When Sociopolitical Events Strike Cultural Beliefs: Divergent Impact of Hurricane Katrina on African Americans' and European Americans' Endorsement of the Protestant Work Ethic

Three experiments address how people react to a sexual abuse victim compared to a nonvictim when a justification for negative evaluation is available or not available. A harm-doing victim was rated lower on expected job performance and higher on desired social distance than a harm-doing nonvictim. When subsequent harm-doing was absent, judgments of a victim and nonvictim did not differ on expected job performance or social distance. Experiment 2 replicated the results of Experiment 1 and revealed that the order in which victimization history and harm-doing information were presented had no effect. Experiment 3 showed that participants desired greater social distance from a harm-doing victim compared to a non-harm-doing victim to the extent they thought the target should have derived benefits from the childhood victimization. Implications for judgments of harm-doers—depending on whether their victimization history is known or not—are considered.     

Perceptions of Submissiveness: Implications for Victimization

Some researchers have suggested that a precondition of affective submissiveness may increase the likelihood of female victimization in sexual assault, whereas others have suggested that criminal offenders use perceptions of vulnerability when selecting a victim. In this study, based on American college students, men (decoders) rated videotaped women (encoders) dominant versus submissive using a semantic differential instrument. Cue evaluators analyzed the body language and appearance of the videotaped women using a Likert instrument. The results suggest that (a) men form differentiated perceptions of dominant versus submissive women, (b) such perceptions substantially rely on nonverbal cues, (c) dominant and submissive women display visually different behaviors and appearances, and (d) men tend to select submissive females for exploitation.     

Perceptions of submissiveness: implications for victimization.

Some researchers have suggested that a precondition of affective submissiveness may increase the likelihood of female victimization in sexual assault, whereas others have suggested that criminal offenders use perceptions of vulnerability when selecting a victim. In this study, based on American college students, men (decoders) rated videotaped women (encoders) dominant versus submissive using a semantic differential instrument. Cue evaluators analyzed the body language and appearance of the videotaped women using a Likert instrument. The results suggest that (a) men form differentiated perceptions of dominant versus submissive women, (b) such perceptions substantially rely on nonverbal cues, (c) dominant and submissive women display visually different behaviors and appearances, and (d) men tend to select submissive females for exploitation.     

Traditional and Nontraditional Women's Attributions of Responsibility to Physically Resistive and Nonresistive Rape Victims1

This research examined the interactive effect of women observers' sex-role attitudes and a victim's use of physical resistance on perceptions of victim responsibility for a sexual assault. Women read one of two rape scenarios in which a victim either did or did not physically resist a rapist's attack and made judgments concerning victim responsibility. The observers were categorized as being either traditionally conservative or nontraditionally profeminist in their attitudes toward women and their roles in society. An analysis of responsibility judgments indicated that traditional women perceived a victim who resisted the attack as being more responsible for her own victimization than did nontraditional women, whereas nontraditional women assigned more responsibility to a victim who did not resist than did traditional women. These results are considered from a sex-role socialization perspective; the implications of these findings for legal and health care professionals are discussed.     

Language Impairment and Sexual Assault of Girls and Women: Findings from a Community Sample

Both children and adults with disabilities face increased prevalence of abuse and assault, including sexual assault. Women and girls are disproportionately the victims of sexual assault in both disabled and nondisabled populations. Communication difficulties have been identified as a factor that may increase the vulnerability of individuals with disabilities to sexual assault. However, few studies have examined whether language impairment increases risk for sexual assault. This study reports on a community sample of children with speech or language impairment, followed to age 25. Sexual assault history was assessed based on two questions from the Composite International Diagnostic Interview Posttraumatic Stress Disorder module. Women with language impairment (n = 33) were more likely than women with unimpaired language (n = 59) to report sexual abuse/assault, controlled for socioeconomic status. Sexual assault was associated with higher rates of psychiatric disorders and poorer functioning. Women with neither language impairment nor a history of sexual assault had fewer psychiatric disorders and higher functioning than women with language impairment and/or a history of sexual assault.     

Sexual victimization in relation to perceptions of risk: mediation, generalization, and temporal stability

There is evidence that personal experience with trauma is associated with increases in both personal and comparative risk perception. This study investigates this relation in terms of sexual victimization among women, focusing on three potential mediators: perceived control over sexual assault, perceived similarity to a typical sexual assault victim, and psychological distress. Mediational analyses were investigated using structural equation modeling. Although victimization experience was not related to comparative risk perception, it was associated with greater personal risk perception. This relation was mediated by perceived similarity to a typical sexual assault victim. Prospective analyses indicated that personal risk perception does change in response to sexual victimization but also indicated that heightened risk perception may be an accurate assessment of risk that actually precedes victimization experience. Implications for the meaning of perceived similarity and perceptions of risk for sexual assault victims are discussed.     

Alcohol Consumption, Outcome Expectancies, and Victimization Status Among Female College Students

The present study examined differences in the extent of alcohol consumption and endorsement of alcohol-related outcome expectancies between victims of alcohol- or drug-related sexual assault, victims of non-alcohol- or non-drug-related sexual assault, and nonvictim controls. The alcohol consumption patterns alcohol outcome expectancies and victimization status of 176 female college students were assessed. Results indicated that relative to nonvictims and victims of non-alcohol- or non-drug-related sexual assault, victims of alcohol- or drug-related sexual assault reported more frequent and greater alcohol consumption and a greater extent of endorsement of alcohol outcome expectancies. Furthermore. extent of alcohol consumption was associated with different alcohol expectancy outcomes for each group. Implications for the prevention of sexual assault and directions for future research are discussed.     

Perceptions of Sexual Intent: The Impact of Condom Possession

This study examined whether knowing that a victim of a sexual assault was carrying a condom influenced perceptions of her sexual intention and subsequent judgments of the sexual assault. Participants  ( N = 165)  read a vignette describing a date that culminated in an alleged sexual assault. Condom possession (carrying a condom, not carrying a condom) of both the female and male target was systematically varied. When the woman was carrying a condom, the woman was perceived as more sexually willing and the sexual assault claim perceived as less valid. In contrast, the male target's condom possession had little impact on judgments.     

Improving the Credibility of Child Sexual Assault Victims in Court: The Impact of a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner

The present study investigated the influence of a sexual assault nurse examiner's (SANE's) testimony on mock juror perceptions of a child or adolescent victim of child sexual assault. Community members (N = 252, 156 females) read a fictional criminal trial summary of a child sexual assault case in which the victim was 6 or 15 years old and the prosecution presented medical testimony from a SANE or a traditional registered nurse (RN), or did not present medical testimony. Mock jurors were more likely to render guilty verdicts when a SANE testified compared with the other two testimony conditions. In addition, pro-victim judgments (e.g., sympathy toward the victim) and negative defendant judgments (e.g., anger toward the defendant) mediated this relation. Finally, cognitive network representations of the case demonstrated that the RN and no-medical-testimony groups were similar and the SANE group was distinct from the other two conditions. We discuss these results in terms of the implications of SANE testimony in child sexual assault court cases. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Recommendations to disclose sexual assault are motivated by retribution among women who endorse honor values

Rape arrests are higher in US states wherein residents more typically endorse honor values. Because honor values reflect an association between reputation and self-worth, which is based on one's ability to uphold traditional gender norms, one should expect that women who endorse honor values are motivated to conceal a sexual assault. However, honor values also engender the expectation that women defend their reputations if threatened. Thus, women from honor cultures should be more likely to seek retribution by disclosing a sexual assault to others. The current research investigates the impact of honor values on the recommendation to disclose a sexual assault when women believe the victim is motivated to protect her reputation. We evaluated the role of common post-rape emotions (shame, anger, and fear) on motivations to either conceal a “victim” status or to punish the transgression. In two studies, US women (total n = 842) responded to vignettes of sexual assault that varied the relationship of the perpetrator (acquaintance or husband). Using path modeling to test the two competing hypotheses, we found that women who endorsed honor values more strongly perceived that the victim of a sexual assault experienced more anger and fear, was more likely to seek retribution, and, in turn, were more likely to recommend that she disclose to confidants (similar across the acquaintance and husband scenarios). These findings may help increase researchers' and practitioners' cultural understanding of the help-seeking behavior of survivors of sexual assault across different communities.     

Effects of Victim,Defendant, and Juror Gender on Decisions in Child Sexual Assault Cases1

We examined the combined influence of juror, victim, and defendant gender on jurors’ decisions in child sexual abuse cases. Mock jurors read scenarios of an assault case involving a man or woman defendant accused of molesting a 15‐year‐old boy or girl. Jurors then rendered verdicts and rated the defendant's and victim's believability and responsibility for the abuse. Female jurors were generally more pro‐victim in case judgments than were male jurors. Additionally, a woman perpetrator was evaluated more leniently than was a man perpetrator, especially by male jurors when the victim was a boy. Case judgments were unrelated to jurors’ social conservatism, sexism, or attitudes toward homosexuality. Results have implications for understanding social perceptions of mixed‐ and same‐gender abuse involving adolescent victims, and juror decision making in man‐ and woman‐perpetrated child sexual assault cases.     

Examining Rape Empathy From the Perspective of the Victim and the Assailant1

Two studies using college student samples were conducted to establish reliability and validity for new scales measuring rape victim empathy and rape perpetrator empathy separately. In Experiment 1, two 13‐item measures of rape empathy were developed. Variables examined for purposes of construct validity included personal sexual assault experience, general empathy, and perceived rape victim responsibility. In Experiment 2, we added 5 new items to each scale. The final scales were two 18‐item measures with high reliability. Variables examined in Experiment 2 included personal sexual assault, general empathy, and acquaintanceship with a victim or a perpetrator. Both studies found gender differences for empathy scores, with women tending to be higher on rape victim empathy, and men tending to be higher on rape perpetrator empathy. Personal sexual experience was related to rape empathy scores. Perceived victim responsibility was negatively correlated with rape victim empathy and positively correlated with rape perpetrator empathy.     

Gender,gender identity,rape myth acceptance,and time of initial resistance on the perception of acquaintance rape blame and avoidability

This study, including female (n = 355) and male (n = 179) college students, investigated the role of gender, gender role identity, rape myth acceptance, and time of initial resistance in assigning blame to the victim, perpetrator, situation and chance following an acquaintance rape, and perceived degree of avoidability of the assault. Approximately 94% of the participants were White. Men and women low in rape myth acceptance attributed significantly less blame to the victim and situation, more blame to the perpetrator, and were less likely to believe the assault could have been avoided. When time of initial resistance occurred early in the encounter, men and women attributed significantly less blame to the victim and situation, more blame to the perpetrator, and were less likely to believe the sexual assault could have been avoided.     

Survivors’ Advice to Service Providers: How to Best Serve Survivors of Sexual Assault

Recognizing the relatively low rate at which sexual assault survivors seek services, researchers in the last decade have turned their attention to better understanding survivors’ experiences with victim services. Surprisingly, limited research has directly asked sexual assault survivors for recommendations on how to improve victim services, including both criminal justice and community-based services. The current study builds on the existing literature to gather input from women survivors that can translate into ways to improve victim services. As part of a larger longitudinal study, the current investigation asked 224 ethnically diverse adult (aged 18–62) women survivors of recent sexual assault to provide recommendations for how victim services can best serve survivors of sexual assault at multiple time points. Nearly all women in the study (91%) offered specific recommendations on how to improve victim services. Recommendations included ensuring availability of a female provider, improving communication with survivors as well as within and between service providers, helping survivors obtain resources, believing and not blaming survivors, demonstrating greater understanding of trauma-related responses and approaching survivors with greater compassion, and implementing better training on effectively working with survivors. Implications for victim service provision are discussed.     

Rape myth acceptance and judgments of vulnerability to sexual assault: an Internet experiment

Processing strategies in risk assessment were studied in an Internet experiment. Women (N = 399) who were either low or high in rape myth acceptance (RMA) were asked to recall either two or six behaviors that either increase or decrease the risk of being sexually assaulted. Later they judged their personal vulnerability to sexual assault under either no time pressure (no response deadline) or time pressure (response deadline of 5 s). Without time pressure, the results were opposite to previous research: Women low in RMA relied on ease of recall and reported higher vulnerability after recalling few rather than many risk increasing behaviors, or many rather than few risk-decreasing behaviors; women high in RMA relied on the amount of information recalled, which resulted in an opposite pattern of vulnerability judgments. No influences of ease of recall or amount recalled on vulnerability judgments were detected under time pressure.     

The role of observer attitudes in judgments of blame in cases of wife assault

This study examines the importance of observer characteristics in determining blame in cases of wife assault. Four independent variables (observer's attitudes toward sex roles, observer sex and age, and victim behavior) were assessed for their influence on the blaming judgments of 128 participants. Subjects completed a questionnaire that contained demographic items and six wife assault vignettes that varied in level of victim provocation (low or high). Questions about blame of the husband and wife followed each vignette. An attitudes toward women scale (AWS-B) was then administered. The main hypothesis, that subjects with traditional attitudes would blame the victim more and the perpetrator less for the assault than their egalitarian counterparts, was supported, as was the prediction of an interaction between provocation and AWS-B. The results are discussed in light of the role of observer attitudes in attribution models.     

A COMPARISON OF GROUP AND INDIVIDUAL SEXUAL ASSAULT VICTIMS

The experiences of 44 group sexual assault victims (multiple offenders, one victim) were compared with 44 individual sexual assault victims (one offender, one victim). Sexual assaults included various degrees of sexual victimization ranging from verbal coercion to rape. Participants were located from among a national sample of 3,187 college women. Group sexual assaults, compared to individual sexual assaults, were in general more violent, involved greater resistance from the victims, and were more likely to be perpetrated by strangers or relatives and to involve an experience which met the legal definition of rape. Group sexual assaults were less likely to involve multiple episodes by the same offender(s). Group sexual assault victims were more likely than individual sexual assault victims to seek police and crisis services, to have contemplated suicide, and to have sought therapy postassault. Despite these differences, the two groups were similar in the amount of drinking and drug use during the assault and their scores on standardized measures of psychological symptoms.     

Sexual Assault History and Health-Related Outcomes in a National Sample of Women

This study examined correlates of past-year chronic medical conditions and lifetime contact with health care professionals for mental health and substance abuse problems in women with differing histories of sexual victimization  ( N  = 627)  identified from the National Comorbidity Survey (e.g., assault in childhood, adulthood, or both life phases). Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and stressful life events were associated with greater odds of chronic medical conditions among women sexually assaulted in childhood only. Additional traumatic events were associated with greater odds of chronic medical conditions among victims of adult sexual assault. Older age and being married were associated with greater odds of lifetime health care professional contact for mental health/substance abuse issues among certain victim subgroups. Stressful life events were related to greater help-seeking for child victims, and traumatic events were related to greater help-seeking in adult victims. Alcohol dependence symptoms and PTSD were each associated with greater odds of lifetime health care professional contact among women victimized in both life phases, whereas depression was related to greater odds of help-seeking for women victimized in one life phase only. Psychosocial factors may play unique roles in health outcomes for women with different sexual assault histories.     

Is Locker Room Talk Really Just Talk? An Analysis of Normative Sexual Talk and Behavior

ABSTRACT

Current sexual violence prevention initiatives have focused on addressing and changing societal norms that are supportive of sexual assault. One area of focus has been the way in which people describe women and sexual acts as it has been suggested that people perceive sex differently. The present study investigated what people consider normative sexual language and behavior and what people consider language and behavior indicative of sexual assault. Participants were given a questionnaire to gather their opinions about sexually assaultive language, their feelings about sex talk, and their experiences with sexual assault. Results indicated that women were more likely than men to rate nonconsensual language as more normal, and that normative ratings of assault language was not related to perpetration of sexual assault. These findings will be discussed as they pertain to sexual violence prevention initiatives.