledgment items which varied in label choice. One item used the term rape; one used the term sexual assault. Acknowledgment of perpetration using the …

An Experimental Test Of The Impact Of Varying Questionnaire Response Format On Prevalence Rates For Sexual Violence Victimization And Perpetration, Raeann E. Anderson, Kelly Cuccolo

Psychology Faculty Publications

Objective: This study examined the impact of a dichotomous versus scaled response format on prevalence rates of sexual violence perpetration and victimization, thus conceptually replicating Hamby et al., 2006 and extending those findings to the context of sexual violence.

Methods: Two samples were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk and were randomly assigned to either a dichotomous or scaled response format of the same questionnaire. Sample 1 was used to examine perpetration and received a perpetration specific version of the Post-Refusal Sexual Persistence Scale (PRSPS). Sample 2 was used to examine victimization and received a victimization specific version of the PRSPS. …

Study Title-Based Framing Effects On Reports Of Sexual Violence Factors In College Students, Raeann E. Anderson, Emily M. Carstens Namie, Paige K. Michael, Douglas L. Delahanty

Psychology Faculty Publications

Objective: There are many methodological issues in studying sexual violence, including potential framing effects. Framing effects refer to how researchers communicate the purpose of a study to participants, such as, how the study is advertised or explained. The aim of the current study was to investigate if framing effects were associated with differences in participants’ self-reported experiences of sexual violence and related correlates.

Methods: College students (N = 782) were recruited to participate in one of four identical studies that differed in the title: “Questionnaires about Alcohol,” “Questionnaires about Crime,” “Questionnaires about Health,” or “Questionnaires about Sexual Assault.” Participants chose …

Valid For Who? A Preliminary Investigation Of The Validity Of Two Sexual Victimization Questionnaires In Men And Sexual Minorities, Raeann E. Anderson, Emily M. Carstens Namie, Erica Goodman

Psychology Faculty Publications

The #MeToo movement illuminated vast numbers of people who experienced sexual violence, but the exact scope and impact, especially among under-studied populations (e.g., men and sexual minorities) is unclear, due in part to measurement issues. Our objective was to compare the validity of two measures of sexual violence victimization: The Sexual Experiences Survey – Short Form Victimization (SES-SFV) and The Post-Refusal Sexual Persistence Scale – Victimization (PRSPS-V). Participants were 673 college students who first completed the Rape Empathy for Victims (REM-V) and then the SES-SFV and PRSPS-V (counter-balanced). We found strong evidence of convergent validity for the PRSPS-V with correlations …

An Initial Test Of The Tactic-First And Item-Order Hypotheses: Accounting For Response Discrepancies In Sexual Victimization Questionnaires, Raeann E. Anderson, Erica L. Goodman, Alyssa M. Ciampaglia

Psychology Faculty Publications

Reported prevalence rates of sexual violence range widely in the literature, even in the same sample when using two different questionnaires of the same construct. These discrepancies are concerning as they indicate we may be underestimating the rate of sexual violence and, therefore, resources and treatment for victims. Thus, the current study aimed to investigate two mechanisms that may contribute to differences in reported prevalence rates across the literature and discrepancies within studies: the tactic-first and item-order hypotheses. Participants were 265 MTurk workers whom all completed the Post-Refusal Sexual Persistence Scale (PRSPS), then were randomly assigned to one of two …

Analysis Of A Modification To The Sexual Experiences Survey To Assess Intimate Partner Sexual Violence, Raeann E. Anderson, Samantha C. Holmes, Nicole L. Johnson, Dawn M. Johnson

Psychology Faculty Publications

Greater accuracy is needed in the assessment of sexual victimization that occurs in intimate relationships. Existing assessment strategies in the literature often represent two distinct approaches—intimate partner violence specific strategies vs. sexual violence specific strategies. The current study compared multiple distinct strategies for assessing intimate partner sexual victimization (IPSV) and evaluated a modification that optimizes intimate partner and sexual violence specific strategies. Two samples of undergraduate women were recruited. Sample 1 (N = 236) completed the Severity of Violence Against Women Scales (SVAWS) and a modified version Sexual Experiences Survey–Short Form Victimization (SES-SFV) in which participants were cued to …

Emotional Responses To A Sexual Assault Threat: A Qualitative Analysis Among Women With Histories Of Sexual Victimization, Kristin E. Silver, Raeann E. Anderson, Amanda M. Brouwer

Psychology Faculty Publications

Sexual assaults against women are a leading threat to human rights and public health in the United States. Considering the high rates of sexual revictimization among women and the limited understanding of the mechanisms which fuel this phenomenon, the goal of the present study was to investigate the role of emotion in coping with a hypothetical threat of sexual assault for previously sexually victimized college women. A total of 114 college women with a history of sexual victimization listened to an audio-recording describing a sexual assault scenario and then described how they felt. A qualitative analysis paradigm was used to …

An Experimental Investigation Of Victim Blaming In Sexual Assault: The Roles Of Victim Sexual Orientation, Coercion Type, And Stereotypes About Bisexual Women, Christina Dyar, Brian A. Feinstein, Raeann E. Anderson

Psychology Faculty Publications

Bisexual women are more likely to be sexually assaulted and to receive negative reactions to disclosures of sexual assault than heterosexual and lesbian women. However, few studies have examined the extent to which victim sexual orientation and related factors influence perceptions of sexual assault victims and perpetrators. To fill this gap, the current study used an experimental manipulation to examine the influence of victim sexual orientation and coercion type on perceptions of sexual assault victims and perpetrators. Participants (N = 826) were randomly assigned to read one of nine vignettes in which the sexual orientation of the female victim …

Discordance Between The Sexual Experiences Surveys-Short Forms And The Revised Conflict Tactics Scales In College Men, Raeann E. Anderson, Shawn P. Cahill, Douglas D. Delahanty

Psychology Faculty Publications

Objective: Sexual victimization affects at least one in five college women and up to one in six college men; however, the exact rates of sexual perpetration are difficult to ascertain because of inconsistencies in the measurement of these behaviors. The present study is the first to evaluate the extent to which three commonly used measures of sexual violence (The Sexual Experiences Survey- Short Form Victimization (SES-SFV), The Sexual Experiences Survey-Short Form Perpetration (SES-SFP) and the Revised Conflicts Tactics Scales-Sexual Coercion Subscale (CTS2-SC)) concurred in identifying cases of sexual victimization and sexual perpetration. This is the first study to simultaneously examine …

Yes Means Yes But Does It Work?: An Empirical Investigation On The Performance Of Affirmative Consent Policies On Heterosexual Sexual Assault Scenarios, Kathryn Labore

Theses and Dissertations

Affirmative consent seeks to clarify when sexual assault occurs by framing consent in terms of agreement through positive verbal and non-verbal communication (Little, 2005). Affirmative consent can theoretically account for college students’ limited ability to identify sexual assault outside stereotypical rape scenarios (i.e. stranger rape) (Hammock & Richardson, 1997), thereby decreasing a common barrier to reporting confusion (Brubaker, 2009; McMahone, 2008). Fifteen states are currently considering passing a statewide mandate requiring affirmative consent (the affirmative consent project, 2015); however, universities lack agreement on whether or not affirmative consent should be required to include either verbal or behavioral affirmations, or both …

Extending The Aces Framework: Examining The Relations Between Childhood Abuse And Later Victimization And Perpetration With College Men, Laura A. Voith, Raeann E. Anderson, Shawn P. Cahill

Psychology Faculty Publications

Research has revealed that forms of violence are interconnected, but less work focuses on the interconnection of victimization and perpetration, particularly with men. Subsequently, our understanding of the complexities of violence exposure in men’s lives and related policies and treatments remains limited. The present study utilizes a sample of at-risk for violence involvement, college men, to examine the relationships between childhood victimization, adulthood victimization, and adulthood perpetration. Participants are 423 college men receiving course credit who completed a battery of standardized questionnaires via an anonymous web survey. Logistic regression is used. Results indicate that 27% of the men report polyperpetration …