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Sexual Assault

Determinants of Victim Disclosure

Auburn University

Barry R. Burkhart

Auburn University

This study was designed to assess the social and attitudinal determinants of victim willingness to define and / or report a sexual assault as a rape to various groups. It was hypothesized that those incidents most closely resembling the social stereotype of rape would be most readily defined as a rape and, therefore, most likely to be reported. One hundred and twelve female undergraduate students were randomly assigned within a 2 x 2 x 2 factoral design to read a one-paragraph description of a situation involving a sexual assault and respond to a questionnaire assessing their belief that the situation was a rape and their willingness to report the event to a friend, a doctor, and/or the police. The situations were varied by having two levels of each of the three factors involved in the social stereotype of rape (prior relationship, degree of violence, and degree of victim responsibility for placing herself in the assault situation). The degree of force used was the most powerful determinant of an assault being defined as rape and of reporting the event to others. Having no prior acquaintance with the assailant also produced more willingness to report the assault to police.

Criminal Justice and Behavior, Vol. 7, No. 2, 229-236 (1980)
DOI: 10.1177/009385488000700208


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