Study Title-Based Framing Effects on Reports of Sexual Violence Factors in College Students

Objective: There are many methodological issues in studying sexual violence, including potential framing effects. Framing effects refer to how researchers communicate the purpose of a study to par-ticipants, such as, how the study is advertised or explained. The aim of the current study was to inves-tigate if framing effects were associated with differences in participants’ self-reported experiences of sexual violence and related correlates. Methods: College students (N = 782) were recruited to par-ticipate in one of four identical studies that differed in the title: “Questionnaires about Alcohol,” “Questionnaires about Crime,” “Questionnaires about Health,” or “Questionnaires about Sexual As-sault.” Participants chose one of the four studies and completed measures of sexual violence as well as attitudinal and behavioral measures in randomized order. Results: We found significantly more reports of childhood sexual abuse (33.6% vs. 18.5%), rape (33.9% vs. 21.1%), higher frequency of vic-timization (M = 11.35 vs. 5.44), and greater acknowledged rape for bisexual people (46.2% vs. 0.0%) in the Sexual Assault condition compared to other conditions. There were no differences in sexual violence perpetration or attitudinal or behavioral measures. Conclusion: These results revealed that framing effects, based on the study title, affect outcomes in sexual victimization research. Rape was reported 1.6x more in the “Sexual Assault” condition than in the “Health” condition. It is unclear whether these framing effects reflect self-selection bias or framing related increased reports in the Sexual Assault condition, suppression of reports in other conditions, or a combination thereof.

Non-Existent “Bi”omes : Attitudes and Binegativity against Bisexual People in India

3 years ago the same-sex law was decriminalized in India which has brought about an increase in the LGBTQIA+ community’s visibility. Today, around 9% of India’s population identifies as bisexual (Ipsos, 2021). Bisexuality is the sexuality of any person who identifies themselves to be sexually attracted to people of any gender including binary, non-binary and agender individuals. There has been some research to understand the lesbian/gay and transgender population in India, but there’s a dearth of literature studying the various factors influencing the lives of bisexual population of India. Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine the attitudes and binegativity against bisexual people by cisgender and heterosexual (cis-het) high school (9-12th grade) students from Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai. This study will follow a cross-sectional exploratory design using a multiple stage cluster sampling. The Attitudes Regarding Bisexuality Scale (Mohr & Rochlen, 1999) and the Gender Specific Binegativity Scale (Mullik & Wright, 2002) would be administered to the students using an online survey platform. The findings would provide a better understanding of the bisexual population in India and present implications at the policy level to prevent discrimination against the bisexual community.

Distinctive Negative Reactions to Intermediate Social Groups (manuscript & supplement) 2021-10-31

Although considerable research has examined how members of advantaged groups think and feel about disadvantaged groups, fewer studies have examined responses to “intermediate” social groups—groups that are perceived as falling between traditionally recognized advantaged and disadvantaged groups. We measured judgments of intermediate groups, including novel groups designed to manipulate social group intermediacy (Studies 1-5), Black/White biracial people (Study 6), and bisexual people (Study 7). In each study, participants provided separate evaluations of an intermediate group and two comparison groups (e.g., Black/White biracial people, Black people, White people). Intermediate groups were consistently rated as less conceptually legitimate (e.g., less distinctive, not a “real” group) than other groups. The view that intermediate groups are not “real” groups helped explain negative evaluations of them, and participants who strongly identified with an advantaged ingroup were especially prone to this pattern of judgments. These results are consistent with the idea that an intermediate group can threaten the distinctiveness of a valued ingroup, leading people to dismiss and denigrate the intermediate group. Studying perceptions of intermediate groups facilitates a nuanced account of an increasingly heterogeneous social world.

Reply to Technical Comment on Jonason, P. K., & Luoto, S. (2021). The dark side of the rainbow: Homosexuals and bisexuals have higher Dark Triad traits than heterosexuals. Personality and Individual Differences, 181, 111040.

We thank Sharpe and colleagues for the opportunity to discuss our article titled “The dark side of the rainbow: Homosexuals and bisexuals have higher Dark Triad traits than heterosexuals” in more detail. Here, we address the methodological concerns raised by Sharpe et al. and conclude by discussing our critics’ problematic suggestion that there is something pathologically “wrong” with homosexual and bisexual people. As scientists, we avoid moralizing on such topics, instead openly reporting the results of our research, even hypothesizing that elevated Dark Triad traits in nonheterosexual individuals might constitute an adaptive response or a predictive adaptive response to environmental harshness, whether such harshness may be experienced prenatally, in adolescence, or in adulthood. We further wish to reject and distance ourselves from the prejudiced view of homosexuality voiced by Sharpe et al. Their suggestion to avoid the term “homosexuality” is in itself prejudiced and in stark opposition to the liberation and empowerment of people with same-sex sexual attractions. We encourage other sex researchers to continue using the term “homosexual” as a purely descriptive scientific term which carries no moral implications, and the relevant communities and organizations to accept its continued use in science alongside other sexual orientation categories.

Not All Homes are Safe: Family Violence During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Purpose: Evidence from victim service providers suggests the Covid-19 pandemic led to an increase in family violence. However, empirical evidence has been limited. This study uses novel survey data to investigate the occurrence of family violence during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States. Methods: Data come from the second wave of the Assessing the Social Consequences of Covid-19 study, an online non-probability sample collected in March and April 2020. Family violence is measured using four variables: any violence, physical violence, verbal abuse, and restricted access. The authors use logistic regression to examine the prevalence of family violence during the Covid-19 pandemic. Results: We find that sexual minorities, in particular bisexual people, experienced higher rates of family violence compared to heterosexual respondents. Women were the only group to report an increase in the frequency of family violence. Household income loss is associated with the incidence of verbal violence. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate the importance of expanding victim services to address the additional barriers victims face within the pandemic context and beyond, including broad contexts of social isolation and financial precarity experienced by individuals at risk of family violence.