Likelihood to rape in college males

This study assessed rape and sexual force proclivities among 159 college men at a small Protestant church-affiliated liberal arts college. No data were collected regarding ethnicity; however, institutional statistics indicate that the population was about 90% European American. There were 69 freshmen, 31 sophomores, 30 juniors, and 29 seniors (mean age = 19.34). Thirty-four percent reported some proclivity to rape or force sex. Participants who reported both proclivities indicated higher rape myth acceptance, offered more justifications for the increasing use of violence against women, were lower in rape empathy, held more gender stereotyped attitudes toward women, and accepted interpersonal violence more than those who reported no proclivities. However, by contrast, these groups did not differ on general emotional empathy.This paper is based on a Senior Honor's Research Project conducted by the first author while an undergraduate. The first author would like to thank Thomas Peterson for his assistance and encouragement during the early stages of the research process and Keith Yanner for his timely statistical suggestions.