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Linking Family-of-Origin Experiences and Perpetration of Sexual Coercion: College Males’ Sense of Entitlement

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Abstract

Sexual coercion on college campuses has become of major concern in recent decades. In recent years, researchers and policy makers have called for greater attention to this topic in order to reduce the sexual violence on college campuses. Recent research has examined the impact of family-of-origin experiences on the perpetration of sexual coercion. The current study examines the association between family-of-origin experiences, such as warmth and hostility between parents, inconsistent parenting, and overparenting during childhood, and the perpetration of sexual coercion among emerging adult males while examining feelings of entitlement as a possible mediator. Data from 326 male undergraduate students were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results show that warmth and hostility between parents has a significant association with parenting behaviors (i.e., overparenting and inconsistent parenting) and that hostility between parents is associated with the perpetration of sexual coercion by the offspring in young adulthood for males. Also, findings suggest that while overparenting and inconsistent parenting during childhood are not directly associated with the perpetration of sexual coercion during emerging adulthood, they are strongly related to feelings of entitlement, which in turn was found to be associated with the perpetration of sexual coercion for males. These results have important implications for family life education, including relationship and parenting education, and for future research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Development and Family Science, University of Georgia, 114 Dawson Hall, 305 Sanford Drive, Athens, GA, 30602, USA

    Evin W. Richardson

  2. Department of Sociology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

    Leslie Gordon Simons

  3. Department of Human Development and Family Science, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

    Ted G. Futris

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  1. Evin W. Richardson
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  2. Leslie Gordon Simons
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  3. Ted G. Futris
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Correspondence to Evin W. Richardson.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional review board and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Richardson, E.W., Simons, L.G. & Futris, T.G. Linking Family-of-Origin Experiences and Perpetration of Sexual Coercion: College Males’ Sense of Entitlement. J Child Fam Stud 26, 781–791 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-016-0592-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-016-0592-5

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