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First published online October 14, 2013

Knowing a Sexual Assault Victim or Perpetrator: A Stratified Random Sample of Undergraduates at One University

Susan B. Sorenson, Manisha Joshi, and Elizabeth SivitzView all authors and affiliations
Volume 29, Issue 3
https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260513505206

Abstract

Rape awareness and prevention programs are common on college campuses and a potentially useful way to reach large numbers of young adults. One largely unexamined potential mediator or moderator of program effectiveness is the personal knowledge of student audiences. In this study, we assess the prevalence of knowing a victim and, notably, a perpetrator of sexual assault. A stratified random sample of 2,400 undergraduates was recruited for an online survey about sexual assault. A total of 53.5% participated and yielded a sample representative of the student body. Sixteen questions were modified from the Sexual Experiences Survey to assess whether participants knew a victim of any one of eight types of sexual assault. Findings indicate that students begin college with considerable personal knowledge of sexual assault victimization and perpetration. Nearly two thirds (64.5%) reported that they know one or more women who were a victim of any one of eight types of sexual assault, and over half (52.4%) reported that they know one or more men who perpetrated any of the types of sexual assault. Most students reported knowing victims and perpetrators of multiple types of assault. Knowledge varied substantially by gender and ethnicity. Students’ preexisting personal knowledge should be included in assessments of program effectiveness and, ideally, in program design.

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Biographies

Susan B. Sorenson, professor of social policy at the University of Pennsylvania, has a unique interdisciplinary background in epidemiology, sociology, and psychology. She directs the Evelyn Jacobs Ortner Center on Family Violence. With more than 100 publications to her credit, she has published widely in the epidemiology and prevention of violence, including the areas of sexual assault, child abuse, battering, homicide, suicide, and firearms. A primary focus of her work is the social context in which violence occurs, specifically, the norms that shape whether and how violence is tolerated. In addition to her academic work, Dr. Sorenson has provided invited testimony on violence prevention at the local, state, and federal levels. She has served on the board of directors and advisory boards of local community-based organizations, state government agencies, and university injury prevention centers. In 1991, she cofounded the Violence Prevention Coalition of Greater Los Angeles, a broad coalition of agencies and individuals, which continues to this day. She was a member of the National Academy of Science’s Panel on Research on Violence Against Women, a consultant to President Clinton’s National Advisory Council on Violence Against Women, a consultant to UNICEF’s May 2000 report on Domestic Violence Against Women and Girls, a member of the advisory panel for the 2001 U.S. Surgeon General’s Report on Youth Violence, author of a 2008 WHO report on health indicators of violence against children in low- and middle-income countries, and member of a 2013 Institute of Medicine panel on a Public Health Research Agenda to Reduce Firearm-Related Violence.
Manisha Joshi, assistant professor of social work at the University of South Florida, Tampa FL, has a PhD in social welfare from the University of Pennsylvania, an MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health, and an MSW from the University of Delhi, India. She has worked on several projects related to intimate partner violence in the U.S. and in India, including the World Studies of Abuse in the Family Environment. Her areas of interest include health effects of intimate partner violence, intersection of intimate partner violence and the criminal justice system, attitudes toward intimate partner violence, and nonfatal strangulation as a form of partner violence. As a mixed-methods researcher, she has conducted secondary analysis of large data sets (e.g., her dissertation was based on household survey data from three central Asian countries to examine women’s attitudes toward intimate partner violence) and conducted focus groups and interviews (e.g., a recent shelter-based study of the use of strangulation in intimate partner violence). In addition, she has used her knowledge about strangulation to train shelter workers, case workers, counselors, advocates, law enforcement officials, and prosecutors.
Elizabeth Sivitz, majored in philosophy, politics, and economics at the University of Pennsylvania, where she was a student affiliate with the Evelyn Jacobs Ortner Center on Family Violence for 2 years. During that time, she has participated in several projects including leading a team of students to produce Violence Against Women in Philadelphia: A Report to the City, an effort involving nearly 20 government agencies and nonprofit organizations. She completed her senior thesis on battered women’s decision-making, Rational Choice and Domestic Violence: How Decision Theory Can Inform Domestic Violence Policy.

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Published In

Volume 29, Issue 3
Pages: 394 - 416
Article first published online: October 14, 2013
Issue published: February 2014

Keywords

  1. adolescence
  2. perpetrators
  3. race/ethnicity
  4. rape
  5. sexual assault
  6. victims

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© The Author(s) 2013.
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PubMed: 24128425

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Susan B. Sorenson
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA
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Manisha Joshi
University of South Florida, Tampa, USA
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Elizabeth Sivitz
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA
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Notes

Susan B. Sorenson, University of Pennsylvania, 3815 Walnut St., Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. Email: [email protected]

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