A Pre-Post Evaluation of the Sexual Communication and Consent Training Program in United States Air Force Basic Military Training, 2019–2020

Preventing sexual assault in the United States (U.S.) military is essential to safeguard the overall well-being of military personnel and support the military to function in alignment with its intended mission and objectives. Valid instruments are needed to accurately and reliably evaluate programming effectiveness. The goal of this research was to psychometrically assess measures used to evaluate the Sexual Communication and Consent (SCC) program within the Air Force Basic Military Training (BMT) context. We evaluated four measures used to assess the SCC program implemented at Air Force BMT in 2019-2020: Date Rape Attitudes, Self-Efficacy to Resist Unwanted Advances, Risky and Protective Dating Behaviors, and Bystander Intentions. The analytic sample included 7,126 BMT trainees (74% male). We assessed structural validity with exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). We used full information maximum likelihood estimation with robust standard errors in Mplus. We refined each scale based on factor analysis results and assessed internal consistency reliability by computing Cronbach's coefficient alpha for each scale in the overall sample, by sex, and by tailored SCC intervention group. We identified a two-factor structure for the Date Rape Attitudes scale; subscale reliability was moderate within the overall sample and among males, though low among females. We found single-factor structures and excellent reliability for both the Self-Efficacy to Resist Unwanted Advances scale and the Bystander Intentions scale. The Dating Behaviors scale CFA did not confirm the two-factor solution suggested by the EFA, but subscale reliability was acceptable. This research fills a critical gap in the psychometric literature in military settings. Based on our findings, we recommend approaches for using the finalized scales in future evaluations of sexual assault prevention programming in the U.S. Air Force BMT setting.

The ABCs of caring for sexual assault patients

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)%%%%Sexting has been linked to a range of sexual behaviors, including sexual assault; however, the mechanism through which sexting increases the risk for sexual assault is unknown. One explanation for the role of sexting in sexual assault could be due to gender differences in sexting and sexual communication. The current study examined men’s and women’s perceptions of sexting as a form of communicating sexual intent and sexual consent, and how sexting influences attributions of responsibility and blame in sexual encounters and alleged sexual assault. Additionally, considering the role of alcohol in sexual assault, the study also examined how both sexting and alcohol influenced individuals’ perceptions of a sexual scenario. Method:Using a factorial vignette design, N = 525 college students (48.6% women; 71% Caucasian) were randomly assigned to one of four vignettes regarding a sexual scenario between a man and woman (John and Jennifer), with sexting and/or alcohol involved. Results: Significant differences in sexting vs. texting conditions were seen for perceptions of sexual intent (F = 147.28, p< .01) and sexual consent (F = 105.86, p< .01). Men were more likely to perceive that sexual consent was exchanged (F = 9.16, p< .01) and to interpret the sext as a consent cue (F = 7.82, p< .01). John was attributed more responsibility/blame across all conditions (F = 154.58, p< .01); however, Jennifer was attributed more blame in the sexting conditions (F = 9.16, p< .01). Conclusion: Results suggest that despite sexting as a signal of sexual interest, there are differences in how men and women perceive sexting as sexual consent, which may influence the risk for sexual assault. Additionally, there are differential effects of sexting for men vs. women, such that women may be judged more harshly for sexting, suggesting evidence of the sexual double standard. Results offer important implications for sexual assault prevention and sexual gender roles.

This study examined the process by which a web-based sexual violence (SV) prevention program (i.e., RealConsent) prevents SV perpetration and increases bystander behaviors. Data from 743 college men who participated in a randomized controlled trial were analyzed. Simple and multiple-mediation models were estimated, using several theoretical constructs to assess the mechanisms through which RealConsent produced significant effects on SV perpetration and prosocial bystander or intervening behaviors. The results indicated that knowledge of effective consent for sex, hostility toward women, date rape attitudes, and hyper-gender male ideology significantly mediated the effects of RealConsent on SV perpetration in the multiple-mediator model. Furthermore, intentions to intervene significantly mediated the effects of RealConsent on prosocial bystander behaviors in the multiple-mediator model. The results show that the RealConsent program works to prevent SV perpetration and prosocial bystander behaviors via several theoretically proposed mediators central to the development and content of the program. The results also provide strong evidence that SV and bystander education for college men may benefit from including an explicit focus on decreasing negative norms related to women (e.g., hostility, date rape attitudes, hyper-gender ideology) and through increasing college men's knowledge of consent and intentions to intervene.

Lysistrata, #MeToo, and Consent:A Case Study Meghan Brodie (bio) The country is going to hell in a handbasket. Foreign policy is a disaster area. Military interventions stretch on for years. The motives and strategies (or lack thereof) of the men in power have become suspect, and women have had enough. But we are not at the most recent US Women's March or even in the current century. It is 411 bce. In Aristophanes' Lysistrata, the war-weary women of Athens and Sparta want to end the Peloponnesian War, and their tactic is radically simple: participate in a sex strike until the men lay down their arms. In this fast-paced comedy, lust is leverage and the personal is definitely political. But what does it mean to produce this classical play against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement?1 In spring 2017, several months before the movement erupted in the United States, I had planned to direct Ellen McLaughlin's adaptation of Lysistrata for Ursinus College's 2017–18 season. In the October 2017 wake of multiple sexual assault allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, women used #MeToo to create public awareness about the pervasiveness of sexual harassment and assault in their lives.2 As more and more of my students, colleagues, and friends shared their #MeToo experiences, I paused to consider how a production of Aristophanes' sex comedy, specifically McLaughlin's adaptation of it, might be interpreted in terms of commentary on consent in this changing cultural landscape.3 Surveying Sexual Violence on College Campuses The college sexual assault epidemic is just one of the sexual violence crises to which the #MeToo movement responds. In June 2017, Columbia University announced the findings of the Sexual Health Initiative to Foster Transformation (SHIFT), "a major research initiative to study sexual violence and sexual health among Columbia University undergraduates." The SHIFT team "surveyed, interviewed, and observed students, assembling one of the most scientifically rigorous and comprehensive portraits of undergraduate sexual health and behavior ever compiled" ("Columbia Researchers Present"). Researchers first published their findings in the open-access, peer-reviewed journal PLOS ONE: of the over 1,600 students surveyed, "[s]ince college entry, 22% of students reported experiencing at least one incident of sexual assault" and "[w]omen and gender nonconforming students reported the highest rates (28% and 38%, respectively)." The data compiled by the researchers "suggest a cumulative risk for sexual assault experiences over four years of college with over one in three women experiencing an assault by senior year," but also demonstrate that "freshman year, particularly for women, is when the greatest percentage experience an assault" (Mellins). Given such statistics, how might colleges proactively address sexual assault on campus and cultivate conversations about prevention and consent? Turning to Theatre as a Tool for Sexual Violence Prevention Several texts, including M. Candace Christensen's "Using Theater of the Oppressed to Prevent Sexual Violence on College Campuses," Sarah McMahon and coauthors' "Utilizing Peer [End Page 183] Education Theater for the Primary Prevention of Sexual Violence on College Campuses," and W. Gregory Thatcher's "Preliminary Evaluation of the 'Playing the Game' Sexual Assault Prevention Theatre Program," identify theatre as an effective tool for sexual violence education. For example, Speak About It, a not-for-profit organization, provides "[a]ffirmative consent education through performance and dialogue" to teach high school and college students about consent, boundaries, and healthy relationships. As of 2016, the organization reports that it reached over 300,000 students. In "Exploring and Sharing Strategies for Staging Affirmative Sexual Consent: 100 Shades of Grey and Beyond," Charlotte McIvor discusses her own experiences coordinating a theatre-based sexual violence prevention project at the National University of Ireland at Galway, and highlights similar projects at the University of Texas at Austin, Santa Clara University, Hobart and William Smith College, Michigan State University, and Rutgers University. Based on a model I developed in conjunction with AddVerb Productions and the University of Southern Maine, I coordinate and direct a performance-based sexual violence prevention program titled The Consent Event—a series of scenes and monologues about sexual violence and healthy relationships performed by an ensemble of student actors for Ursinus College's new student orientation...

(Un)reasonable Doubt: A "Narrative Immunity" for Footballers against Sexual Assault Allegations

ABSTRACTChild sexual abuse and adult sexual assault have been linked to increased self-blame, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and alcohol use. The current study aims to examine (a) whether these constructs explain women’s risk for later adult sexual assault and revictimization, (b) whether such factors differentially confer risk for specific types of adult sexual assault (i.e., substance-facilitated and forcible), and (c) if self-blame confers risk indirectly through other risk factors. Multiple types of self-blame, posttraumatic stress, and alcohol use were examined among 929 female college students as serial mediators of the relationship between child sexual abuse and adult sexual assault and as risk factors for sexual revictimization among child sexual abuse survivors. In the model predicting risk for substance-facilitated adult sexual assault, child sexual abuse indirectly predicted greater risk for substance-facilitated adult sexual assault mediated through two separate paths: global blame-to-posttraumatic-stress and global blame-to-alcohol use. In the model predicting risk for forcible adult sexual assault, child sexual abuse directly predicted greater risk for forcible adult sexual assault, and this relation was mediated by the global blame-to-posttraumatic-stress path. Among child sexual abuse survivors, child sexual abuse specific characterological and behavioral self-blame directly predicted greater risk for forcible and substance-facilitated revictimization, but the pathways were not mediated by posttraumatic stress or alcohol use. Results emphasize the importance of assessing different types of self-blame in predicting posttraumatic stress symptoms as well as examining risk for sexual victimization and revictimization. Findings did not support hypotheses that increased posttraumatic stress would predict increased alcohol use but did indicate that heightened self-blame is consistently associated with heightened posttraumatic stress and that heightened global self-blame predicts increased alcohol use. Implications for future research and intervention are discussed.

Author: Mary Simmerling, University of Chicago, mcs@uchicago.edu Goal. To determine the incidence of sexual assault (SA) within the community and to do a needs assessment for SA survivors in the community. The study will use random digit dialing (RDD) to households in the community. The research assistants working on the project will ask the person who answers the phone if she may speak to any females in the home over the age of 18. If there are any qualifying subjects in the home, they will be invited to participate in a 45 minute survey about their experience(s) of violence in the community. The survey will include demographic questions, specific questions about SA experience(s), and the subjects’ help-seeking behavior and post-assault needs. Study methods include completing a survey questionnaire about the survivor participant’s sexual assault experience(s), and participating in an in-depth interview that focuses on general life history as well as specific information about the sexual assault(s). Ethical and scientific justification. There is alleged to be a high incidence of SA that is never reported to the police or others. Consequently, it is difficult to gauge the actual incidence of SA within a community. This study would gauge the incidence of SA in the community, and assess the needs of SA survivors. RDD permits representative sampling that will help to inform estimates of actual incidence as well as the needs of non-reporting and reporting SA survivors. SA survivors who do not come forward to report their assault may also be less likely to self-select to participate in research in this topic. The use of RDD may help to identify and include those survivors in this type of research. The use of RDD may also allow for increased privacy protection for participants who may not be comfortable participating in face-to-face interviews on this topic. Ethical objections or barriers. Asking survivors to recall their assault experiences may be re-traumatizing for them, cause emotional distress, and leave them worse off in terms of their recovery (e.g., may exacerbate PTSD). This may be particularly pronounced in research that utilizes RDD in which subjects are not self-selecting as they would be in the case of advertisements for participants in such a study. Although the use of RDD allows for the inclusion of non-reporting SA survivors who may not otherwise come forward to participate, it may be experienced as an invasion of privacy by these individuals. The use of RDD to reach out to non-reporting SA survivors may result in their first disclosures being to the researchassistant interviewers. This may be very distressing to subjects whose first disclosure might better be to a trained counselor. As “vulnerable subjects” survivors need to be protected from risks such as shame, stigma, and emotional distress. Also, they may have “limited autonomy” and so not be positioned to choose freely whether to participate and if so to what extent. Suggested empirical questions:

Is the Risk for Sexual Revictimization Cumulative? AProspective Examination.

Research suggests that youth are at higher risk of sexual assault and victimization while in custody than adult inmates. However, compared with adult inmates, very little is known about the risk factors associated with such violence among youth in custody. Without sufficient research on risk factors associated with sexual assault and victimization among youth in custody, practitioners and policy makers may be reliant on the adult literature when making decisions about how to address and prevent such violence among juveniles. This article seeks to determine if extrapolating data from the substantial prison literature is appropriate by assessing the parallels between risk factors of sexual assault and victimization among youth in custody and those identified for adult inmates. This study uses data of 8,659 youth from the second administration of the National Survey of Youth in Custody (NSYC-2) to assess correlates of sexual assault and victimization during periods of detention. Study findings show that experiences with assault and victimization prior to the present period of detention were stronger indicators of sexual assault and victimization while in custody than youth characteristics and demographics and other experiences with assault and victimization. Further, there are differences in risk factors associated with sexual assault and victimization among youth in custody compared to adult inmates, which emphasizes the risk of prior sexual assault and victimization in the community and prior custodial settings.

Sexual assault and intimate partner violence have never been examined in individuals with hidradenitis suppurativa. The research is important, because prior studies show higher incidences of intimate partner violence and sexual assault in individuals with disabilities, and hidradenitis suppurativa meets criteria for a disability. The objective of the study is to examine whether individuals with hidradenitis suppurativa are at significantly higher risk of intimate partner violence and sexual assault compared with individuals who have acne, a recognised disability. Participants who met criteria for hidradenitis suppurativa and acne were recruited from a mid-sized university and a dermatology clinic. Participants spoke English and were over the age of sexual consent. Group (hidradenitis suppurativa and acne) differences on intimate partner violence and sexual assault were analysed. Victimisation within the past 12 months was measured using the Checklist for Controlling Behaviours, a measure of intimate partner violence, as well as the Sexual Experiences Survey-Short Form Victim, a measure of sexual assault. In total, 243 participants (n = 128 for hidradenitis suppurativa; n = 115 for acne) were surveyed. Individuals with hidradenitis suppurativa were significantly more likely to report being victimised by intimate partner violence. Intimate partner violence was more frequently observed in individuals with hidradenitis suppurativa. Health care providers should be aware of this issue when interacting with patients with hidradenitis suppurativa.

A randomized controlled trial targeting alcohol use and sexual assault risk among college women at high risk for victimization

EDITORS' NOTE: Howz serious and widespread a problem is sexual harassment in our universities? What means will effectively diminish its incidence without violating the rights of individuals? Each of thefollowing essays answers one of these two questions. In the first, Bernice Lott, Mary Ellen Reilly, and Dale Howard describe the results of a 1979 survey that examined a sample of the entire University of Rhode Island population. Its purpose was to determine how many of the respondents in the sample group had personal knowledge of or had experienced any form of sexual assault, intimidation, or insult; how they had responded to assault; and their beliefs about harassment in general. In the second essay, Judith Berman Brandenburg delineates a response to the problem worked out at Yale University: the establishment of a grievance procedure administered through a specially selected board. The process of this honest search for answers uncovers other questions: Do we have a definition of sexual harassment upon which most people will agree? Is power thefactor that transforms what may be cajolery into harassment? If so, power in what forms? Do these forms make the problem invulnerable to any solution? With these essays we open a dialogue on such questions. We invite your letters in response, in the hope that through the exchange we canfurther advance feminist efforts to analyze-and to overcome-this pernicious form of sexual injustice.

This study explores the sexual risk trajectories of female youths and sheds light on the long-term effects of running away. It evaluates whether running away increases the risk of sexual assault in the following year, which is after runaways return home. The sample consists of 5,387 heterosexual females between the ages of 11 and 18 years from the Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Nearly one quarter (23%) of runaways report a previous sexual assault in contrast to 5% of nonrunaways. In a logistic regression model, childhood neglect increases the risk of sexual assault between Waves 1 and 2 by nearly two times. Poor mental health is statistically significant. Alcohol use doubles the odds of sexual assault. The risk of sexual assault is approximately three-fold for girls with a history of sexual onset and sexual touching in a romantic relationship. Running away increases the risk by nearly two and a half times. There is evidence that alcohol use and sexual onset partially mediates the relationship between running away and sexual assault.

Sexual assault victims face more social criticism than victims of any other crime. It is uncertain whether women of color are more at risk for sexual assault than White women during their college years. However, studies suggest that Black female sexual assault victims are more likely than White female victims to be blamed for their attacks and have their reports invalidated in the courts and on college campuses (Donovan, 2007; George & Martinez, 2002). In this article identity development models are used to frame the intersecting effects of race and gender on the psychosocial well-being of Black female sexual assault victims in college. Implications for counseling and student affairs practice, as well as recommendations for future research are offered.