TY - JOUR
T1 - Acquaintance rape
T2 - Effective avoidance strategies
AU - Levine-Maccombie, Joyce
AU - Koss, Mary P.
N1 - Funding Information:
The manuscript represents the doctoral dissertation of the first author under the direction of the second author. The consultation of Dr. Michele Paludi on several drafts of the manuscript is gratefully acknowledged. The data were collected and the manuscript was prepared while the second author was supported by grants from the National Center for the Prevention and Control of Rape. Requests for reprints should be sent to Mary P. Koss, Department of Psychology, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 44242.
PY - 1986/12
Y1 - 1986/12
N2 - To date, research on effective rape avoidance strategies has involved media-recruited, acknowledged rape victims and avoiders, most of whom were assaulted by total strangers. In the present study, rape avoidance research was extended to a sample of acquaintance rape victims and avoiders who were located by a self-report survey that identified women who both do and do not conceptualize their assaults as rape. The study's goal was to determine whether acknowledged rape victims, unacknowledged rape victims, and rape avoiders could be discriminated by situational variables including the response strategies used in the assault. Victims and avoiders were significantly discriminated. Compared to rape victims, avoiders (1) were less likely to have experienced passive or internalizing emotions at the time of the assault, (2) perceived the assault as less violent, and (3) were more likely to have utilized active response strategies (i.e., running away and screaming). The results suggest that the major findings of existing research on stranger rape avoidance are generalizable to acquaintance rape. However, concerns are expressed over methodological limitations of research on rape avoidance from the victim's perspective.
AB - To date, research on effective rape avoidance strategies has involved media-recruited, acknowledged rape victims and avoiders, most of whom were assaulted by total strangers. In the present study, rape avoidance research was extended to a sample of acquaintance rape victims and avoiders who were located by a self-report survey that identified women who both do and do not conceptualize their assaults as rape. The study's goal was to determine whether acknowledged rape victims, unacknowledged rape victims, and rape avoiders could be discriminated by situational variables including the response strategies used in the assault. Victims and avoiders were significantly discriminated. Compared to rape victims, avoiders (1) were less likely to have experienced passive or internalizing emotions at the time of the assault, (2) perceived the assault as less violent, and (3) were more likely to have utilized active response strategies (i.e., running away and screaming). The results suggest that the major findings of existing research on stranger rape avoidance are generalizable to acquaintance rape. However, concerns are expressed over methodological limitations of research on rape avoidance from the victim's perspective.
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U2 - 10.1111/j.1471-6402.1986.tb00756.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1471-6402.1986.tb00756.x
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84965729014
SN - 0361-6843
VL - 10
SP - 311
EP - 320
JO - Psychology of Women Quarterly
JF - Psychology of Women Quarterly
IS - 4
ER -