Sexual Assault on College Campuses: Substance Use, Victim Status Awareness, and Barriers to Reporting
Background: Despite the high incidence of estimated sexual assault on college campuses, underreporting is substantial and perpetuated by a culture of rape myths that are pervasive across society in general and college campuses. Aim: The aim of this study was to: examine college student awareness of...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
The Ohio State University Libraries
2017-11-01
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| Series: | Building Healthy Academic Communities Journal |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://library.osu.edu/ojs/index.php/BHAC/article/view/5520 |
| _version_ | 1818838868479180800 |
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| author | Jill Schwarz Sandy Gibson Carolynne Lewis-Arévalo |
| author_facet | Jill Schwarz Sandy Gibson Carolynne Lewis-Arévalo |
| author_sort | Jill Schwarz |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: Despite the high incidence of estimated sexual assault on college campuses, underreporting is substantial and perpetuated by a culture of rape myths that are pervasive across society in general and college campuses.
Aim: The aim of this study was to: examine college student awareness of their own sexual assault victimization status, barriers to reporting, and the prevalence of substance use in sexual assault.
Method: This was a cross-sectional mixed-method survey sent to a universal sample of college students from two neighboring institutions of higher education (N=2,724).
Results: Results from this survey demonstrated a lack of understanding of what constitutes sexual assault, primarily attributed to the normalization of assault and rape myths. Regardless of victim status awareness, those who were victimized were significantly more likely to use higher levels of alcohol than non-victims, and were less likely to identify their victimization as sexual assault, highlighting the need for college students to understand that alcohol-involved sexual assault is still sexual assault.
Conclusions: Overwhelmingly, participants cited the potential consequences as far greater than any potential benefits to reporting sexual assault. Confusion about what constitutes sexual assault and uncertainty of available resources were also recognized as contributing factors in underreporting. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T03:45:14Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8c9a0e8f6ca3422895360aaf32385c26 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2573-7643 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T03:45:14Z |
| publishDate | 2017-11-01 |
| publisher | The Ohio State University Libraries |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Building Healthy Academic Communities Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-8c9a0e8f6ca3422895360aaf32385c262022-12-21T20:37:08ZengThe Ohio State University LibrariesBuilding Healthy Academic Communities Journal2573-76432017-11-0112456010.18061/bhac.v1i2.55203933Sexual Assault on College Campuses: Substance Use, Victim Status Awareness, and Barriers to ReportingJill Schwarz0Sandy Gibson1Carolynne Lewis-ArévaloThe College of New JerseyThe College of New JerseyBackground: Despite the high incidence of estimated sexual assault on college campuses, underreporting is substantial and perpetuated by a culture of rape myths that are pervasive across society in general and college campuses. Aim: The aim of this study was to: examine college student awareness of their own sexual assault victimization status, barriers to reporting, and the prevalence of substance use in sexual assault. Method: This was a cross-sectional mixed-method survey sent to a universal sample of college students from two neighboring institutions of higher education (N=2,724). Results: Results from this survey demonstrated a lack of understanding of what constitutes sexual assault, primarily attributed to the normalization of assault and rape myths. Regardless of victim status awareness, those who were victimized were significantly more likely to use higher levels of alcohol than non-victims, and were less likely to identify their victimization as sexual assault, highlighting the need for college students to understand that alcohol-involved sexual assault is still sexual assault. Conclusions: Overwhelmingly, participants cited the potential consequences as far greater than any potential benefits to reporting sexual assault. Confusion about what constitutes sexual assault and uncertainty of available resources were also recognized as contributing factors in underreporting.https://library.osu.edu/ojs/index.php/BHAC/article/view/5520sexual assaultreportingvictim awarenessalcoholrape culture |
| spellingShingle | Jill Schwarz Sandy Gibson Carolynne Lewis-Arévalo Sexual Assault on College Campuses: Substance Use, Victim Status Awareness, and Barriers to Reporting Building Healthy Academic Communities Journal sexual assault reporting victim awareness alcohol rape culture |
| title | Sexual Assault on College Campuses: Substance Use, Victim Status Awareness, and Barriers to Reporting |
| title_full | Sexual Assault on College Campuses: Substance Use, Victim Status Awareness, and Barriers to Reporting |
| title_fullStr | Sexual Assault on College Campuses: Substance Use, Victim Status Awareness, and Barriers to Reporting |
| title_full_unstemmed | Sexual Assault on College Campuses: Substance Use, Victim Status Awareness, and Barriers to Reporting |
| title_short | Sexual Assault on College Campuses: Substance Use, Victim Status Awareness, and Barriers to Reporting |
| title_sort | sexual assault on college campuses substance use victim status awareness and barriers to reporting |
| topic | sexual assault reporting victim awareness alcohol rape culture |
| url | https://library.osu.edu/ojs/index.php/BHAC/article/view/5520 |
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