Urban Commuter Campus Students’ Perspectives on Sexual Violence: Implications for Response and Prevention

Abstract

Sexual violence victimization is unacceptably common in the US, with nearly half of women and one in five men reporting lifetime sexual coercion and/or unwanted sexual contact; much violence occurs in campus settings. The majority of sexual violence prevention programs designed to date were not developed around the needs of urban commuter campus students. The present study explored qualitatively how these students conceptualize sexual violence and prevention. Face-to-face in-depth interviews were conducted with students on how they recognized sexual violence and understood prevention. Interviews were audiotaped, transcribed, and analyzed. Commuter students used Bgut feelings^to identify sexual violence, reporting minimal direct consent communication. Intersecting social identities and multiple, concurrent roles limit the potential impact of existing prevention programs. Further research to design and evaluate tailored sexual violence prevention programming for urban commuter campus students is needed.

Commuter Students’ Readiness to Help in Incidents of Campus Sexual Violence

“…As commuter students have lower Sense of Community, Awareness of Resources, and RTH, they may need additional or specialized training to increase their engagement on campus and with sexual violence prevention. Studies have suggested that prevention efforts should be tailored to meet unique commuter students' needs (Casey et al, 2019;Donne et al, 2019;Tsui & Santamaria, 2015). Furthermore, Donne and coauthors (2019) suggest that prevention efforts must address the intersecting identities that commuter students inhabit.…”

“…When specifically asked about campus resources, respondents suggested the counseling center; other campus resources were not widely known. Although the research is lacking and mainly exploratory, the two qualitative studies cited here (Donne et al, 2019;Tsui & Santamaria, 2015) indicate that commuter students may be less aware of sexual violence resources when compared with students who live on campus-perhaps because they spend less time in the environment where these resources exist and have fewer opportunities to learn about them.…”

“…The lack of awareness may be exacerbated for commuter students. For example, focus groups with students at a commuter college found that one in two students reported never accessing support services throughout their lifetime (Donne et al, 2019). Similarly, half of the participants admitted that they did not know where to receive services, on or off-campus, for an incident of sexual violence should the need arise (Donne et al, 2019).…”

“…For example, focus groups with students at a commuter college found that one in two students reported never accessing support services throughout their lifetime (Donne et al, 2019). Similarly, half of the participants admitted that they did not know where to receive services, on or off-campus, for an incident of sexual violence should the need arise (Donne et al, 2019). Of those students in the study who reported that they did know where to receive help, only 22% (n = 2) cited the campus counseling center as an option.…”

“…Given the unique barriers commuter students face, it is likely that they will have less of a sense of community on their campus, be less aware of resources, and be less ready to help in incidents of sexual violence. The conceptual model for this study (see Figure 1) is informed by preliminary evidence suggesting that both sense of community and awareness of resources are essential for commuter students (Banyard, 2008;Bennett et al, 2014;Donne et al, 2019;Sulkowski, 2011;Tsui & Santamaria, 2015) and, furthermore, may affect RTH in incidents of sexual violence. The model proposed here suggests that sense of community will mediate the relationship between commuter status and RTH such that commuter students are expected to have decreased sense of community at their university, which will in turn lower RTH in incidents of sexual violence.…”