Sexual Revictimization in College Women: Mediational Analyses Testing Hypothesized Mechanisms for Sexual Coercion and Sexual Assault

Abstract

A precollege history of sexual victimization predicts revictimization during college, making it important to understand the mechanisms underlying the victimization-to-revictimization pathway. The study aimed to test whether heavy episodic drinking and personal and peer hookup norms mediate revictimization for two types of unwanted sexual contact: sexual coercion (attempted and/or completed sexual assault by the use of verbal coercion) and sexual assault (attempted and/or completed sexual assault by the use of force, threats, or incapacitation). At college entry, 483 first-year college women completed self-report measures of their precollege experiences, including history of sexual victimization and health behaviors (i.e., alcohol use, personal and peer hookup norms). At the end of the first and second semesters, they also completed measures assessing incident sexual victimization. Nearly one half of women (48%) reported an experience of attempted or completed sexual coercion or assault prior to entering college; 33% endorsed sexual coercion and 15% endorsed sexual assault in their first year of college. Structural equation models demonstrated that heavy episodic drinking and personal and peer hookup norms partially mediated revictimization for sexual assault, but not for sexual coercion. Sexual coercion was the most common tactic leading to unwanted sexual contact in this sample. Alcohol use and personal and peer hookup norms mediated revictimization by force, threats, or incapacitation. In contrast, the hypothesized mediators did not explain the revictimization pathway for verbally coerced assaults. Given the prevalence of sexual coercion, research needs to identify risk factors for verbal coercion to guide prevention efforts.

Repeat sexual victimization during college: Prevalence and psychosocial correlates.

“…Two-thirds of repeat victims reported incapacitation as the tactic used in the assaults they experienced. Together, these findings fit with other studies suggesting that alcohol use mediates the association between sexual victimization and revictimization potentially by increasing apparent vulnerability or incapacitation to perpetrators (Testa & Livingston, 2009), diminishing the ability to identify risk and respond effectively (Gidycz, Orchowski, King, & Rich, 2008; Messman-Moore et al, 2009; Norris, Carey, Shepardson, & Carey, 2018; Testa et al, 2010) or perhaps by increasing the likelihood of unprotected sex (Messman-Moore et al, 2010) and frequency of hookups (Testa et al, 2010). Having more hookups, in turn, may increase the odds of encountering a sexually aggressive partner (Orcutt, Cooper, & Garcia, 2005).…”

Prevalence and Correlates of Sexual Revictimization in Middle and High School Youth

“…Alcohol may reduce an individual's ability to recognize risk and/or respond assertively in a situation of sexual assault (Gidycz et al, 2006;Gidycz et al, 2008), thus increasing risk for an initial sexual assault as well as sexual revictimization. It is also possible that irrespective of the victim's risk recognition and/or assertive responding, a perpetrator may intentionally target an intoxicated and/or incapacitated individual (Melkonian & Ham, 2018;Norris et al, 2018). Finally, individuals who engage in heavy drinking are also likely engaging in other risky behaviors such as sexual risk taking (Kilwein & Looby, 2018), and sexual risk taking increases risk for sexual revictimization (Decker & Littleton, 2018;Pittenger et al, 2018).…”

Sex differences in the relation between military sexual trauma and risk for alcohol misuse among U.S. Army Reserve and National Guard soldiers

“…Furthermore, evidence suggests that alcohol use is a risk factor for revictimization (see Classen et al, 2005 for a review). In civilian populations, heavy alcohol use has been found to mediate the relation between victimization and revictimization (Norris et al, 2021;Testa et al, 2010).…”