College Student Perceptions of the Root Causes of Sexual Violence Before and After a Curricular Intervention
Abstract
Campus sexual violence is prevalent and consequential. After a climate survey at our university revealed high rates of sexual violence, a semester-long academic course was designed as a curricular intervention for first-year students. This study examines an assignment completed at the beginning and end of the course. Students were asked: “What are the root causes of sexual violence?” Thematic analysis of papers revealed that many students altered or expanded their thinking to more complex, structural factors compared to their initial perceptions. An academic course may broaden students’ understanding of the determinants of sexual violence.
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Biographies
Jessica L. Liddell is an Assistant Professor at the University of Montana School of Social Work. Her work focuses on pregnancy and childbirth, reproductive justice issues, community engagement, and making healthcare systems more equitable. Her recent research explores the sexual and reproductive health experiences among Native American women in the Gulf South. Originally from Logan, Utah, Jessica completed her PhD at Tulane University, in New Orleans, Louisiana, in the interdisciplinary City, Culture and Community doctoral program. She also completed a Masters in Public Health and a Masters in Social Work at Tulane University.
Sydney Mei Sheffield is a Health Services Specialist I at Planned Parenthood Mar Monte. She is an aspiring obstetrician-gynecologist whose research interests lie in qualitative methods and birthing people's health. In the spring of 2021, Sydney received a BS in Public Health from Tulane University, where she also studied interdisciplinary feminist scholarship as a Newcomb Scholar, assisted with a research project on sexual violence prevention, and conducted her own research on perinatal bereavement care.
Katherine M. Johnson is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Tulane University. Her research focuses on the sociology of reproduction, exploring stratified reproduction, postmodern family building, motherhood, and medical and technological interventions into reproduction. Through this work, she has examined a range of topics: infertility, collaborative reproduction, abortion, childbirth, and breastfeeding. Her work has appeared in both academic and practitioner-oriented journals. More recently she has started working on issues of campus sexual violence and the transformative possibilities of feminist pedagogy to create healthier and safer campus cultures.
Alyssa M. Lederer is an Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Health Science at Indiana University’s School of Public Health-Bloomington. Her research focuses on the design and evaluation of health promotion programs that aim to improve adolescent sexual health, and she teaches courses in research methods, public health program planning, and public health pedagogy. Alyssa received a PhD in Health Behavior from Indiana University’s School of Public Health-Bloomington and MPH from Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health. She was previously a faculty member at Tulane University.
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Article first published online: October 31, 2022
Issue published: February 2024
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PubMed: 36310436
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