Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Investigating Sexual Violence In College-Aged Dating Couples: Does The Medium Affect The Message?, Emily F. Plackowski

All NMU Master's Theses

This paper explores the reactions of college students to sexual violence scenarios. Scenarios depicted long-term, same-sex and opposite-sex dating couples. Eight scenarios were created, varying along the factors of: presentation medium (video, written) and sex(es) of assailant and victim (Male/Female (M/F), Male/Male (M/M), Female/Female (F/F), and Female/Male (F/M)). Each participant was presented with one of the eight scenarios, in a between-groups fashion. Participants’ conceptualizations of the scenarios were gathered via comprehension and interpretation questions. Participants were also asked questions to gather demographic information. Demographic analyses showed that over one-third of respondents had experienced sexual assault. Contrary to hypotheses, written scenarios …