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CHANGING TRADITIONAL THE AND RAPE-SUPPORTIVE ATTITUDES OF NONTRADITIONAL MALES AND FEMALES ERIC ROSENTHAL A DI OF THE SSERTATION UNIVERSITY OF THE ENTED TO FLORIDA REQUIREMENT DOCTOR OF 3 FO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT R THE DEGREE OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA following is dedicated to my wife, Melissa Bracha Rosenthal, the best whose sweet time of my love has made my life, doctoral and to my mother, Lee training Stern, taught me the meaning of heart and perseverance. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS would like thank Greg Neimeyer being excellent graduate committee school. chair would and also for lik guiding e to tha me through nk Marty Heesacker, more than share of effort into this project. Much appreciation also goes to Shae Kosch, James Shepperd, Rus Bauer, each helped to make this dissertation better some way. Finally, could not have run my experiment without able assistance of Russ Sabella Teri Hitchcock. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . . . . . ... . vil V111 LIST OF TABLES . . . .. . . . ABSTRACT . CHAPTERS INTRODUCTION .. ..... .. .. ........ .... . Definitions of Rape.. Prevalence of Rape... Consequences of Rape. Rapist Pathology..... Target Individuals... Traditionality... Women. . .... *. S a *. . .. a. .a .a .a .a . .a. .a *. a a. a a. a a. a. .. a. a. a. a. a . .*. . *. a. .a. *.. . ..a . . ..*.a a a *. .. .S .a . a a a.. a. a. a *. a . .a . .a a a. a a. a. . a.. .a *.. a. *.. Measures of Intervention Success............... Rape Myth Acceptance and Related Beliefs.... Responses to Vignettes.................. .. Attempted Interventions ............ . . REVIEW OF LITERATURE . . . .. ... ... ... . Rapist and Victim Belief in Rape Myths.......... Myths and Their Prevalence.................. Myths and Relation to Rape Behavior......... Rapist and Victim Blame of the Victim........... Perception of the Situation as an Incidence of Rape ... .... ....... ..... .. ..... ..... ... . Sex-Role Stereotyping/Traditionality of Rapist and Victim . ... . . . . Factors Perceived as Justifying Rape........ Interventions/Psychoeducation................... Rationale and Hypotheses of the Present Study... METHODS. . . . . . . Participants . . . . . . .. .. 72 Instruments .. .. . .. . . .. .. . .. 73 PacTe Traditionality .. ........ Rape Myth Acceptance....... Date Rape Vignette......... Postintervention Attitudes. Sexual Experience......... Phone Appeal .. .. .. .. . Design and Procedures.......... Intervention and Immediate . . . ..0. .6. 0 S . . ... S 0 S 0 S S*. .. . . . . . S 0 . . . . ..0 0 0 . .0 . .0 .0 . ..0 * *. 0 0 .S . ..0. 0 . . .. . ..0 0 0 Posttest. Control and Iimmediate Posttest..... Follow-Up Posttest......... ........ ...... ew..... *. *. .. *. . .0 . .6 .0 . .0 .* .* .. .. 80 Hypothesis 1 .. ...... .. .. .. .... . Hypothesis 2 ..... .. .. .... . Rape-Related Posttest Attitudes.. Phone Appeal Responses........... Repeated Measures................ Hypothesis 3. .. ... .. .... . Rape-Related Posttest Attitudes.. Phone Appeal Responses...... Rape Myth Acceptance as Mediator Effects .. .. ..... .A. ... Hypothesis 4. .. ... .. ..... History of Sexual Aggression or *.. . . S . .0 . 0 . . . ..* 0 *.. . . 0 . . . ..* * *.. . ..0. 0 . .* .6 . 0 . . . ..6 0 of Main .. 0.. . *.. .0 Victimization as Mediator of Main Effects. Additional Findings: Sex. ..... .. ... ......... Rape-Related Posttest Attitudes... ... Phone Appeal Responses .... ................ Additional Findings: Repeated Measures of Traditionality .. .. .. .. .. ... .. .. .. Effects of Intervention........... Effects of Traditionality......... Effects of Sex . . .. . Traditionality and Behavior....... Traditionality and Myth Acceptance . *. .. .. .0 . * *. .. a. a.. . * CONCLUSION. . . .. . . . . APPENDICES PRESCREENING QUESTIONNAIRE................... INTERVENTION TRANSCRIPT.. .................... ~ 7r~T(T C \hTrmm~C r 7\M DtCfflcr RESULTS . DISCUSSION. POSTTEST QUESTIONNAIRE................. ....... TELEPHONE RESPONSE SHEET... ..................... REFERENCES . . . .. . . . . . . . BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. . . .. .. DIEBRIEFING ................... ................... TELEP HONE SCRIP T . LIST OF TABLES Table Correlation Coefficients/P-Values for Dependent Variables . . . Dependent Variable Means and Standard Deviations: Treatment... Means and Standard Deviations Measure Dependent Rape Myth Acceptance Variable Means .. . 85 Repeated .. ... 87 : Traditionality........ Dependent Deviations Variable Means and Standard Sex... Means and Standard Deviations Measure: Traditionality...... .. . .. ... .. .. .92 for Repeated ... . .. 93 Page Abstract of Dissertation Presented to University of the Requirements of Florida the Graduate School in Partial Fulfillment for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy CHANGING THE RAPE-SUPPORTIVE ATTITUDES OF TRADITIONAL AND NONTRADITIONAL MALES AND FEMALES By Eric Rosenthal August Chairman: Cochairman: Major Department 1994 Greg Neimeyer Martin Heesacker t: Psychology Date rape is a serious problem on college campuses and often leads to more severe psychological consequences than stranger rape. A possible variable linked to date rape has been identified as the degree to which both males and females possess attitudes. Alt change rape-rel traditional, hough several ated attitudes sex-role attempts stereotyping have been made and behaviors, none have focused their interventions on highly traditional individuals. The present study takes this next step, using a psychoeducational intervention that had been successful with less traditional individuals hundred and forty- five male and female undergraduates were classified on basis of their traditionality and either received intervention served as no-treatment controls. Results revealed that, participants wh on five of seven attitudinal measures, o received the intervention expressed less rape-supportive same pattern attitudes was true than control females participants. versus males on three the measures. Similarly, on all attitudinal measures, s traditional participants expressed less rape-supportive attitudes than did more traditional participants. addition, participants ' responses to a subsequent phone appeal, purportedly unrelated to the experiment, regarding women's safety projects were in part less rape-supportive experimental versus control and female versus male participants. However, this pattern was found less traditional versus more traditional participants. Finally, support was gained for the notion that very powerful predictor of traditionality a person's degree of is a rape- supportive attitudes. Implications of these findings future rape-prevention efforts are discussed. CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Few words English language yield as many negative emotional people have been human being sexu connotations as rape. greatly affected by the ally victimized. centuries, idea of a fellow only recently has the phenomenon rape been subjected to scientific scrutiny in efforts to understand and reduce prevalence (Ellis, 1989). Despite an abundance of both basic and applied research, rape still occurs at alarming rates (Koss, 1992; Ellis, 1989). Even more unsettling is growing evidence that a significant portion rapes involve individuals who are acquainted in some way, and often occur during a dating situation (Koss, 1992) Alarmingly, many observers, rapists, and victims do consider the latter to be as serious as rapes involving strangers, often failing to classify such offenses as rape (Bridges, 1991; Kanin, 1984) This misperception has been implicated as contributing to incidence and prevalence of such crimes (Koralewski Conger, 1992; Muehlenhard & Linton, 1987; Muehlenhard & MacNaughton, 1988). Although several efforts have been made to understand -1-a -L ---- -- -- Nevertheless, I, - * acquaintance rape (e.g., Bridges, 1991), few researchers have attempted to evaluate methods of changing this tendency (e.g., Gilbert, Heesacker, Gannon, 1991; Harrison, Downes, Williams, 1991) . The present investigation involves a further attempt transformation is possible, to discover whether and makes two such significant improvements upon past efforts. First, intervention employed is presented to "high-risk" individuals who possess characteristics associated with phenomenon rape. Second, women are included in study response growing evidence that their attitudes and behaviors may be related to the prevention rape (Coller Resick, 1987; Hamilton and Yee, 1990; Muehlenhard, 1988; Muehlenhard and Linton, 1987; Muehlenhard MacNaughton, 1988) including these sources, is hoped that ultimate goal of reducing date and acquaintance rape will become more attainable. However, one should understand that this study limited to an examination of date rape on a university campus; generalizations to other settings and situations may inappropriate. Definitions of Rape Before discussing the details of this study, essential to address several aspects of the date and acquaintance rape literature that play a role present invest ication. Perhaps the most apnrooriate lace to beain general, as well as date and acquaintance rape. According to Ellis (1989), rape "a physically forceful attempt at sexual intimacy when one of to become sexually individuals intimate" involved Date chooses rape defined as "a forced sexual intercourse that occurs on a date or (Ellis, : between 1989, peopi 2), e who are romantically while acquaintance rape involved" refers to forced sexual intercourse that occurs between people who are acquainted" (Jenkins Dambrot, 1987, Date rape has also been defined as interaction that begins between a man and a woman in the context of a social event gathering , and ends with one participant forcing the other to participate in sexual activity against his or her will" (Miller, 1988, Although no one version universally agreed upon, two distinct rape, criteria whether lin the k virtually all rape occurs between entific definitions strangers, acquaintances, or dating partners. Although men are sometimes victims rape, the majority date and acquaintance therefore, rapes this involve male paper will rapists focus on and female situation victims; in which men are rapist and women victims. first criteria involve s some degree of force, which plays a role in one of individuals participating in behavior against A-'-. l r~,-~ n -' Y a nw a n rr: 11 S ,C,,,,,' ,, 1 C'lr rnlC n,,, which force is not threatened appears to be a tactic used successfully by many men (Craig, Kalichman, Follingstad, 1989) , it does not this conservative definition rape. Second, the unwilling behavior is of a sexual nature. Although this often intercourse, it may involve one or more behaviors on a continuum of sexual activity (Margolin, Miller, Moran, 1989) Unfortunately, situations in which rapist and victim are romantically layperson's involved or definition on a rape, date often despite their fail fitting these two criteria. This becomes especially disturbing when one realizes that men who do not consider their actions to rape are more likely to rape, women who do not perceive their partners' actions rape are less likely to attempt to resist such actions and/or report them (Sandberg, Jackson, Petretic-Jackson, 1987), friends who do not view the situation involving rape are less likely to assist victim in reporting the crime and/or seeking psychological help, and jurors who allow the relationship between involved parties to attenuate their judgment severity the crime are less likely to convict rapist (Kanin, 1984 Prevalence of Rape Misperceptions of date id acquaintance rape have viewed in light of recently determined estimates of the prevalence of date and acquaintance rape. least (Muehlenhard, 1985; Muehlenhard & Linton, 1987) rapes occur between acquaintances, with the victim being at least somewhat aware of the rapist's identity cases (Sandberg et al., 1987) . A survey women at Kent State University revealed that of respondents reported being victims of rape or attempted rape by someone they knew, while only these women reported it to the police (Koss & Oros, 1982, cited in Miller & Marshall, 1987) Similarly, (Rappaport Burkhart, 1984, cited in Aizenman Kelley, 1988) (Struckman-Johnson, 1988, cited in Struckman- Johnson Struckman-Johnson, 1991) of college women recently surveyed reported having been raped by an acquaintance. These statistics are consistent with the results of studies Kanin and his assoc iates spanning from 1957 to 1977, which indicate that .9% to 23.8% of college women report experiencing forceful attempts sexual intercourse by dating partners. discovery that c Related to collegee these women are more findings likely to be raped in a dating situation than by a stranger (Dull Giacopassi, 1987). With respect the general population, randomly selected women in San Francisco reported attempted nr r-nm]n 1ti +d rarnn h\ S' ijin ntb nxr m thi nf ~ n ~ rn115~ i nt ~ n rP in Coller Res ick, 1987) . Even more telling, a national survey reveal ed that women studied were rape victims, with occurring hands an acquaintance (Koss, 1985, cited in Aizenman Kell 1988) . Although some these statistics have been criticized based on conse rvative definitions rape, they have recently been defended convincingly Koss 1992) Consecruences of Rape evidence, then, clearly indicates that date acquaintance rape occur frequently to a significant degree. Another more popular traumatic misconception psychol that ogically stranger damaging, rape thus is much minimizing importance of date acquaintance rape. contrary, appears that date acquaintance rape often result more psych ologically devastating consequences than stranger Linton, rape 1987; Cornett Roth Shuntich, , Wayland 1991; Woolsey, Muehlenhard 1990). example, Bridges 1991) indicated that acquaintance rape victims report ess recovery than women raped strangers during year period following rape. Muehl enhard (1988 posited that severe adjustment problems suffered victims of acquaintance rape are their subsequent inability to differentiate motives other acquaintances from motives rapist, which Tn 7A a- ut0*rn 1 arm~ It It ~ r'r ~a 4a ~nri th r m -iT Ft r~l Pt n 1 mnl I I I by the victim's self-blame for the rape, which is more likely to occur in acquaintance rape as opposed to stranger rape to the ambiguity of having been raped by someone familiar (Miller & Marshall, 1987) . This is especially true when rapist a romantic or dating partner, victim must then deal with feelings of betrayal and/or guilt (Kiernan Taylor, 1990; Sandberg et al., 1987) Such guilt is often experienced when the victim adheres to societally rei are capable of forced belief "leading that a man on" several female behaviors to the point where cannot control his urges (Muehlenhard & MacNaughton, 1988). Rapist Pathology A common belief regarding rape that a man can get a point which he simply cannot stop himself from engaging in intercourse. Another misconception contributing to both victim's guilt and the layperson's reluctance classify a date or acquaintance rape situation as rape involves a belief that rapist someone psychologically pathological (Groth, 1979) . Belief this myth makes hard to believe that rape can occur as often as does; after all, just how many pathological individuals can there This line of reasoning is especially likely when one applies to an acquaintance or dating partner who appears to be free from psychopathology. Nevertheless, several studr i Ps (P . frsrn r't P ;:f o1 n . r. 1 1 I ~7fl CC *IuI I I A, fl; =Ilnnn~ Q Q 1 QU7 1 rnr^ acquaintance rapist, psychologically deviant. example, Kanin s (1984 review of several studies indicated that such individuals are no more sexually deprived, sexually inadequate, nor socially psychologically maladjusted than average man. Similarly, results of a study Koss, Leonard, Beezley (1985) indicated that self-report ed acquaintance rapists not differ from nonacquaintance rapists measures psyc hopathic deviance, soc anxi ety, and hostility. Furthermore, more recent studies revealed that while sexually aggressive men differ from sexually nonagg ressive men with respect to traits such as aggression, impulse range ivity, Petty dominance, Dawson, they 1989) are are still not within deficient normal soc skills (Koralewski Conger, 1992 This evidence strong implications; date acquaintance rape more likely if it does take a deviant individual engage such activities. In fact, over one-third of college men admit that, depending circumstances, would commit a rape they believed that they would not punished Malamuth, 1981, cited Peterson Franzese, 1987). Although those rape acquaintances dating partners may meet standards of psychological Ar~~rv4 ~~n r~~n i-~n A-: onaorm o o -bx TfQQQ , e- Aa. ,' a , T th ~~r ~nrt: ~nnn ~,lh ~t h ~ r nn c Ep c ~ not engage beliefs in such behaviors. held by women which may Likewise, increase if there are likelihood of their victimization, important to identify them. discovering such characteristics or beliefs, researchers will be better able to understand and potentially devise means of prevention, targeting these interventions toward such "high risk" individuals. As mentioned earlier, this the major thrust of the present study. Several factors have been implicated in either sexual aggression or victimization. These factors will be now be discussed, must with be targeted the goals identifying interventions are individuals who succeed reducing rape and methods of assessing whether behaviorally relevant change has occurred. TarQet Individuals Although a handful effectiveness of int supportive attitudes studies erventions desi have demonstrated gned to change ra and potential behavior (e.g., pe- Gilbert et al., 1991; Harrison et al., 1991), none have specifically aimed these interventions toward individuals classified "high risk" for potential involvement in a rape. Although some "high risk" individuals were probably included samples, likely that they were the minority. example, Gilbert et al. (1991) admitted that participants th i r struck 1 C r~n-~~nnr1 n r0 -,;ntarr n tc~~~ nfl7 r~ np-rllnllnrt i IrP attitudes than expected, suggested that further investigations utilize more rape-supportive part cipants. Traditionalitv The distinct' "high-risk" individual characteristics, may one possess several in particular most widely cited as being linked to actual behavior. Specifically, tendency engage traditional sex-role stereotyping (also called traditionality), indicated responses to either Burt 1980 Sex-Role Stereotyping Scale or Spence Helmrei 1978) Attitudes Toward Women Scale, appears to be assoc ed with men's likelihood of raping women's likelihood of being raped Muehlenhard Before MacNaughton, briefly 1988; mentioning Scott evidence Tetreault, 1986). supporting this assoc iation, one should understand that effects traditionality are most salient cases of date rape. I dating situation highly influenced sex-role socialization processes, such as those that teach men persist attempts at sexual intimacy despite woman' protests. Such behavior often not viewed as harmful to the belief that woman' res instance is only "token" being part of her role as the "lady this line thinking, rape viewed extreme end of a continuum of sexual behavior governed traditional sex roles I 1QQ1\ Th or of nro hnl-h m~n ann -.nrnnnr -r .r a tflr4 rIC~~oO 'A' I- IIIUtIII Mn~ I1 m rn- ~na~ F Uu are more likely to hold rape-supportive attitudes. This increases their chances of raping or being raped, especially in a dating situation (Bridges, 1991) For example, Check and Malamuth 1983) found that traditional sex-role stereotyping men, contrast their less traditional sexual arousal rape vignettes, counterparts, in response were more showed higher to both likely to levels of stranger and acquaintance perceive a favorable reaction from the victim, and expressed a greater likelihood raping future. Similarly, Byers and Wilson (1985) found that traditional male participants who engaged role-played responses to audiotapes of dating situations showed less compliance with victim's refusal of sexual intimacy than did nontraditional men. Perhaps found that c even more revealing, convicted rapists, albe Scott it not and Tetreault necessarily (1986) date rapists, were significantly more traditional than men convicted of violent nonsexual crimes and noncriminal men. This corroborates reports by Muehlenhard and Linton 1987) and Koralewski engaged in sexual Conger aggression (1992) that men expressed more traditional beliefs than nonaggressive men. Although selecting participants on self-reported history the basis of of raping or victimization their would seem to be a more direct measure of risk, one must keep in mind have raped. Likewise, including only women are rape victims would exclude women whose traditional beli may place them at a higher risk of being victimized. Therefore, is especially important target traditional individuals when implementing interventions designed prevent rape; unfortunately, this not been case. aoe appears nontraditional that women the may attitudes contribute of both to the traditional occurrence and and damaging it has their consequences already partners to resist such been of date mentioned ' actions actions rap and/or rape. that e are report Regarding women less them occurrence, do not perceive to attempt (Sandberg, Jackson, Pet retic-Jackson, 1987) Indeed, traditional women have been found to be more likely to have been verbally coerced into having sex (Muehlenhard MacNaughton, 1988) Additionally, percentage justifies women unwanted been believe sexual shown that intercourse, that "leading compared a higher a man women do not, report having unwanted sex because their partner become so arouse d that they felt would be useless stop him (Muehlenhard Naughton, 1988) . Similarly, Cornett Shuntich 1991) report that self-blame one several common attributions rape made victims seen rape crisis centers. Women's attitudes also seem to play a role consequences of dat e rape, which have been mentioned as even more psychologically devastating than stranger rape (Bridges, 1991; Cornett and Shuntich, 1991; Muehlenhard, 1988; Roth, Wayland, Woolsey, 1990) . It has been asserted that victim self-blame may play a role this (Kiernan Taylor, 1990; Miller Marshall, 1987; Sandberg et al., 1987) is especially likely because of greater situational fact, ambiguity self-blame (Muehlenhard been Linton, implicated in 1987). victim failure report rape (Miller & Marshall, 1987) and may even increase vulnerability to future rape (Sandberg et al., 1987). Given many women these findings, do engage important in victim blame. to realize that fact, both male and female participants are more likely to assi gn blame date rape victims if these participants exhibit traditional, sex-role stereotypical attitudes (Coller Resick, 1987; Fischer, 1986; Muehlenhard, 1988; Muehlenhard & MacNaughton, 1988) Muehlenhard and MacNaughton (1988), well as Coller and Resick (1987 suggest that this tendency related to self-blame in a rape situation. Indeed, women have been victimized are more likely than nonvictims to rate male use of force justified (Cornett Shuntich, 1991) ; this is consistent with indications that self-blame Although involvement a woman's tr or reaction aditionality to a date r may ape contribute experience, to her other factors may involved. instance Muehlenhard Linton (1987) found that female part cipants with histories of involvement in unwanted sexual activity tended to accept rape myths related beliefs more than others. Ther before, seems espe cially important to include women, especially women hold traditional beliefs, when administering antirape inte rventions. Although many studies have included female participants (Borden, Karr, Caldwell -Colbert, 1988; Check Malamuth, Hamilton Yee, 1984; 1990; Feltey Johnson , Ainslie, Russ, Geib, 1989; 1991; Malamuth Check, 1984), others have not (Gilbert et al., 1991; Harrison et al., 1991 implications this will discussed further following chapter. Measures Intervention Success In addition to understanding rationale including traditional male female participants present study, one must understand certain measures the idea effectiveness 1 approach, i intervention n which were rape-related selected. experiences each participant assessed over a period years following intervention, was feasible. Fortunately, responses to certain paper-and-pencil measures have been linlcsr wit-h malP n rtr i rl "n~nt ' hi Itnr\ nf r-an in female participants' history of victimization; these measures were used in this study and will now be discussed. Rape Myth Acceptance and Related Beliefs Belief in rape myths, defined as prejudicial, stereotyped, rapists or false (Malamuth statements about Check, rape, 1984), rape contribute victims, to the incidence of rape. Indeed, belief in such myths may increase likelihood of the rapist's raping, rapist's victim's failure label sexually aggressive behavior rape, victim's hesitance to resist and/or report rape, and society's failure to provide adequate support and/or justice for the victim Koss et al., 1985). Although beli in rape myths is potentially dangerous, one would hope that few people hold such beliefs. Unfortunately, Giacopassi and Dull 1986) discovered that, depending the myth stated, from to 75% of people surveyed indicated either strong or moderate agreement. Similarly, Quackenbush (1989) found that from college men agreed with statements such "women often pretend that they do not desire intercourse hope that the man will force them. Such prevalence figures become more striking when one realizes that adherence to rape myths related beliefs, typically operationalized using Burt's 1980) Rape Myth Acceptance. Adversarial Sexual Beliefs. and Acceptance of actual rape. instance, Muehlenhard Linton (1987) found that both male female partic ipants with histories of involvement in unwanted sexual activity tended to accept myths related beliefs concerning violence relationships Conger more 1992) than found others. similar More results recently, with Koralewski male part cipants. course, impossible to draw causal conclusions Malamuth from (1983) these findings; discovered that however, men ere indicated least some elihood of raping agree more with rape myths than those indicated elihood these behaviors. Responses to Vianettes Similar investigations using Burt 1980 scales, several studies have demonstrated that part cipant rape- supportive responses to vignettes depicting rape situations correlate with history of raping as well as men's self- reported 1 & Dambrot, Likelihood 1987; Qu rape ackenbush, (Check 1989) Malamuth, 1983; It has also Jenkins been shown that rape- supportive responses among women related increase ed incidence of sexual victimization (Jenkins Dambrot, women, 1987) . include Such agreement response with patterns, statements in both men referring to victim blame, rapist blame, victim desire intercourse, iustifiability rape, whether rape occurred, men, the self-reported likelihood of performing the behavior vignette. Moreover, both men and women are more likely to respond rape-supportive ways if the vignette depicts an ambiguous situation, such as one which woman invites the man to apartment and consents to kissing and petting. For example, the more ambiguous situation, less likely that victim will be perceived as victimized (Bridges, 1991; Kanekar, Shaherwalla, Franco, Kunju, Pinto, 1991; Quackenbush, 1989) Being influenced in this fashion by situational ambiguity seems to be a risk factor when applied by certain individuals in actual dating situations: Kanin (1984) found that self-disclosed date rapists indicated that consensual sexual activity preceding the rape made seem justified. Equally important, women had been victimized were more likely than nonvictims to rate the use of force justified (Cornett Shuntich, 1991) . Therefore, since vignette responses have been associated with involvement dat e rape, is desirable see whether intervention can affect such responses. Finally, finding that sex-role ste and most both men reotypes relevant and women are more 1 to the present who adhere ikely to make study, is the to traditional rape-supportive responses to date rape vignettes (Coller Resick, 1987; . partly to their tendency to regard sexually coercive behaviors acceptable in a dating situation. Attempted Interventions As mentioned earlier, little research has examined whether in supportive terventions attitudes. can attenuate Nevertheless, the effects rape- reported efforts are encouraging. and Check instance, and Malamuth 1984) Malamuth and Check discovered that (1984) participants were educated about the negative consequences of rape after reading a rape vignette were later less likely to respond to an apparently unrelated acquaintance rape article in a myth-consistent manner, assigning less responsibility to the victim. (1987) utilized 2-hour educational workshops that allowed male parti cipants to engage in guided imagery and to discuss their emotional reactions to rape situations, resulting in a decrease in rape-supportive attitudes. Similar changes in attitudes regarding the justifiability of sexual aggression (Feltey et al., 1991), as well decreased agreement with statements advocating victim blame and denial that rape occurs (Harrison et al., 1991) have occurred after shorter presentations. Finally, and perhaps most encouraging, Gilbert et al. (1991) successfully employed a psychoeducational intervention based unon Petty and Cacioooo's (1986) Compared to controls, participants receiving this hour-long presentation exhibited more favorable change of their rape- related attitudes. listen Moreover, they were more willing to to an ostensibly unrelated phone appeal proposed women's comments safety projects and made more regarding the regarding favorable latter. While s mind that mo are most lik individuals :h discoveries of the ely not are promising, individuals representative of who are more likely to one must undergoing positive "high rape or be keep in e change isk" raped in dating situations. Additionally, the Gilbert et al. (1991) and Harrison et (1991) studies did not target female participants intervention, overlooking an important group of potential rape victims could suffer negative consequences. Therefore, one still left ponder whether is possible to change the behaviorally relevant attitudinal responses of both traditional men and traditional women. To address this question, the present investigation examined the effects of an attitude change intervention identical one employed by Gilbert et al. (1991) traditional men and women (although less traditional part icipants were not expected to be "high risk, " they were included to assure that intervention was properly implemented) assess success of the intervention, participants' degree of rape-supportive attitudes prior to and after the intervention was assessed. In addition, participants' responses to a date rape vignette were obtained after the intervention. To more directly examine participants' they history also completed of sexual aggression or victimization, the Sexual Experiences Survey (Koss Oros, 1982) . Finally, in order to determine whether any observed attitude change would be enduring and behaviorally- relevant, a phone appeal procedure identical that employed in Gilbert et al. (1991) study was administered to all participants one month after the presentation. groups, there was a no-intervention control group. more detailed discussion rationale for these methods can be found in following chapter. CHAPTER REVIEW OF LITERATURE centuries, men have been raping women. In her comprehensive account of the historical bases of rape, Susan Brownmiller (1975) presents rape as a significant part man's historical domination over women. is a violation that cannot be punished according to the "eye an eye" doctrine, and, therefore, represents conscious process intimidation by which all men keep all women in a state of fear" Consistent with this notion, rape occurs even among those know each other and/or are romantically involved in some way. Indeed, date and acquaintance rape are severe stranger rape. However, lay public often minimize date rape, defining stranger rape "real" rape. Nevertheless, important of date and acquaintance rape to emphasize are that potentially mo the effects re traumatic than those stranger rape (Cornett Shuntich, 1991; Muehlenhard Linton, 1987; Roth, Wayland, Isey, 1990) Because date and acquaintance rape are so devastating, numerous studies have examined factors that contribute their occurrence. Although psychological deviance does not 15). seem to be responsible (e.g., Craig et al., 1989) , a review of the literature points to several variables that may be regarded as potential predictors of date and acquaintance rape, most of which are related to the attitudes and beliefs of rapists. In addition, the data show that women may be at higher risk of sexual victimization if they hold certain traditional beliefs about gender roles or male and female sexual behavior. mentioned discuss Although-the major preceding them in more detail. chapter, Thus, findings have been desirable following broad categories will now be addressed: bell in rape myths, blame of the victim, perception of situation as an incidence of rape, sex-role stereotyping/traditionality, tendencies see certain factors justifying forced intercourse. Subsequently, attempted interventions will be outlined. Racist and Victim Belief in Rape Myths For the purposes of the present investigation, a rape myth can be thought of as a prejudicial, stereotyped, false statement about rape, rape victims, and rapists (Malamuth Check, 1984) example, a common myth that rapist insane Groth, 1979); yet, there little evidence supporting this belief. However, despite their lack veracity, belief in such myths can contribute to incidence of rape. Indeed, many of the rape-predicting related to myths. instance, some common beliefs among rapists, third parties, and even victims are that victim somehow asked for deserved it, or enjoyed it (Shapcott, 1988); the effects of such perceptions of the victim as desiring intercourse, as well as rapist and victim blame of victim, will be discussed later. In the first part of this section, the most widely held myths will be presented and their prevalence discussed. However, myths may important increase to keep in mind likelihood of that belief a rapist's raping in such or a rapist or a victim failing to label sexually aggressive behavior as rape (Koss et al., 1985), a victim' hesitance to resist and report rape, and society's failure provide adequate support justice for the victim Koss et al., rape 1985) Such relationships between belief behavior will be addressed in myths and the second part this section. Their Prevalence Perhaps the most potentially dangerous classification of myths are those that denote certain situations which rape justifiable. Beliefs this category include notions that rape is more justifiable the woman "leads the man on"; hitchhikes, goes braless, or wears sexy clothing; engages petting behavior; goes to a man's apartment on the first date; or gets drunk. According to Mcrt hs "suggestive" behaviors, with women exhibiting such behaviors placing themselves at greater risk. Just as the belief in myths dealing with justifiability of sexual aggression can be a serious problem escalates into behavior, myths that deal with the prevalence of a man rape are who adheres to potentially the beliefs dangerous. instance, that a healthy woman cannot be raped against her will, rape only occurs between strangers, women often falsely accuse men rape, and only bad girls raped Giacopassi Dull, 1986) find it hard to classify rape. his own This attitude sexually aggressive behavior is certainly prevalent on a societal level as offenders who do not stranger-raping-the- virgin-victim-in-a-brutal-manner stereotype often receive more lenient sentences (Giacopas Dull, 1986) . And, unfortunately, victims hold these beliefs may blame themselves for the occurrence of rape (e.g., Cornett Shuntich, 1991) How widespread are these beliefs? An attempt to make such a determination was made by Giacopassi and Dull (1986) in a survey 449 college students. Nine rape myths were presented statements, each followed by a Likert-type response scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. Depending the myth stated, between aAn4 rz yr% nr mn narar Ta : n~: nlCh~ r\:~hn rnnnnn rJ nn~n r most rapists have severe psychological problems (75%), rape is usually unplanned and impulsive (36.9%), and women often falsely accuse men of rape (29.2%) In addition, men were significantly more likely than women to agree with latter myth, well with the myths that women are often a little to blame rape and that normal men do not commit rape. In a related study, Quackenbush 1989) found that many college men agreed with following ideas: Women often pretend that they do not desire intercourse hope that the man will force them (39%); being "roughed up" sexually stimulating to many women (19%); sometimes the only a man can turn a cold woman use force (17%); woman who goes to a man's apartment on their first date implies engages her willingness in necking to have sex or petting and (17%) ; lets if a girl things "out hand " it is her own fault if her partner forces sex on her (35% The latter two beliefs can be thought of as examples of the "leading myths alluded to earlier. and Relation to Race Behavior Several efforts link belief in rape myths rape behavior these in have been vestigations reported in recent have employed Scml literature. e form of BE Many lurt 's (1980) adheren Rape Myth Acceptance ce to rape myths. T Scale assess his measure participants' requires respondents Mvt h s r relating to themes suC as rape often woman s fault, rape sometimes Additionally, Burt justifiable, (1980) developed many two women other enjoy scales rape. that are positively related to acceptance rape myths. Adversarial Sexual Beli Scale measures agreement with statements such "men are out only one thing" other items dealing with negative attitudes regarding male- female sexual relations. Acceptance of Interpersonal Violence Scale asks respondents indicate agreement with items that involve violence against women. These scales are also widely used in the date acquaintance rape literature. Perhaps most comprehensive study relationship between myths behavior was Muehlenhard Linton (1987), in which female male college students res ponded to a wide variety of behavioral and attitudinal items in questionnaire form. In addition to the Rape Myth Acceptance Scale, participants answered questions about their most recent date. Among other things, they were presented kissing with to sexual list sexual intercourse activities were asked ranging to check from each one that woman willingly, each one man tried do against against woman wishes. s wishes, Participants each were one also he actually asked whether they h ever experienced unwanted sexual activity in high . clearly resisted, yet, was forced to engage one or more of the describe listed activities. their worst they were asked to experience with such activity by responding to the same items they did regarding their most recent date. Consistent with related research (Blumberg Lester, 1991; Brady et al., 1990; Giacopassi Dull, 1986), men agreed more with rape myths than did women. In addition, there was a trend for participants who had been involved in unwanted sexual activity to accept myths more than others. Moreover, a significant interaction indicated that men had been involved in unwanted sexual activity agreed more with the myths agreed more than than did other men, women participant s while men i regardless n general of whether these women had experienced unwanted sexual activity. also than scored higher on did women, the Adversarial as did participants Sexual Beliefs had been Scale involved in unwanted sexual activity, regardless of their sex. This latter pattern of results was also found with respect to the Acceptance of Interpersonal Violence Scale (Muehlenhard & Linton, 1987) . Although causality cannot be determined, these findings indicate that sexually aggressive men are more likely to accept rape myths than their sexually nonaggressive counterparts, which corroborates a similar CI rnh70 nir mmd bxzh T~r~ eQ at 11 QP';~ n ~r1At~n ttime n 11QR5\ crt =11 Knee wnmPn d I other women to hold adversarial sexual beliefs and to accept violence toward women. with men, is plausible that these attitudes may have contributed to their experience, although is also possible that they are a result having experienced unwanted sexual activity. In a more recent study (Koralewski Conger, 1992), men were classified as either low, medium, or high with respect to sexual aggression based on their responses to the same sexual-behavior items used the Muehlenhard and Linton (1987 study. These groups differed in their scores on Burt's Acceptance o participants 1980) Acceptance of f Rape Myths scoring scales, higher Interpersonal with , although Violence the more aggressive there were only trends regarding the Acceptance of Rape Myths measure. Although requesting self-reports of behavior widely used method of determining whether someone likely to have solely engaged this in aggressive technique may b sexual behavior, e insufficient. relying Despite efforts to operationally define sexually aggressive behaviors, may underestimate quite possible such activity that s for participants as reasons such a a whole s a desire to maintain social embarrassed to admit desirability; engaging in activity they might be ies of which society does not approve. In addition , it is possible that many oarticinants may be capable of beinac -C exuallv aqacressive but been stated that over one-third of college men admit that they would not commit be punished a rape if they believed that (cited in Peterson Franzese, they would 1987). Therefore, several studies have employed additional means of ascertaining the likelihood that participants would engage in date or Perhap acquaintance s the most p rape if given the opportunity. popularr method of obtaining a more behaviorally relevant appraisal of a sexual aggression involves the use of situational vignettes. These are typically one- or two-paragraph stories that depict date, stranger, and/or acquaintance rape situations. Subsequent to reading them, part cipants respond to questions designed to reveal their perceptions vignette and/or their and attitudes likelihood of engagi regarding the ng in similar behavior. female and instance, Margolin et 49 male participants (1989) to read a asked vignette in which a man kisses a woman despite her verbal protest while they are on a date a movie theater. Although this would not be classified as date rape, the authors considered such an activity part of a continuum of culturally normative, male- aggressive behavior with rape at the endpoint. In any case, participants were asked to rate the acceptability of man's and they woman's behavior on a completed a 7-point scale, 19-item version of Burt's after which (1980) Rape Myth Acceptan ce Scale. 140T nn rP LrS L ~ S S WYL %L ~ .,~a likely than women . . Furthermore, regardless of participant sex, acceptance of 10 rape man myths s behavior was significantly and/or related nonacceptance to acceptance of the woman attempt to resist. course, desirable to discover whether involved similar sexual relationships activities would closer occur to the vignette endpoint continuum. Fortunately, a recent investigation was performed order answer preceding question (Blumberg Lester, 1991) A questionnaire containing Burt s (1980 Rape Myth Acce ptance Scale 11 acquaintance rape vignettes was administered to 21 female 33 male high school students, as well female 15 male college students. With res pect vignettes, parti cipants assigned degree of blame rape, using -point scale. Results indi cated that high school men blamed victim significantly more than high school women and also agreed more with rape myths. Additionally, a significant correlation between victim blame and rape myth acceptance was found both high school men women (Blumberg Lester, 1991) These findings suggest that an individual more likely to adhere these myths also more to blame a rape victim vignette , he or she may find it easier to blame victim an actual rape situation. This me e true whether individual juror. already argued, the consequences might be devastating in any of these scenarios. In any case, a more thorough examination of studies that explore situations which the victim of a rape is blamed is in order. Racist and Victim Blame of the Victim The ten with several behaviors, s Idency to believe potentially rap in rape myths e-related attitude: uch as blaming the victim of a rape associated s and e (Blumberg Lester, 1991) . However, is there any relation between victim blame and such attitudes and behaviors? Several studies have attempted to answer this question. In an early study, Briere and Malamuth 1983) sought discover whether victim blame was related to self-reported likelihood of raping. latter measure considered a possible indicator individual's potential rape; men report some likelihood, as opposed to those who report no likelihood, have been found to be more similar to convicted rapists on a variety of dimensions. In addition, such self-reports have been associated with actual aggression situations (Briere toward women, and directly Malamuth, 1983) . both in self-reports of observable laboratory In order to assess dating situations this variable, participant the authors used distractor to indicate on a 5-point items, scale asking how lik 356 male ely they would be to commit several acts (one of which being rape) indicated at least some likelihood of raping well using force to get a woman to do something did not really want to do (28% of the sample) agreed significantly more with the belief that victims are responsible for their rapes than behaviors did those (40%) (Briere indicated no Malamuth, likelihood of these 1983). To discover whether there are any variables that increase likelihood Edmonds and Cahoon (1986) that victim will be blamed, presented two slides to each of male and female college students. slide depicted a female model wearing attractive but conservative clothing, while the other showed same model wearing more sexy attire. might t When asked to >e raped, rate participants the ass likelihood t signed higher hat the woman ratings to the sexy-dressed model. more Moreover, likely to provoke her rape, latter was and participa rated as being nts indicated that should be held more consequences, with men responsible indicating this more for the strongly than women. Both men and women also believed that the attacker should be held less responsible when victim was wearing sexy clothes, as opposed to conservative apparel. Importantly, assignment of blame this study depended on perceived characteristics or behaviors of the victim; this is consistent with previously mentioned myths indicating that women who get drunk, go braless, or engage in petting Although a victim's characteristics are an important component of victim blame rape, one must be careful not to overlook rapist characteristics associated with victim blame. We have already seen that belief in rape myths one factor (Blumberg Lester, 1991); indeed, several myths deal directly with victim blame. Additionally, it has been discovered that both male and female participants are more likely to assign blame to the victim if these participants exhibit traditional, sex-role stereotypical attitudes (Coller Resick, 1987; Muehlenhard & MacNaughton, 1988); latter will section on Finally, itself be discussed sex-role in greater detail stereotyping/traditionality. the effect is pertinent is designed to focus to the current iteractional situation investigation, since on date and acquaintance rape. research-based assertion that victim blame is more likely when incident less closely resembles the classic stranger rape scenario in which a total stranger suddenly assaults the victim. When rape occurs between acquaintances and especially dating partners, people have trouble assigning full responsibility to rapist. Indeed, the more ambiguous situation, lower the probability that victim will be perceived as truly victimized Bridges, 1991; Kanekar et al., 1991; Quackenbush, 1989) Although it appears that situational ambiguity plays important role when one tries to determine the degree of victim responsibility, least one study found that sex differences may affect such attitudes. Tetreault and Barnett (1987) had 40 male and female undergraduates read one of two versions of a rape vignette. They were led to believe that rapist was either a complete stranger to victim or a man dated a co a 5-minute from one uple of times videotape of her Subsequently, of what classes who she had participants was purportedly a watched therapeutic interview of the rape victim; actually, participants saw same video of an actress with an unseen therapist. expected, female participants blamed the victim more acquaintance rape situation. Interestingly, male participants attributed more blame to the stranger rape victim than acquaintance rape victim. While this would seem to contradict idea that greater situational ambiguity increases victim blame, should be noted that both stranger and acquaintance rape vignettes coerces were unambiguous. into In both victim's cases, apartment; rapist stranger does this by force, the acquaintance by deception. In both cases victim does engage in any romantic or sexual activity prior to assault. Therefore, is perplexing why men and women did differentiate between vignettes, it had to do with perceived likability of the victim; men liked her less than did women (Tetreault & Barnett, 1987) . Although is unclear why this was true, it may have mediated their attributions of blame, an effect that might have been weakened if the acquaintance rape scenario been more ambiguous. type of greater vignette ambiguity that may have benefitted the Tetreault and Barnett (1987 experiment was provided in a more recent study by Quackenbush (1989), male participants read either a stranger rape vignette or a date rape vignette in which woman engages in petting responsibility behavior prior to the assault. for the assault, When asked about blamed the victim of stranger rape, held the victim responsible date rape scenario. Perhaps related to this was that participants in the stranger rape condition expressed some likelihood of engaging similar behavior, while of the date rape scenario participants made such an indication. Given that this connection between victim blame and propensity to rape affected by perceived situational ambiguity, is desirable to discover whether such perceptions can increase likelihood of rape in other ways. Perception of the Situation as an Incidence of Rane - n. 4 .1 Irl -, C r. 4- V Y - I'-" ~ r I 11 f 1 nflC'1 2ThA ; " fvsr thP nine 1 ^J '* t /f ^ *U (Grauerholz Koralewski, 1991) . As mentioned earlier, findings those are striking, stranger rape with (e.g prevalence ., Koss, figures 1992; surpassing Muehlenhard Linton, 1987). To determine this case, several studies have compared rape participants' situations. reactions suC to date h investigation versus was stranger undertaken Check Malamuth 1983) Undergraduate male female participants read one three vignettes, a mutually consenting intercourse scenario, stranger rape scenario, an acquaintance rape scenario. Participants reported experiencing more sexual arousal consenting intercourse condition; acquaintance condition however, rape as opposed their vignette arousal was similar to the stranger response rape to the that participants consenting condition. Perhaps latter two situations were perceived similar. In support this condition contention, perceived participant s victim in the as reacting acquaintance more rape favorably assault than those read stranger rape situation, despite identically unfavorable responses of the victim in each vignette. authors concluded that ambiguities acquaintance rape depictions bias perceptions 1-i -- -! -_ and ri I ,I 1 1 possibility that likelihood of se such perceptions may xually increase aggressive behavior; the male acquaintance rape participants' self-reported likelihood to commit an similar to the one portrayed in the vignette was greater than that of the stranger rape participants (Check Malamuth, Although attitudes 1983). the assessment and perceptions laboratory participants' of date and acquaintance versus strange r rape scenarios is quite useful, been the only method used assess whether perceptions of the situation affect actual or potential rape behavior. instance, Kanin questionnaire 1984) to 71 interviewed and administered a undergraduate self-disclosed date rapists. Seventy-seven percent the participants acknowledged that their actions were considered rape legal sense; however, two-thirds felt that woman was at fault sexual conduct. fact, 100% of the rapes were preceded by involving genital some play. consensual sexual activity, According to the modal with participant, such ambiguity made difficult take the woman's subsequent resistance seriously and probably played a significant role their beliefs that they did not belong in the class "real" rapists used weapons "violence. Although it is clear that the ma-inritv nf t hs dat-s" ~t causes of their behavior, is unfortunate that a control group was used in the Kanin (1984) study. Specifically, reader left to wonder whether nonrapists might express similar views, although it would be difficult perform the inquiry same manner since many questions referred to the participant's rape behavior. To better address this issue, an effort to make a distinction between the perceptions and attitudes of rapists and nonrapists has been made (Jenkins Dambrot, 1987). combining the fa of participants' Imiliar vignette procedure attitudes and history with an assessment sexually aggressive behavior, both participant authors and situational examined factors the effects on perceptions rape scenarios. Each female and 332 male participants read one of three vignettes, involving a date rape. scenario indicated that the man paid both his and his date's concert tickets, a second involved a dutch treat situation , and a third depicted the woman accepting the man's offer of a ride home from the concert, although she did not know him pick-up situation) should be understood that the degree of the rapist's monetary investment has been shown to be an important element in participants ' judgments justifiability of forced intercourse (e.g., Cornett Shuntich, 1991); this and other justifying factors will be discussed in a After reading the vignette, participants were asked to rate their agreement with the statements conveying that man than raped the man woman, for the that fact the woman that was more responsible intercourse occurred, that she desired intercourse, and that he behaved violently toward her. questions, In addition to responding to vignette-related participants answered several yes-no questions designed to assess their history of either sexual assault vict imi zat ion. They also completed Burt's (1980) Rape Myth Acceptance Scale. Overall, mnna-were less likely than a rape occurred and more .likely to agree women that to agree that the woman wanted sexual-inter course. Men also were more accepting of rape myths. More interestingly, men had been sexually assaultive and those who agreed more with rape myth were less likely than their nonassaultive and myth-rejecting counterparts view the scenarios rape, although vignette manipulation did not differentially affect men. same pattern victim blame, of results woman's desire was for found for men' s intercourse, ratings rapist violence. In contrast, of victimization did not women' set t myth acceptance hem apart and history regarding their perceptions of situation; determined whether they saw rather, rape as type having of date occurred. amplify, they were more likely to agree that rape occurred which the man paid for the woman. Nevertheless, their ratings of victim blame and female desire intercourse were affected only by their acceptance of rape myths (Jenkins Dambrot, 1987). Clearly, results of this study are somewhat equivocal. Although the type of vignette and not their myth acceptance nor sexual history affected women's perceptions rape, the opposite was true for men. The authors state that women may attend more to situational factors while men are more affected by their values and attitudes (Jenkins Dambrot, 1987) ; however, this fails to explain why myth acceptance and not victim blame and f situation affected their emale desire ratings of intercourse. Although sex differences may or may not play a major role in perceptions rape, perhaps it is sufficient now to realize that the vignettes used did not provide the ambiguity of more typical date rape scenarios; there was mutually consenting sexual activity prior to rape. Although monetary investment has been considered a rape- justifying factor, this does not mean that affects perceptions of the situation strongly ambiguity created by such prior sexual behavior. In support of this assertion, a more recent study by Johnson and Jackson (1988 found that manipulation male and female part cipants' perceptions of victim's in kissing prior to the assault, could differentially affect their assessments of situation. Participants were more likely to see the woman as more responsible and the man as less responsible when the woman had willingly engaged in kissing prior to not rape. asked to rate whether Unfortunately, rape had occurred, participants were although probable that the ambiguity created by the kissing scenario would have lowered such ratings. Indeed, a similar study found that both male and female participants were less likely to perceive a date rape scenario as rape when victim acted more "suggestively" (Muehlenhard & MacNaughton, 1988); this study will be discussed in further detail in a subsequent section. Additionally, undifferentiated, in a study c and masculine :onsisting sex-typed men 20 androgynous, (Quackenbush, 1989), participants ' perceptions of rape vignettes differed depending whether they read a date rape scenario in which woman activity or former were engaged in a stranger less a high rape degree scenario. likely to express of consensual Those empathy sexual read the victim, attributed more responsibility to her and less to the rapist, greater perceived the likelihood of rape as engaging less in a serious, expressed a similar type of rape. Similarly, Bridges (1991) examined female and 33 male participants and found th~1- those who had read a vignette . .a V- about a stranger rape situation were less likely to classify as rape. Although ambiguity there can be such as that little argument provided by a dating that situational situation often impairs the perception rape, is disturbing that participants exhibit as rape when clearly hesitance involves a in labeling woman being a situation forced have sex against her will, regardless of her prior behavior. Nevertheless, dispositional appears factors that that may there exist increase an certain individual's propensity to minimize seriousness of date and acquaintance situational rape, factors often due (e.g., to an Jenkins interaction Dambrot, with 1987). such dispositional characteristic that received much attention involves date sex-role and acquaintance stereotyping rape literature or traditionality, which will presently be examined. Sex-Role Stereotyping/Traditionality of Rapist and Victim Largely because it has been widely accepted that rapists are not necessarily psychopathic, have attempted to examine effects social of society scientists on rape behavior. As a result, it has been posited that dating situation is highly influenced by sex-role socialization processes, such as those that teach men to persist attempts at sexual intimacy despite women' k. Protests. Such that the woman's role as the resistance "lady. is only this "token, " being part line of thinking, rape viewed the extreme end of a continuum of sexual behavior governed by traditional sex roles. Therefore, both men and women who are more likely to adhere to or believe in such traditional roles are more likely to hold rape-supportive attitudes and engage in activities involving rape, especially in a dating situation (Bridges, 1991; Check & Malamuth, 1983) . Moreover, attitudes of such traditional individuals may be quite resistant to change (Feltey et al., 1991) In an effort to support this position, several studies have employed measures designed to assess individual's degree of sex-role stereotyping (hence, referred to interchangeably with traditionality) two most widely used are Burt's (1980) Sex-Role Stereotyping (SRS) Scale and Spence and Helmreich s (1978) Attitudes Toward Women Scale (AWS) example, in a study whose design was already discuss ed in detail , Check and Malamuth (1983) employed the SRS and found that high sex-role stereotyping men showed higher levels of arousal in response to both stranger acquaintance rape vignettes, contrast to the lower arousal levels of their less traditional counterparts. They were also more likely to perceive a favorable reaction from victim. L^I * especially he aca .nnintanre ranE rnndi it i on I L. _ Finally, traditional men expressed a greater likelihood of raping. More recently, Fischer (1986) surveyed over 700 male female participants, using several measures including the AWS. Participants also were presented with a date rape vignette and asked to man's behavior. indicate Participants the acceptability of were also asked to determine whether rape occurred and, who was to blame. was discovered that the man's the best behavior was predictor of the acceptability of how definitely the participants regarded the scenario as rape; less sure they were, more acceptable the behavior. The next best predictor was score, as perceived acceptability was greater among those with more traditional attitudes toward women. Moreover, in a similarly designed study aimed at investigating the effects of ethnicity and traditional sex- role stereotyping on rape-supportive attitudes, Fischer (1987) found that traditional as opposed to nontraditional men were more likely to find date rape acceptable. This was regardless of ethnicity; although Hispanic men were more traditional and accepting of date rape than majority men, bicultural and bilingual Hispanics were actually less traditional and accepting of date rape than were more assimilated Hispanics. Although it appears that traditionalist is related to must be careful to overlook effects on women. has already been shown that both men and women are more likely to hold acceptable attitudes toward date rape if they tend to engage (Fischer, 1986) in traditional More sex-role recently, stereotyping investigation of female undergraduates (Coller and Resick, 1987) utilized the to examine this relationship. As expected, participants with greater sex-role stereotyping assigned more blame victim of date rape vignettes and were more likely to feel that led the man Similarly, an investigation by Muehlenhard and MacNaughton (1988) traditionality measured of 208 female rape-related attitudes and undergraduates to determine whether the belief that forced intercourse justifiable a woman leads vignettes. a man on affected their perceptions Participants were presented with one of rape two date rape vignettes, differing only in the degree to which victim acted suggestively. Participants who most strongly agreed with "leading justifies force" myth were more likely then a low-belief group to view the woman as being responsible for the rape, desiring sex, leading the man on, saying no when she meant yes, and acting the man as suggestively. responsible, They were to indicate that less likely to view the woman was 0vnpr Pri;n r' ncrre ,n~ a .nC4 nm't n nnn I , F.' 4 IT l-Jr~g I i Iv 5 1- on. I ~ r ^L- i 1 f1 -J to consider the man' s actions as justifiable. latter two findings were especially likely for high-belief women reading the suggestive vignette, as was the tendency to discount the validity of the woman's protests. In addition, the high-belief women were more likely to have been verbally coerced into having sex in the past. Finally, and most germane the present discussion of traditionality, such women had significantly higher SRS scores than their low- belief counterparts. Although causality cannot be determined, once again appears that traditional sex-'role stereotyping somehow associated with rape-supportive attitudes and actual experience with sexual aggression. In light such findings, one might expect the more traditional woman to blame herself when her date attempts to engage forced sexual intercourse, making less likely that will resist. This seems even more plausible when understood that traditional and nontraditional women study did not differ on their empathy for the victim; although they were equally able to put themselves victim's shoes, more victim blame was assigned by the traditional women. This seems to imply that even an actual experience in a date rape situation may not overcome effects of having been socialized in a traditional manner. Naturally, would be unethical impractical 1 I 4-ao4- n r a r, a A ~ r% n r,4,, 1 tN ar V;r~m nn c ~Yr~rCn~: nn ~nr C h PIC C ~n n JIl 7tn r~~n studies that examined the effects of traditionality on date rape in more behaviorally relevant ways, such attempts have been made with male participants. For example, Byers Wilson (1985) employed the AWS and exposed participants to audiotapes 9 dating situations, differing on level consensual intimacy attained by the couple prior to the rape (kissing, breast fondling, and genital fondling) and on type of message used by the woman (outright, excuse-- "someone will be coming home soon" and relationship--"I don't know you well enough") The AWS was administered during an initial session, after which participants returned listened to all 9 of scenarios. they listened, participants role played their responses they were situation; these responses were recorded and later rated. was discovered that traditional men showed less role-played compliance nontraditional men, with regardless victim's of the refusal scenario than (Byers Wilson, 1985) response Although one might high intimacy expect situation, less compliance is possible that within-participants design suppressed this effect; perhaps participants maintained similar levels of compliance in an effort to appear consistent. related attempt to study the effects of sex-role stereotvpinc on sexually acraressive behavior. Malamuth Ilo" experiments; although each "experiment" was really one phase of the true experiment, participant s indicated recognition of a link between ses. In the first phase, participants completed a questionnaire comprised several attitudinal scales including SRS, as well as a self-report instrument aggression. measuring second phase, history of sexual participants' penile tumescence was measured they read three vignettes describing a woman masturbating, rape, mutually consenting sex. In the third phase, disguised experiment investigating effects of feedback on ESP, participants were placed a room with a computer. was their the s screen to concentrate in an attempt on numbers transmit that the were numbers presented mentally another male female participant (really a confederate) acting a receiver another room. every incorrect response receiver, participant could puni sh him or her with levels noise, while correct responses could rewarded with levels money. After reading instructions, prior transmission numbers, an anger-inducement intervention was performed. Parti cipants completed and exchanged a questionnaire purportedly designed familiarize them with one another. Based on this Snfnrmr t n rhPI 4-1p.~a~ A7; r0t ri-F -4 r tn Glr; t~ l WP rP ri jj j-jr exchanged. course, only the actual participant performed these tasks, and he was to believe that receiver wrote a negative evaluation. Subsequently, the ESP phase began, consisting of trials in which the receiver made 5 correct of punishment incorrect was responses. recorded as Participants' his aggression delivery index. As expected, participants' aggression toward male receivers was not correlated with any of the predictor variables except self-reported history aggression, they administered equal amounts of punishment to men and women. Contrary to expectations regarding traditionality, scores were correlated with participants' aggression indices. However, several measures did predict more punishment women. These included indications dominance as a sexuality motive, acceptance of interpersonal violence, vignettes penile during tumescence Phase response , higher to the scores on a rape psychoticism scale, and self-reported history sexual aggression (Malamuth, 1988). above findings are not surprising as one might think, since "ESP experiment" not the type of social situation in which traditional sex-role expectations apply. Indeed, although violence toward women in a socially unapproved situation might run counter to traditional hs 1 sfg Us ffrlnon rc 4-i--ti 4-i- I~r 11A4 111W' ,nr~ 'r r~lna~ 1 QRnnro J will upon female receivers: Likelihood to reward female receivers was inversely correlated with SRS score. This relationship was found for of the other predictors, suggesting that the adverse effects of traditionality are especially linked to social sanctions. Although the use of such behavioral-dependent variables rare reported literature, several studies have examined the effects of traditionality on attitudes regarding the justifiability of date and acquaintance rape. In many of these studies, factors that have been shown affect such attitudes are manipulated; for a brief discussion of such factors, please refer to following section on factors perceived as justifying rape such study (Muehlenhard al. 1985) involved date rape vignettes read by male participants. Eleven scenarios were created by manipulating who initiated the date (he did, hinted a desire to go out, she did), the dating activity (a religious function, a movie, apartment), and who paid paid, dutch treat) Participants read all vignettes. The experiment required participants to respond to a question regarding the justifiability of rape, and also to complete the AWS. was revealed that participants were more likely to view the rape as justifiable when the date took place in the nr~~ In,, antt a C nmnn cr4~ a 1 CT1 flh1~ m~nl~ ~n~rtmnnt were more likely to view the rape as justifiable than when the man initiated. Also, an interaction between dating activity and initiator revealed that rape was rated as most justifiable when the woman had asked the man out and they had gone to his apartment. Rape was rated as least justifiable when he had asked her out, regardless of dating activity, function, or if regardless they of who had gone to a initiated. religious When the man paid for the date, rape was rated as more justifiable than when the date was dutch treat. Finally, traditional men rated rape as more justifiable than nontraditional men, only when woman had asked the man or hinted a desire go out; this was especially true when they went to a movie or the man's apartment (Muehlenhard et al., 1985). In an analogous study employing both male and female participants, Muehlenhard (1988) obtained similar results. Traditional participants rated rape as more justifiable then nontraditional participants across all situations; this was especially true for traditional men. When woman initiated date and when the man paid for the date, ratings of justifiability increased more for the traditional participants than their less traditional counterparts, especially for male participants when the man paid. Finally, when the woman initiated the date, traditional n~r C~: A~~I - ,1 -- 1--- --- 4 t, ,, ii I ,,,, In mrrmA A similar relationship been found in which men with "macho" "callous sex" attitudes, such "get a woman drunk do whatever want, " report more sexual aggression than men with ess "macho" attitudes. Additionally, men with more "macho" attitudes expressed less negative guided emotion imagery more procedure sexual in which arousal they when imagined experiencing committing rape (Mosher Anderson, 1986). Whereas studies employing experimental manipulations are most typical of efforts to investigate role traditionality with respect rape, have look scores of individuals with histories sexual aggre ssion such study (Scott Tetreault, 1986) administered to 20 convicted rapists, men convi cted violent nonsexual crimes, noncriminal men. rapi were significantly more traditional than each of the other groups areas including dating sexual behavior. Similarly, studies already discussed in detail in the section concerning myth acceptance Muehlenhard Linton (1987 Koralewski and Conger (1992) found that men engaged sexual aggression were more traditional than other men according SRS, respectively. Traditional sex-role stereotyping seems to play r1 mU2 - --, I.. _ r I 1r rape situations, that affect the perceived justifiability of sexual aggression (Muehlenhard, 1988; Muehlenhard et al., 1985) . Therefore, a brief examination of some of these factors and their effects on behavior rape-supportive attitudes and is now appropriate. Factors Perceived as Justifying Kane It has already been mentioned that both male and female participants may be more likely to perceive rape as justifiable if they feel that woman led the man (Muehlenhard MacNaughton, 1988; Muehlenhard et al., 1985) ; this was also true of high school boys in a study cited by Muehlenhard et al. (1985) Because of situational ambiguity already discussed e.g., Bridges, 1991), plausible situation. that such However b behavior is this does more likely not mean that in a the dating woman must "tease" the man in order for the rape to be perceived justified. In fact, rape has been viewed as more justified when the date occurs in the man's apartment or a movie theater as opposed to a religious function, when woman as opposed the man initiates the date, and when the man pays for the date as opposed to a dutch treat (Muehlenhard, 1988; Muehlenhard et al. 1985) . Rape has also been viewed as more justifiable when woman has slept with others already, when says yet, does push the man away, t aila eon ha nVA\rf ( 4- r, c nfl .-a s ihn C: a tlh a n t h a is nr in 1 a (.th nn Chn nhrrn in P in a marriage (Feltey et al. 1991); these beliefs are closely linked with belief rape myths (Harrison et al., 1991). Perhaps more revealing is Kanin's (1985 discovery that of 71 date justified rapists under ce surveyed; rtain 86% believed that conditions, rape especially when can be the woman is a "tease" "economic exploiter. This contrasts sharply with of control participants shared this belief. Additionally, Muehlenhard and Linton (1987) found that several justifying factors identified in literature are, indeed, risk factors actual sexual aggression. Consistent with prior research, participant- reported dates involving sexual aggression were more likely than nonaggressive dates to have been paid for by the man, to have involved the man's driving, and to have involved miscommunication between the man and woman. With respect latter, both male female participants indicated that the man had felt led on; however, male participants felt that the women had led them on participants saw this intentionally, as unintentional. while Moreover, female although women reported less of intercourse during a desire sexually sexual aggressive dates, contact men and perceived their partners wanting sexual contact more and intercourse just as much during such dates. latter were also more likely to involve heavy alcohol use, a factor also associated with perceived justifiability of date rape (Muehlenhard & Linton, 1987). Finally, a recent study (Cornett Shuntich, 1991) corroborates earlier findings that both men and women will perceive date rape as justified under certain conditions. questionnaire was administered to female and 59 male participants. first part asked them to respond to one of six date rape vignettes that varied according to the location of the date's final destination (man's, woman's, friend's apartment) and whether the man paid or the date was dutch rather, treat. scenario did not participants were asked to culminate indicate rape; likelihood that the man would force intercourse. rest of the questionnaire involved several other attitudinal items, well as an item asking whether the male and female participants had ever engaged in forced sex or been victims forced sex, respectively. As expected, men saw forced sex as more justified when the man paid for the date. Surprisingly, women indicated the opposite, finding forced sex slightly more justified in the dutch treat situation. Women were also more likely than men to estimate that the scenario would end in rape, and this was especially victimized. likely Victimized women for women were also more had been likely than nnnvictt i mm tn rate II n f 'fnrrp i11I: tiri (Cnrnsl-1 1 1 1 /-I " self-blame common in victims of date and acquaintance rape, often resulting in long-term trauma (e.g., Miller Marshall, 1987). With the caveat that the direction of causality to be established, findings such those just discussed should permit a better appreciation that the perception of certain factors justifying rape can contribute to both the occurrence and devastating effects of rape. Moreover, the preceding review indicates that there are several additional factors that have been linked to date and acquaintance rape situations. These include belief in rape myths, situation blame of as an victim, incidence of failure rape, to perceive and sex-role stereotyping/traditionality. Importantly, effects of one of others. these may be mediated by Unfortunately, few attempts or all have been made discover whether possible to design interventions that can attenuate the effects of these variables. Following a discussion of efforts that have been made. Interventions/Psvchoeducation Several investigators, after discovering that several attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions may be predictive of date and acquaintance rape behavior, have recently urged that psychoeducational efforts be made to change such *4 a n 'ann -~~~ l .ir. iL'Ia- a -r~- ,I.A~ -r ri C~ rrlnlm~n, 1 V: hYnn r r h r nvr uul have attempted to directly and systematically address issue by designing and testing interventions this (Borden et al., 1988; Gilbert et al., 1991), results seem promising and will be discussed shortly. Perhaps the most appropriate place to start is a study by Hamilton and Yee (1990) that examined whether educational rape-prevention programs would be effective. investigate whether greater rape knowledge was associated with a lower likelihood of rape-supportive attitudes and potential behavior, male and the authors female administered a undergraduates. questionnaire to 115 Several measures were included to ascertain participants' knowledge of aversivene s rape for the victim and the subsequent trauma involved, well their attitudes toward rape and, for men, self-reported likelihood of raping they would not be caught. Consistent with prior research (e.g., Briere Malamuth, 1983) , of the men indicated at least some likelihood of raping if they would not be caught. However, men with greater knowledge of the aversiveness and trauma rape were significantly less likely to indicate such likelihood; these men al possessed fewer rape-supportive attitudes than those with less knowledge. Moreover, while women as a whole possessed greater rape knowledge than men, 4-hrncn rt th r -n fr i+ O ,n' a a ra ttlr .t% 1a 1 Ira l hnl L n n r.r 1 a rl nn nra;r~ar I.th rn 3 1 o n Ihnn b findings suggest that increasing a person's knowledge of the seriousness of rape might alter their attitudes and/or behavior. Despite educational temptation interventions to believe that would be effective, well-designed conclusions cannot be drawn until such treatments are administered. Interestingly, one of first studies that demonstrated such effectiveness did so unintentionally. Malamuth and Check (1984), in a response to criticism that studies pornography might lead to increased adherence to rape myths, subjected vignette each that of 77 male and portrayed either female a stranger undergraduates rape to a or consenting intercourse scenario. Subsequent to reading the rape vignette, participants educate them about received a rape dispel debriefing designed rape myths. ethical reasons, available. a nondebriefing days later, control participant s group was not responded to myth- based questions regarding a newspaper article dealing with an acquaintance rape situation; this was imbedded with three other articles in a "Public Survey Regarding Legal Decis ions. It was discovered that participants who had read the rape vignette were less likely than participants consenting-intercourse condition in a myth-consistent manner, to respond to assigning less the article responsibility read the rape scenario and was not debriefed, the authors concluded that the combination of rape vignette and debriefing actually lessened participants ' adherence to rape myths (Malamuth & Check, 1984) . course, is also possible that the debriefing itself was capable of dispelling myths; participants Fortunately, unfortunately, the consenting was not administered to intercourse condition. the authors performed an extension of the preceding study in order to answer this question (Check Malamuth, Check 1984) (1984 The design experiment; was however, similar to the Malamuth and an acquaintance rape vignette followed by a debriefing was added, was a consenting intercourse vignette followed by a rape debriefing. Results indicated that both male and female participants depiction, had been exposed in contrast to the to participants acquaintance in either rape of the consenting intercourse conditions, assigned less responsibility to victim newspaper article gave rapist a longer prison sentence. However, this difference was not found between the stranger rape condition consenting-intercourse conditions, there were no such differences between consent ing-intercourse conditions. was asserted that an educational debriefing, when related to the content vignette follows (the debriefing dealt with beliefs usually associated with acquaintance rape situations), is maximally effective when paired with an exposure to an actual example of rape. Unfortunately, a more recent test of an intervention designed to alter rape-related attitudes met with less success (Borden et al., 1988) . Fifty male and female undergradua acceptance tes responded to a questionnaire assessing their of rape myths and ability to empathize with both rapists victims. Half of the participants then listened to a 45-minute seminar on rape awareness and prevention, consisting legal definitions of rape, biographical descriptions of "typical" rapist, rape trauma syndrome, and prevention strategies. Four weeks later, participants again completed the questionnaire. Contrary to expectations, results indicated that there were no significant changes in attitude nor ability to empathize either group. was concluded that interventions using only didactic methods, such as dispelling rape myths, may be insufficient (Borden et al., 1988) . Indeed, already been demonstrated that least some modicum of experiential learning, which participant vicariously exposed to a date rape situation, be necessary such efforts to succeed, even if this only involves reading a rape scenario (Check Malamuth, 1984). Tn nrder tn test the effects of such learning, Lee both teenagers and adult men. These workshops consisted of four parts and were administered on a college campus to 24 undergraduate men. Part involved 20 minutes of didactic presentation regarding rape myths and facts, with time reserved for questions. male In Part presenter with whom the lasting participants 40 minutes, were asked to identify read a detailed account of being raped that could have been his own experience. Participants then discussed their reactions, with an emphasis on feelings. In Part participants were engaged in a imagined themselves guided as observers as fantasy their in which roommates they coerced a date into having intercourse against her will; this was designed to make participants more aware of date rape links to more violent rape. Finally, Part involved discussion of participants responses workshop as a whole. After ruling out pretest sensitization effects, was discovered that participants' attitudes were significantly less rape-supportive after the intervention (Lee, 1987) receive Unfortunately, intervention a control was group that included this did not study; therefore, is possible that any number of extraneous variables, such as participant history or maturation, have accounted for the observed change. In addition, attitudes women were not addressed; this important reasons discussed in first chanter. A more internally valid experiment using both male and female participants has examined the effectiveness of intervention-targeting attitudes and perceptions regarding rape (Johnson Russ, 1989) . Eighty male and 80 female participants who believed they were engaging in a "stimuli- impression" study initially viewed a videotape of three speeches purportedly delivered by students in a speech class. first speeches were same for all participants. For the control participants, the third speech dealt participants, with school involvement. third speech contemporary mistreatment For the experimental concerned the historical and of women for the experimental group; rape was not directly addressed. The authors chose this speech as an intervention to reduce demand bias. same reason, participants were then asked to judge auditory stimuli. Finally, participants read three passages, one of which was either stranger or acquaintance rape vignette, and responded to several dependent measures. As anticipated, participants in the experimental group blamed the victim les s and saw her as experiencing less enjoyment than control participants; however, this difference was significant only for participants in the acquaintance rape condition. This was probably a function of the ambiguity of the latter. The authors asserted that educational information has a greater effect on the already attributed less blame and enjoyment to the stranger rape victim, there was less room for change. Experimental men also controls, indicated a lower regardless of likelihood of type rape. raping than Finally, while men perceived the victim as experiencing more enjoyment and blamed her more than did women, there were no interactions between sex treatment (Johnson Russ, 1989). indirect nature of the intervention as well as lack of additional dependent variables casts doubt on whether the observed differences would endure. Therefore, effectiveness of this type of intervention is unclear, although does warrant further investigation of related interventions. such inquiry (Feltey et al., 1991) involved efficacy of a 45-minute presentation delivered to 118 male female high school students. The basic goal this didactic "date rape prevention lecture" (DRP) was emphasize view that date rape is an extension current sex-role socialization practices and to caution students about seriousness. Immediately prior to and 6 weeks after hearing the DRP, participants completed a survey assessing sexual ag their gression attitudes regarding (defined as a man justifiability of forcing a woman engage in a range of sexual behaviors), depending on circumstances such as spent more than $40 on her" was revealed that the DRP was relatively effective in producing attitude change. In general, attitudes regarding pretest t justifiability o posttest of sexual aggression decreased from for both men and women. This was especially true for men; prior to the DRP, men were more likely than women to agree that sexual aggression justified in certain circumstances, while this difference disappeared for most circumstances at posttest. exceptions were situations in which woman goes man's house when parents are not home, as well as when woman stoned or drunk (Feltey et al., 1991). Nevertheless, the general success of this intervention with both men and women indicates that it may be possible counter the effects of sex-role stereotyping through education. In a related study investigating the possibility of changing attitudes concerning date and acquaintance rape, Harrison et al. (1991) had 51 female and 45 male undergraduates rate their agreement with 5 myth-related items This was administered both as a pretest and posttest for three groups of participants (one served as a control) and as a posttest experimental experimental groups groups only for two groups, and one viewed a control 7-minute a total group. four four video that consisted nf mr i-a n~l 4rr cS C. r% -N. l QTas 11 II*I I I~ir* 'Pd! *%rXjt* r a orsna rn r th pmp~ send mixed messages (scenario-only intervention). Two of these groups then participated in 45-minute facilitated discussion sessions that linked the video to issues regarding date and acquaintance rape (scenario-plus- discussion intervention). was revealed that, after either intervention, pretested men indicated a decreased belief advocating victim blame and denial that statements rape occurs. addition, male participants exposed to either treatment as compared agree with scenario to control men such themselves were statements; were at posttest appears sufficient less that to produce likely to video and the desired change. In contrast, precluded any women's significant initially change or low agreement differences. Finally, there were pretest effects, with pretested treatment groups blaming the victim less and denying the occurrence of rape less at posttest than their posttest-only counterparts (Harrison et al., 1991) Perhaps the most encouraging few date and acquaintance rape attitude change studies was recently reported by Gilbert (1991), who employed a theory- based psychoeducational intervention. Seventy-five male undergraduates from two universities were pretested with Burt 's (1980) Acceptance Interpersonal Violence, Adversarial Sexual Be liefs. Rane Myth Annentan e. and Sex- combined into a single attitude score. Participants were also pretested with Cacioppo and Petty's (1982) Need for Cognition Scale assess their trait motivation to think about intervention, and were surveyed regarding their sexual experiences; there were no differences between two universities' participants regarding any measures, although overall attitudes were less supportive of sexual aggression than in past research (Gilbert et al., 1991). intervention was grounded in Petty and Cacioppo's (1986) elaboration likelihood model (ELM) of attitude change. According to attitude change. the ELM, Central route there ar change rou involves tes to thoughtful elaboration of the topic and content of a persuasive argument, while peripheral route change involves use of simple decision rules or cues associated with the argument. Importantly, former will occur only recipient the argument about possesses and these the motivation and ability to resulting thoughts must think favorable toward the espoused message. The authors Gilbert et al., 1991) attempted to design an intervention that would maximize such motivation, ability, and thought favorability, since central route change is more persistent, resistent later counterpersuasion, influential of related h1c-ahnr4 nr One to 2 weeks after the pretest, half participants were presented with this hour-long intervention consisting arguments in favor of rejecting interpersonal violence, rape myths, adversarial sexual beliefs, and male dominance. A man and a woman presented the arguments directly to participants played vignettes in both didactic in order to maximize form and role their motivation think about points made. In order to facilitate ability, vocabulary and message complexity appropriate to an adult audience were selected, key points were repeated, intervention content was summarized at the end of presentation Finally, thought favorability was promoted by stressing the negative intrapsychic and social consequences accepting interpersonal violence, rape myths, adversarial sexual beliefs, and male dominance (Gilbert al., 1991). Immediately following the intervention, experimental participants again responded four attitude scales, well as ancillary items designed to assess their motivation, ability , and thought favorability regarding the presentation. Additionally, they were contacted by phone one month later an experimenter posing as a member newly formed student group who read a script regarding proposed women's amount up was safety projects script recorded, and asked for volunteers. participants was their willingness heard before hanging to volunteer. C1 favorability toward the appeal. Control participants underwent the same procedure but did not receive any intervention (Gilbert et al., 1991). It was discovered that experimental participants changed their attitudes in the desired direction significantly more than controls. They were also more willing to listen to the phone appeal and made more favorable comment s regarding the proposed projects. Moreover, least one of each of the measures motivation, ability, and thought favorability predicted attitude change, although several did not (Gilbert al. 1991). Before outlining the goals of the present investigation, one should realize that two of three studies just discussed (Feltey et al., 1991; Harrison al. 1991) leave some doubt about whether the attitude change induced by the interventions will endure. Because attitudinal to the items were administered interventions, possible immediately that subsequent relatively transient change was reflected in participant responses. contrast, the Gilbert et al. (1991) study employed a delayed behavioral measure that may well have indicated more long- lasting change. Although such discoveries are promising, one must keep 4 .- -: A A 4- '1-k 4- 5-5" I,,, I S,1 r .r rrn r* rr~ L L~ LL individuals who are more likely to rape or be raped in dating situations. Indeed, Gilbert et al. (1991) admitted that their sample was supportive of sexual aggression as was expected and suggested that participants with more rape-supportive initial attitudes be targeted in future research. Additionally, the Gilbert et al. (1991) Harrison et al. (1991) studies did not -include female participants, overlooking an important source of reducing rape its negative consequences. Therefore, unknown whether is possible to change the behaviorally relevant attitudinal responses of both traditional men and traditional women. Rationale and Hypotheses Present Study In an attempt to answer this question, present investigation intervention (1991) examined identical on both men and women the effects of an attitude change to the one employed by Gilbert have been et al. categorized according to role their stereotyping degree of (although adherence nontraditional traditional sex- participants are not expected to "high risk" , they were included to be certain that intervention was properly implemented) To determine participants' success of degree of intervention, rape-supportive attitudes prior to and after the intervention was assessed. In addition, n~r1-t 4' cr' ~? n nnt-c rocnnncoQ ( I. ~-3 -i--- F I- ra -nro x.,o ro rr n c\ it cr u degree of ambiguity in order to test intervention in a stringent manner. Evidence linking these measures to sexual aggression or victimization has already been presented (Briere Malamuth, 1983; Check & Malamuth, 1983; Jenkins Dambrot, 1987; Koralewski Conger, 1992; Muehlenhard & Linton, 1987; Quackenbush, 1989) . To more directly examine participants ' history of sexual aggression or victimization, they also completed the Sexual Experiences Survey (Koss Oros, 1982 Finally, in order to determine attitude change would be enduring a whether any observed nd behaviorally relevant, a phone appeal procedure identical that employed in the Gilbert et al. (1991) study was administered to all participants one month after the presentation. groups, there was a no-intervention control group. Based upon literature reviewed, following hypotheses were offered: For both men and women, traditionality would be positively correlated with pre-intervention rape myth acceptance well as with history of sexual aggression victimization. groups that received intervention, contrast to their no-intervention greater decrease in their controls, acceptance of would exhibit a rape myths and would S * * longer to the phone appeal, make more favorable comments regarding the proposed projects, and volunteer more time assist with projects. Traditionality would be related attitudes and phone appeal would be a more powerful a strong predictor responses. predictor than rape- Specifically, rape myth acceptance as well as history of sexual aggression or victimization. Participants ' traditionality would not be a function of their history of sexual aggression victimization. powerful As evidence, predictor traditionality would be a more rape-related attitudes and phone appeal responses than would be such history. CHAPTER METHODS Participants Participants undergraduate Florida. pretested consisted of psychology Participants' (along with s students at male and female University of rape-supportive attitudes severall were unrelated questionnaires) classroom setting with Burt's (1980) Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (RMAS), and their degree of traditionality was assessed with Burt's (1980) Sex-Role Stereotyping Scale (SRS) (Appendix A). Parti cipants were selected based on their pretested scores on the SRS, with participants high and low extremes being telephoned first. In order to safeguard against ethical problems arising from the fact that participants would be dealing with issues regarding rape, they were offered discontinuation of the study at any point. In addition, they were carefully debriefed. Finally, participants were informed that they would be offered a referral to the university counseling center they experienced any concern or discomfort. However, no participants expressed any concern or discomfort during the course of this investigation. Instruments Traditionalitv Burt's (1980) Sex-Role Stereotyping Scale (SRS) (Appendix A, items 1-9) was selected as a measure of traditional sex-role stereotyping. This was chosen due ease of administration as well as its relevance to sexual aggression and victimization (see Review of Literature). SRS consists of nine items that primarily assess beliefs regarding the nature of appropriate sexual social roles for women. Typical items include "A wife should never contradict husband in public" woman should be a virgin when she marries In a sample of male and female Minnesota residents, Burt (1980) found a internal consistency coefficient for this scale. present study found a internal consistency coefficient for this scale. Rape Myth Acceptance Burt (1980) Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (RMAS) (Appendix A, items 10-28) was selected as a measure of adherence typical myths about rape. with SRS, this was chosen to its ease of administration as well relevance to sexual aggression and victimization (see Review of Literature) RMAS consists of 19 items E1 evsn nf *6rA Ijpc thPSP justify rape or that place responsibility for on the woman. A typical item is the majority of rapes, victim is promiscuous or has a bad reputation. Participants respond to these items on a 7-point scale. items concern false reporting of rape, such as "What percentage of women report a rape would say are lying because they are angry and want to get back at the man they accuse?" a 5-point scale Participants r , "almost all, respond about to these 3/4, two about items half, using about 1/4, almost none. final six items ask participants to indicate how likely they would be to believe persons claimed they were raped. This question is asked regarding six different persons, and participants respond on a 5-point scale, "always, frequently, sometimes, rarely, never sample mentioned above, Burt (1980) found a internal consistency found a coefficient internal this consistency scale. coefficient The present for this study scale. Date Rape Vignette Participant responses to a vignette describing a date rape situation served as a measure of rape-supportive attitudes. Selected high degree of ambiguity, this was identical the more "suggestive" scenario employed by Muehlenhard and MacNaughton (1988) (Appendix C) After reading the vignette, participants answered several nrrh n : hn . 1 an I I a i--h -% I a ~, ., ,-' II ~ a r. a n 2 k - 1 *t" - n~r rct. II . c In Literature, responses to this type of vignette have been shown to be more rape-supportive for traditional individuals for victims of sexual aggression. Postintervention Attitudes Burt's (1980) Adversarial Sexual Beliefs (ASB) (Appendix D, items 10-18) and Acceptance of Interpersonal Violence MIV) (Appendix D, items 19-24) scales were selected as measures of postintervention rape-support ive attitudes. As with and RMAS, these was chosen to their ease administration as well their relevance to sexual aggression and victimization (see Review of the Literature) The ASB consists beliefs of nine regarding manipulation and is designed to assess "game-playing" by both men women in sexual relationships. Typical items include "Most women are and manipulating when they are to attract a man" "Men are for only one thing. AIV force, includes primarily items by men against regarding use women of physical in sexual relationships. A typical item is "Being roughed up sexually stimulating to many women. In Burt's (1980 sample, internal consistency coefficients were found for the ASB and AIV, respectively. present study found internal consistency coefficients for the ASB and AIV, respectively. Sexual Experience Sexual Experiences Survey (SES) Koss Oros, 1982) endix describes items sexual 50-62 women experiences 50-61 men, men) being a victim rape is excluded) ranging from mutually consensual intercourse rape. Respondents indicate they have these experi ences. This measure was used to dire ctly examine part cipants ' history of sexual aggression victimization. Phone Appeal Endurance behavioral relevance intervention effects was assessed using a proce dure identical to that employed participants Gilbert were et al. ephoned 1991) study. an experimenter, blind experimental condition, who posed as a member of a newly formed regarding student group proposed read women's a script safety (Appendix projects. Participants were to indicate much time they would volunteer. This was recorded on a Telephone Response Sheet Appendix was before amount hanging made. script number willingness listen part cipants of positive to the heard comment s appeal, they statements supportive project, number of hours volunteered served as dependent variables. Design and Procedures design was a fully crossed between- participants traditionality factorial. (ranging first from low to factor high); involved second involved sex (male, female); and the third involved the intervention (treatment, control). After being separated according to sex and traditionality, participants were assigned randomly to either the experimental group and completed the or control following procedure. Intervention Immediate Posttest Approximately weeks after completing the pretest, participants from the treatment group arrived and were seated at a campus individuals. These classroom in participants groups of then approximately received a psychoeducational intervention aimed at reducing rape- supportive attitudes, presented by a man and a woman and lasting approximately hour. intervention, identical to that employed in Gilbert et al. (1991) study, consisted of arguments in favor of rejecting interpersonal violence, rape myths, adversarial sexual beliefs, attitude change, and male dominance. techniques To induce were employed central route to enhance participants ' motivation and ability to think about arguments, as well to ensure that these thoughts would favorable rec rardinq the points made in the intervention. participants in both didactic form and role played vignettes in order to maximize motivation. vocabulary and message complexity To facilitate ability, .y appropriate to an adult audience were used; key points were repeated; intervention content was summarized at the end of the presentation. Finally, thought favorability was promoted by stressing the negative intrapsychic and social consequences of accepting interpersonal violence, rape myths, adversarial sexual beliefs, and male dominance. A transcript of this intervention, parentheses, with modifications can be female participants found in Appendix B. Immediately following the intervention, the presenters left room and an containing the posttest experimenter materials. handed When sealed booklets instructed to do participants opened the booklets to the first page and were given minutes to read the date rape vignette (Appendix C). After the minutes expired, participants were instructed to turn page and responded on a 0 to scale to questions referring to victim blame, rapist blame, victim desire rape; intercourse, questions were justifiability of used by Muehlenhard and MacNaughton (1988) After making their responses to the vignette, participants completed the measures on the following pages nf the hnnklet in ne fnllowiina order: Sex-Role Scale, Acceptance of Interpersonal Violence (AIV) Scale, Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (RMAS), and Sexual Experiences Survey (SES) (Appendix D). Participants were then debriefed about date the rape Control purposes (Appendix Immedia of the study and the negative aspects of E) and were dismissed. te Posttest in the Gilbert et al 1991) study, control participant s received and completed posttest measures identical to those administered to the treatment participants immediate ely upon arriving classroom. These participants did not receive intervention. After they completed the booklet, manner the treatment they were debriefed participants the same dismissed. Follow-UD Posttest One month after completing the immediate posttest measures, partic pants were telephoned by an experimenter were read the phone appeal script Appendix Their responses were recorded (Appendix G) and they were debriefed (Appendix F) CHAPTER 4 RESULTS Overview Based on the frequency distribution of pretest scores, five levels traditionality were created, each comprised of approximately 20 standard deviations, and ranges of the participants. (with Means, latter parentheses follows: 28.23 level 15.69, , 145, (26-30), through (9-19), , respectively, 22.77, 1.42, are as (20-25), (31-35), 40.29, .55, -49) Although SRS is a continuous measure, recently been demonstrated that appropriate to create discrete categories for a continuous variable (Rosenthal, least 1993 five of , personal such categories are created communication) In addition, several studies have treated traditionality a dichotomous variable (Coller Resick, 1987; Muehlenhard, 1988; Muehlenhard & MacNaughton, 1988). To examine relationships among the dependent variables, intercorrelations among all of the paper-and- pencil and phone appeal responses were performed; these are presented in Table Then, Pearson correlation -F S .. I 11 Table Correlation Coefficients/P-Values for Deoendent Variables 1 2 3. 4 5. 6 10 Post RMAS1 -.04 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 AIV2 -.07 .001 .001 .001 .001 ASB3 -.03 -.00 .007 --- Responsible .007 .30 .001 .001 .43 .001 .001 .35 .001 Mike -.03 Responsible .001 .001 Wants .001 Mike .08 -.05 Justified Amount of Time Volunteered Amount Heard .009 - -- Call .001 Favorable Comment 1Posttest 2Attitudes Rape Myth Acceptance Toward Interpersonal Scale Violence Scale 3Adversarial Sexual Beliefs Scale women, traditionality pretestt score) would be positively correlated with preintervention rape myth Next, multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVAs) followed by univariate analyses multivariate effects (ANOVAs) were used to test of all part significant of Hypothesis groups that received the intervention, in contrast their no-intervention controls, would make less rape- supportive responses on posttest paper-and-pencil measures. Chi-square analyses were used to test a second part of Hypothesis Compared to controls, experimental participants would listen longer to phone appeal, make more favorable comments regarding the proposed projects, volunteer more time to assist with the projects. This type of analysis was more appropriate than a parametric approach because of low variability in participants' responses phone appeal. Finally, repeated measures analyses of variance (ANOVAs were used to test a final part Hypothesis groups that received the intervention, contrast to their no-intervention controls, would exhibit greater decrease their acceptance of rape myths. Multivariate analyses variance (MANOVAs) followed by univariate analyses (ANOVAs) of all significant multivariate effects were used to test part of Hypothesis Traditionality would be a strong predictor of rape-related attitudes. This type of analysis was followed by planned Tukey s HSD tests applied to all significant univariate a F ar'+- e r F~~i a +-a rd -4l n-as nt n fl a-fo a b / /Ih: I 7\n r.r: Ck ~n cr tc~ *^ ~^/" traditionality on participants' phone appeal responses. Multivariate anal yses covariance (MANCOVAs) were used to test a final part of Hypothesis participants' traditionality would be a more powerful predictor of rape- related attitudes and phone appeal responses than would be rape myth acceptance. Finally, multivariate analyses of covariance (MANCOVAs) were used to test Hypothesis Participants' traditionality would not be a function of their history of sexual aggression or victimization. Because of the conceptual independence of independent variables, type as opposed to type sums squares served criteria all MANOVAs, MANCOVAs, and ANOVAs. Hypothesis 1 To examine relationship between men's and women's traditionality pretestt score their rape myth acceptance pretestt RMAS score) well their history sexual aggression or victimization (SES score), Pearson correlation coefficients were generated. As predicted, pretest was positively correlated with pretest RMAS both men, .47, <. 0001, women, AC - -if. * a-, <.0001. Contrary to predictions, pretest SRS was correlated with for men, r=.14, was ;. 1, negatively correlated with SES for women, .21, p.05. Hypothesis 2 Because of the high degree of intercorrelation among 10 dependent variables, traditionalityy) (treatment/control) sex) multivariate analysis variance (MANOVA) was used as a conservative statistical approach to examine the effects of independent variables. treatment, The MANOVA F(10,216)=1 .71, yielded significant main p<.05, effects traditionality, F(40,821) .64, p<.0001, sex, F(10, 216)=5.84, <. 0001, warranting univariate analyses of these effects. interactions were significant. Race-Related Posttest Attitudes Individual for treatment o ANOVAs revealed significant main n participants' scores effects the RMAS, F (1,225)=5 .62, and AIV, F(1, )=4 .74, pcz.05, not on the ASB. Significant main effects for treatment were also found for part: icipants' vignette responses, concerning Amy's responsibility, F(1, 225)=6. Mike's responsibility, sex, El1, E(1,225)=3 .78, .19, R<.05, wt.O and Amy's desire justifiability of Mike's actions (see Table These results partially support hypothesis that participants heard the presentation would exhibit less rape-supportive attitudes than participants who did not hear the nra ea'tCl 4 rt~tn p< 01, p<.ol, Table Dependent Variable Means and Standard Deviations: Treatment Treatment Control Posttest 40.11 11.20 42.10 11.45* RMAS1 AIV2 5.37* ASB3 7.69 2.69* Responsible Mike 0.59 1.21 1.24* Responsible 1.51 1.76 .11* Wants Mike 1.68 1.85 Justified Amount of Time 1.02 1.27 0.66 1.24 Volunteer Amount Heard of Call Favorable 2.89 0.43 2.94 0.50 0.34 0.24 0.48 Comment 1Posttest 2Attitudes Rape Myth Acceptance Scale Toward Interpersonal Violence Scale 3Adversarial Sexual Beliefs *denotes significant Scale difference between means Note: For first "Mike Justified") SUDDOrtive seven variables , higher scores res fnonse l1~4 K:1 t. *.LU ., ("Posttest represent three RMAS more variable. - through rape- 1 power SnTres I . Phone Appeal Responses Chi-square tests were used to determine the differential likelihood of volunteering any time for the proposed women's safety projects (irrespective of length of time) between treatment participants' and control willingness participants. volunteer, other words, as opposed to amount time volunteered, was examined. Results indicated that treatment volunteer than was group was the control significantly more group, likely to (df=1)=9.06, with 63 of 126 treatment participants volunteering some time, compared to only control participants. However, participants treatment group, compared to controls, did not demonstrate a greater likelihood of making any positive comments regarding the phone appeal nor did they listen longer to the appeal. Repeated Measures To test the hypothesis that treatment would decrease participants' adherence to rape myths, a repeated measures analysis of variance was performed. The ANOVA revealed a significant decrease in RMAS score from pretest to posttest, F(1,243)=7.54, pec.O05. Moreover, a significant RMAS treatment interaction, F(1, 243)=3 .04, B4(*Q5, indicated that the decrease among participants who had heard the presentation was greater than the decrease among those who - a S -S E< 01, I r .r .. i Table 3 Means and Standard Deviations for Repeated Measure: Rape Myth Acceptance Treatment Control Pretest 42.52 12.05 42.64 11.38 RMAS1 Posttest 40.11 11.20 42.10 11.45 RMASi 1Rape Myth Acceptance Scale Hypothesis 3 reported in relation to Hypothesis a MANOVA yielded a significant main effect for traditionality, warranting univariate analyses of the effects of traditionality. Rape-Related Posttest Attitudes Individual ANOVAs revealed significant main effects traditionality on participants' scores RMAS, ,225 )=9.04, n<.0001, AIV, F(4,225)=6.81, <. 0001, and ASB, ,225 .94, fl4,oool. Significant main effects traditionality were also found for participants' "I vignette responses, - / flflr -^ concerning a Amy's response I I 1 . ibility, E J(4,225)=4 .26, of Mike's actions, E(4,225)=4.60, w<.001 (see Table These results support the notion that participants with high traditionality, more as indicated by pretest rape-supportive attitudes than scores, participants with exhibit lower traditionality. To examine more closely the effects of the five levels traditionality on the dependent measures, Tukey's studentized range (HSD) analyses were performed. resulting comparisons of means for the main effects traditionality are presented in Table Phone Appeal Responses Chi-square tests revealed no significant main effects for traditionality on participants' favorable comments regarding the proposed projects, time volunteered to assist with projects, nor amount of time spent listening to the phone appeal. Rape Myth Acceptance as Mediator of Main Effects To test powerful the hypothesis predictor of that traditionality would be a rape-related attitudes and phone appeal responses, independent rape myth acceptance (as measured by pretest RMAS scores , a 5 traditionalityy) (treatment/control ) (sex) multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was performed. Pretest RMAS served covariate. was demonstrated that treatment, Table Dependent Variable Means: Traditionality Level of Traditionality = most traditional) Posttest 33.46 37.52 44.21 42.34 47.86 RMAS1 AIV2 10.25 11.31 13.32 15.82 ASB3 20.44 27.16 30.31 2.94 4.39 Responsible Mike 0.40 0.69 *1.35 Responsible 1.60 2.02 2.61 Wants Mike 0.38 1.13 0.77 1.73 Justified Amount Time 0.83 1.00 1.12 0.50 0.71 Volunteered Amount Heard of Call 2.89 2.94 Favorable 0.46 0.46 0.27 0.47 Comment 1Posttest 2Attitude Rape Myth Acceptance Scale Toward Interpersonal Violence Scale 3Adversarial Sexual Beliefs Scale Table 4--continued. denotes significantly different traditionality mean denotes < alpha significantly different traditionality mean denotes < alpha significantly different traditionality mean denotes < alpha significantly different traditionality mean denotes < alpha significantly different traditionality mean < alpha from level .05) from level .05) from level .05) from level .05) from level .05) Note: For first s "Mike Justified"), supportive ;even variables higher responses. scores last ("Posttest RMAS I, represent more three variables, through rape- lower scores represent more rape-supportive responses. effects despite pretest RMAS being covaried out. This supports the hypothesis that traditionality a strong predictor of the dependent measures and not simply a function rape myth acceptance. Hypothesis 4 History of of Main Sexual Effects Aggression or Victimization as Mediator To further test the hypothesis that traditionality would be a p appeal powerful predictor responses, of rape-related attitudes and phone to discover whether participants traditionality could be a function of their history of sexual aggression or victimization, a second 5 traditionalityy) (treatment/control) (sex) multivariate analysis of E(10,228)=1.82, traditionality, E(40,866)=2.43, fl<.OOO1, and sex, E(10,228)=5.72, D<.0001, retained their main effects despite SES being covaried out. This further supports the hypothesis that traditionality a strong predictor of the dependent measures and indicates the improbability that participants' traditionality is a function of their history of sexual aggression or victimization. Additional Rape-Related Posttest Findings: Attitudes Individual ANOVAs revealed significant main effects sex on participants' scores on the RMAS, F(1,225)=38 .81, 2<. 0001, e.o5. AIV, However, F(1,225)=8 .63, significant and ASB, main effects F(1,225)=4 sex .96, were not found for the participants' vignette responses (see Table These results support the notion that male participants, compared female participants, exhibit more rape-supportive attitudes when they are assessed in survey form. However, this difference apparent when participants are responding to an ambiguous date rape vignette. Phone Appeal Responses Chi-square tests revealed that women were significantly more likely to volunteer for the proposed projects than were men, (df=l)=4 .11, o<.05, with 58 of female participants .. 1 --- n -- 4 .-.- --L 'I 12<. 05r E< 005, -- ___ r- ,, J 1 nn r~n L |