Risk Factors For Sexual Victimization In Dating: A Longitudinal Study of College Women

Abstract

In this longitudinal study of college women, nine risk characteristics assessed prior to the start of college were examined in the effort to identify predictors of sexual victimization in college dating. A total of 100 women were followed for 32 months, with information about personal history, behaviors, and attitudes collected at Time 1 and information about subsequent sexual victimization collected at Time 2. Although four risk factors were significantly associated with victimization, a logistic regression analysis revealed that the best prediction model contained only two variables: Precollege sexual victimization in dating was positively correlated with college victimization, and sexual conservatism was negatively correlated with college victimization. Discussion focused on the needs for improved sex education for teenagers, prevention programs aimed at the precollege level, and increased research and clinical attention to the phenomenon of revictimization.

Sexual assault and alcohol consumption: what do we know about their relationship and what types of research are still needed?

“…A few authors have conducted prospective studies of sexual assault victimization during college (Gidycz, Coble, Latham, & Layman, 1993: Greene & Navarro, 1998Himelein, 1995). For example, Himelein (1995) surveyed 100 women at freshmen orientation and again 32 months later. She focused specifically on sexual assaults that occurred on dates.…”

Nudity as a Disinhibiting Cue in a Date Rape Analogue

“…Sexually aggressive men engage in consensual sex at an earlier age in life, date more often, and have more consensual sexual partners within their lifetime compared to sexually nonaggressive men (Abbey et al, 1998;Abbey & McAuslan, 2004;Bernat, Wilson et al, 1999;Kanin, 1967Kanin, , 1985Koss & Dinero, 1989;Lalumière, Chalmers, Quinsey, & Seto, 1996, Malamuth et al, 1991, 1995Senn et al, 2000). Sexually aggressive men also report wanting sex more frequently than their nonaggressive counterparts and indicate a preference for impersonal sex (Byers & Lewis, 1988;Kanin, 1967Kanin, , 1985Lalumière & Quinsey, 1996;Malamuth et al, 1995).…”

“…Women who have been victims of sexual aggression are more likely than non-victims to hold traditional values and attitudes about gender roles (Koss, 1985;Koss & Dinero, 1989); although there is also some evidence suggesting that women with less conservative beliefs are more likely than others to engage in casual sex and experience sexual aggression (Himelein, 1995). Traditional women tend to believe in the stereotype that all men have excessively high sex-drives and thus are always willing to engage in sexual intercourse, making these women feel less able to say "No" in sexual encounters with men (Foshee, Benefield, Ennett, Bauman, & Suchindran, 2004;Himelein, 1995;Testa & Dermen, 1999).…”

“…Victims also tend to experience persistent low self-esteem and low levels of assertiveness (Hartwick et al, 2007;Muehlenhard & Linton, 1987;Testa & Dermen, 1999). With careful research designs like those used in the Gidycz et al (1993;1995) prospective studies, researchers can determine the temporal precedence of these dispositional attributes in relation to sexual assault. There is also evidence to suggest that women's self-esteem and mental health are relatively stable across the lifespan (Alsaker & Olweus, 1992).…”

Revictimization: Advancing Theory and Method

“…Prior victims may have more contact with perpetrators (Himelein, 1995), or when they are in the presence of perpetrators, perpetrators may be more likely to act aggressively, possibly because victims are less quick to recognize an existing threat of victimization (Messman-Moore & Brown, 2006;Wilson et al, 1999). No research has specifically examined factors from the exosytem or macrosystem to understand revictimization, even though researchers speculate that factors from these levels, such as social isolation and blaming the victim attitudes of larger society, are important (Grauerholz, 2000;Messman-Moore & Long, 2003) .…”