The victimizing effect of violent socialization: Intimate partner use of coercive sexual practices transnationally

Research seems to focus more on examining predictors of sexual victimization rather than violent experiences predicting coercive sexual behaviors. Little research explores victim to offender associations. The present study expands current literature by exploring transnational differences in which coercive sexual behaviors manifest from childhood violence experiences. Do experiences of violence during childhood impact the use of coercive sexual behaviors? Multilevel modeling regression analysis, used on data from the International Dating Violence Study, reveal several interesting findings: (1) violent socialization from families is associated with coercive sexual behavior, (2) violent socialization from the community is associated with coercive sexual behavior, and (3) nations where violent socialization is more prevalent, the average level of coercive sexual behaviors tends to increase. Identifying predictive processes for sexual coercion is important. Sexual coercion may be represented in subtle day to day interactions that over time instill a sense of violence normality and further perpetuate victimization.

The Impact of Sexual Arousal and Emotion Regulation on Men’s Sexual Aggression Proclivity

Extant literature supports a relationship between sexual arousal and increased likelihood of sexually coercive behavior in men. The present study investigated the impact of sexual arousal on sexual coercion proclivity and the degree to which emotion regulation moderated this relationship in the context of two separate affect inductions. We predicted that sexual arousal would more strongly predict sexual coercion likelihood for men scoring lower on emotion regulation ability compared with men with above average emotion regulation abilities. Male participants with ( n = 38) and without ( n = 40) self-reported histories of sexual coercion were recruited from urban sexually transmitted infection testing clinics. Participants completed a measure of emotion regulation, underwent a positive and negative affect induction, viewed an erotic video, and reported on their level of sexual arousal immediately prior to completing a hypothetical sexual coercion likelihood laboratory task. Relationships between emotion regulation, sexual arousal, and sexual coercion likelihood were examined using moderation analyses. Sexual arousal was associated with greater reported sexual coercion likelihood. For men with poorer emotion regulation, sexual arousal significantly and positively predicted sexual coercion likelihood in the positive affect condition. Sexual arousal did not significantly predict sexual coercion for men with above average emotion regulation. Findings may have implications for the assessment of individual risk for coercive sexual behavior as well as primary prevention efforts.

Childhood Sexual Abuse, Attachments in Childhood and Adulthood, and Coercive Sexual Behaviors in Community Males

Associations between self-reported coercive sexual behavior against adult females, childhood sexual abuse (CSA), and child–parent attachment styles, as well as attachment with adult romantic partners, were examined among 176 adult community males. Attachment style with each parent and with romantic partners was also investigated as a potential moderator. Using hierarchical multiple regression analysis, avoidant attachment with mothers in childhood (and also with fathers, in a second model) accounted for a significant amount of the variance in coercive sexual behavior controlling for scores on anxious ambivalent and disorganized/disoriented attachment scales, as predicted. Similarly, in a third model, avoidance attachment in adulthood was a significant predictor of coercive sexual behavior controlling for scores on the anxiety attachment in adulthood scale. These main effects for avoidant and avoidance attachment were not statistically significant when CSA and control variables (other types of childhood adversity, aggression, antisociality, and response bias) were added in each of the models. But the interaction between scales for CSA and avoidance attachment in adulthood was significant, demonstrating incremental validity in a final step, consistent with a hypothesized moderating function for attachment in adulthood. The correlation between CSA and coercive sexual behavior was .60 for those with the highest third of avoidance attachment scores (i.e., the most insecurely attached on this scale), .24 for those with scores in the middle range on the scale, and .01 for those with the lowest third of avoidance attachment scores (i.e., the most securely attached). Implications for study design and theory were discussed.

Sexual Coercion History, Calloused Sexual Beliefs and Judgments of Sexual Coercion in a Date Rape Analogue

This study compared men with and without a history of coercive sexual behavior on their judgments of how far a man should go in using coercion in an audiotaped date rape simulation. Calloused sexual beliefs (CSB) and a “token resistance” manipulation were expected to differentially interact with coercion history. Results showed no effect for “token resistance.” Calloused sexual beliefs interacted with coercion group, such that sexually coercive men high in CSB took significantly longer to stop the date rape interaction than coercive men low in CSB, who did not differ from noncoercive men. These findings support a model of sexual coercion in which a cognitive set consisting of rape-supportive beliefs may serve as a disinhibitor of behavior.