An Updated Measure for Assessing Subtle Rape Myths

Abstract

Social workers responsible for developing rape prevention programs on college campuses must have valid evaluation instruments. This article presents the challenges encountered by the authors when they attempted to keep rape myth measures relevant to student populations by updating the language to reflect the subtleties involved with rape myths. The development of a modified version of the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale is described. Focus groups were conducted to gather feedback about the language used by college students related to sexual encounters and rape. The instrument was then tested with 951 undergraduate students at a large northeastern university. Exploratory structural equation modeling was used to assess the factor structure of the scale. In addition, multiple-indicators multiple-causes modeling was used to assess the potential differential item functioning of the measure's items by gender, previous experience with sexual assault prevention programming, and knowing someone who was sexually assaulted. A four-factor structure was hypothesized and a five-factor structure supported, indicating a separate factor that looks at alcohol and accountability. Implications for social workers are discussed, including the necessity of continuously updating rape myth measures to ensure validity. KEY WORDS: measurement; prevention; rape ********** According to the most recent National Violence Against Women Survey, 17.7 million women in the United States were raped at some point in their lives (Tjaden & Thoennes, 2006). The high number of victims has resulted in the implementation of rape prevention programs in a variety of social work practice settings, especially in high schools and on college campuses, where rape seems to be especially problematic. The primary focus of rape prevention programs in schools is often on changing individuals' beliefs in rape myths, defined as false beliefs about rape shaped by sexism and other prejudices individuals hold (Burt, 1980; Lonsway & Fitzgerald, 1994). Common rape myths cited over time include the belief that the way a woman dresses or acts indicates that she asked for it and that rape occurs because men cannot control their sexual impulses. Researchers have demonstrated that the acceptance of rape myths not only indicates problematic attitudes, but also is an explanatory predictor in the actual perpetration of sexual violence or proclivity to rape (Hinck & Thomas, 1999). The failure to have psychometrically sound outcome measures has hampered the accumulation of evidence-based practice knowledge in this area (Farmer & McMahon, 2005; Lonsway & Fitzgerald, 1995). One of the major validity problems with rape myth measures hinges on the issue of language. The reliability and validity of surveys depends, in part, on questions being clear and relevant to the respondents, yet the language used in rape myth measures is often outdated, antiquated, and irrelevant to groups such as high school and college students. Many rape education prevention programs use instruments that were developed years or even decades ago, which raises serious concerns about their validity for high school and college students, as the instruments' language and context are not a part of current student culture. SUBTLE RAPE MYTHS Many of the measures currently used to assess rape myth attitudes fail to capture the more subtle and covert rape myths that have evolved. As many high schools and colleges have implemented some form of education on issues of sexual violence over the past decade, students have greater awareness that certain traditional rape myths are not socially acceptable (Frazier, Valtinson, & Candell, 1994). However, these myths may exist in various, more subtle and covert forms that are not being accurately assessed because of the phrasing of questions, language used, and subsequent social desirability bias. The complexity of rape myths is especially apparent among college students, who likely received exposure to rape prevention education in some shape or form by the time they graduated from high school. …