Understanding Date Rape Attitudes and Behaviors: Exploring the Influence of Race, Gender, and Prior Sexual Victimization

Abstract

AbstractThis exploratory investigation examines the influence of race, gender, and prior sexual victimization on attitudes and behaviors related to date rape from a large sample of college students (n = 3,084) in the United States. The results of this study indicate that gender was a salient factor, with males more likely to subscribe to undesirable attitudes toward date rape and to engage in behaviors that increase the risk of both men and women perpetrating date rape. Findings also indicate that racial differences exist in that black students were less likely to subscribe to undesirable attitudes and to engage in sexual behaviors that increase the risk of perpetrating date rape than were white students. Finally, the analyses found previous sexual victimization experiences unexpectedly increased undesirable attitudes toward and behaviors associated with date rape. Implications of the results are discussed.Keywords: racegenderprior sexual victimizationdate rapeattitudes and behaviors ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThe authors would like to thank John McCluskey, Nicholas Robertson, Jamie Dougherty, and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions.FUNDINGThis project was supported by funding awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.Notes1. Supplemental analyses were conducted employing measures of serious sexual victimization that focused only on rape victimization. The results are footnoted in Tables 3 and 4, respectively.2. When victimized was recoded as rape victimization (0 = No, 1 = Victim of attempted and/or completed rape), statistically significant differences were achieved for several additional attitudinal items: (1) rape victims (41.4%) were more likely to believe that women who dressed sexy were asking for sex (Attitude 3) as compared to those who were not victimized (29.9%); (2) rape victims (60.9%) were less likely to believe that in the majority of date rapes the victim is promiscuous or has a bad reputation (Attitude 4); (3) rape victims (42.5%) were more likely to believe that it was okay to pressure a date to drink alcohol in order to improve one's chance of getting one's date to have sex (Attitude 11) as compared to those who were not victimized (32%); and (4) rape victims (55.2%) were more likely, as compared to nonvictims (40.8%), to believe that date rapists are usually motivated by overwhelming unfulfilled sexual desire (Attitude 13). Differences between rape victims (43.7%) and nonvictims (45.9%) were no longer significant for Attitude 6. In terms of behavioral items, rape victims (79.3%) were less likely, as compared to nonvictims (88.5%), to indicate their displeasure when they heard a sexist comment (Behavior 6).3. Two additional attitudinal items achieved statistical significance when employing the rape victimization measure. Consistent with the unexpected findings from the analysis performed using the sexual experiences scale, being the victim of rape, attempted and/or completed, increased the odds of possessing the following rape-supportive attitudes: (1) when a woman asks her date back to her place, I expect that something sexual will take place (Attitude 12); and (2) date rapists are usually motivated by overwhelming unfulfilled sexual desire (Attitude 13).4. Behavior 3 was no longer statistically significant when the sexual victimization scale was substituted by the rape victimization measure.5. Employing the rape victimization measure instead of the sexual victimization scale, white females were significantly less likely, as compared to white males, to support the idea that "many women pretend they don't want sex because they don't want to appear easy" (Attitude 6).6. No substantive differences were found when the sexual victimization scale was substituted by the rape victimization measure.Additional informationFundingThis project was supported by funding awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.