Predicting College Women’s Self-esteem Based on Verbal Coercion Experience and Verbal Tactic Items on the Revised Sexual Experiences Survey

Verbal coercion experience is common among college women and has sometimes been associated with lower self-esteem. The current study examined self-esteem based on the two verbal coercion items included in the latest version of the most popular measure of sexual victimization experience, the Sexual Experiences Survey-Short Form Victimization (SES-SFV; Koss et al., 2007 ). One item includes verbal tactics categorized as “threat” and the other item includes verbal tactics categorized as “criticism.” Undergraduate women ( n = 479) completed the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and the SES-SFV. Results showed that women who experienced criticism reported lower self-esteem than those who did not experience criticism. However, threat experience was not significantly related to women’s self-esteem. Findings support Koss et al.’s suggestion that criticism tactics are more negative than threat tactics, and imply that self-esteem may be negatively associated with some sexually coercive verbal tactics but not associated with others. Future researchers should pay careful attention to operational definitions of verbal coercion.

Socio-Ecologically Constituted Types of Sexual Assault

Despite the burden of sexual assault on college campuses, few effective prevention programs exist. Understanding the socio-ecological context in which sexual assaults occur may illuminate novel pathways to augment prevention. We examined data from 349 students at two inter-connected urban universities who completed a population-based survey ( N = 1,671) and described at least one incident of sexual assault victimization. Using latent class analysis of 13 incident, relationship, and social context characteristics, we identified three types of sexual assaults: Incapacitation, Known Assailant, both Drinking; Verbal Coercion, Partner/Friend, Private; and Unwanted Touching, Stranger, Public. Incapacitation, Known Assailant, both Drinking incidents often involved survivor incapacitation with someone known to the victim following a party. Verbal Coercion, Partner/Friend, Private incidents often involved verbal coercion and intimate partners, with others rarely present prior to the assault. Unwanted Touching, Stranger, Public incidents often involved unwanted touching and strangers in a public place. Findings suggest three distinct sexual assault types, defined by different incident, relational, and socio-contextual factors, and reinforce the importance of disaggregating sexual assault to tailor prevention programs more effectively. Campus policy-makers and providers should be aware that each type of assault may require different prevention approaches.

Prevalence of Sexual Assault in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, Nigeria

BACKGROUND: Sexual assault (SA) is an umbrella terminology which encompasses a wide range of sexual offenses extending to actual or attempted unlawful sexual penetration also called rape. It is a common phenomenon which occurs worldwide. OBJECTIVES: To estimate the prevalence of different types of sexual assault and to describe the methods of penetration used (e.g., incapacitation, physical force, verbal coercion). METHOD: This study was carried out at the Department of Morbid Anatomy, Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki and it was a one year retrospective study in which cases of rape were reviewed. The work analyzed 31 cases of rape in Accident and Emergency Department of the Hospital over a one year period from January 2017 to December 2017. RESULT: The mean age (in years)of all subjects in this study was 32.09±17.9 SD. The age range was 0–59 years. The groups of highest number of cases (12, 38.7%; 11, 35.5%) were at the age groups 10-19 years and 0-9 years, respectively. In addition, there was no case of rape involving any male victim in this study. Moreover, no case involving females aged 60 years and above was seen. Children were found to be sexually abused more than the adults. The differences between age distributions of cases according to sex in this study were statistically significant with the P-value of 0.001. Neighbors were discovered to be the highest perpetrators of sexual assault accounting for the highest number of cases 8 (25.8%). In most cases 20 (64.5%), the victims were raped by single assailant and the majority of them in this category were children. CONCLUSION: Although the prevalence of sexual assault in this study appears to be low, it confirms the existence of the phenomenon in Abakaliki, Nigeria, and a major cause for concern is the fact that those affected were predominantly young children. To curb this heinous act, parents must be vigilant and closely monitor their children, while the government should enact stringent laws and be ready to wield the big stick in situations of need.

Family Socialisation Styles and Hostility in the Adolescent Population

The affective involvement of parents in the socialization of their children is fundamental for the proper psychological and emotional adjustment of adolescents, although we know that it is difficult to study. In this research, the relationship between parenting style and hostility was analysed in Spanish adolescents. Five-hundred and thirty-six adolescents participated in this study (53.7% males and 46.3% females), between the ages of 12 and 18 (M = 15.76, SD = 1.43), enrolled in 4 compulsory Secondary Education centers of the Castellon province. Family socialization was evaluated through the parental styles: authoritative, indulgent, authoritarian and negligent, and hostility, through the Cook–Medley Hostility Scale Criteria assessment. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was carried out with multiple regression analysis. The results showed that hostility and compound hostility are higher in adolescents from authoritarian and authoritative families than in adolescents from indulgent families. It was also observed that the Mother’s Strictness/Imposition had the greatest effect on hostility, as well as a low acceptance/involvement of the father. Regarding parental styles, it was observed that mother’s deprivation, physical coercion, and mother’s verbal coercion were the greatest predictors of hostility. No differences were observed depending on the gender.

Use of a Bogus Pipeline to Detect Men’s Underreporting of Sexually Aggressive Behavior

Researchers rely on men’s self-reports of sexually aggressive behavior to identify the prevalence and correlates of men’s perpetration (i.e., their use of verbal or physical coercion to obtain sex from a nonconsenting partner). However, results from research based on men’s self-reported sexual perpetration are suspect because men may intentionally conceal their sexually aggressive behavior. The current study used a Bogus Pipeline (BPL) methodology to determine whether young, community men ( N = 93) intentionally underreport their use of sexually aggressive strategies on two self-report measures of perpetration. Compared with men in a Standard Testing (ST) condition, men in an experimental BPL condition—who believed that the honesty of their responses was being monitored—had 6.5 times greater odds of endorsing the use of illegal sexual assault strategies on a widely used measure. Indeed, over a third of men in the BPL condition admitted to using such strategies. However, there was no significant difference in men’s reports of verbally coercive strategies in the BPL versus the ST condition on the same measure. There were also no significant differences in reporting on the other, less commonly used measure of sexual aggression as a function of condition. Based on these preliminary findings, men’s use of sexual assault strategies may be far more common than is suggested by most self-report studies. Self-reports of verbal coercion, however, may be more trustworthy.

Evaluations of Sexual Assault: Perceptions of Guilt and Legal Elements for Male and Female Aggressors Using Various Coercive Strategies

This study examines the extent to which verdict, guilt, and legal components associated with jury instructions of sexual assault differ as a function of aggressor gender, participant gender, and sexual strategy used (consensual, verbal coercion, alcohol, or physical aggression) to obtain sex. Participants (N = 423; 276 women and 147 men) read a vignette depicting either a couple having consensual sex (control), or a male or female aggressor who initiates sexual intercourse via verbal coercion, use of alcohol, or physical abuse. College students were provided with legal instructions of sexual assault then asked to provide a verdict, degree of guilt, and legal components. Female participants rated guilt and coercion higher than did male participants. Ratings of guilt were highest in the physical assault condition followed by the alcohol, verbal, and control conditions. Female aggressors were rated less guilty than male aggressors. Results are explained in relation to sexual scripts and legal decision making. Lack of significance in verdict decisions and interaction effects suggests male and female aggressors are evaluated similarly using coercive strategies; yet, consent for sex was assumed and attributions of guilt was lower when the aggressor was female. Implications for jury instructions and future research are discussed.