Abstract
In 2011, the Office for Civil Rights issued a “Dear Colleague Letter” instructing universities to take action regarding sexual assault on college campuses. Specifically, universities must better educate students on the prevention of sexual assault, in the hope of reducing violence against women. Previous research is mixed on the involvement of intercollegiate student-athletes in incidences of sexual assault; however, recent high-profile cases of sexual misconduct at universities indicate that student-athletes are not immune to this issue. The purpose of this study was to explore how sexual assault is viewed within the culture of intercollegiate athletics, including education, occurrence, and prevention. Through interviews with former intercollegiate athletes, three main findings emerged: (1) Participant Knowledge, (2) Sexual Assault Within the Context of College Athletics; and (3) Creating Change in Athletic Department Culture. Using grounded theory, these themes were combined to create the Sexual Assault Prevention Paradigm for Athletic Departments.
Highlights
Prior to the women’s movement of the 1960s and 1970s in the United States, sexual assault, rape, and other forms of violence against women were rarely discussed in public forums, let alone studied in academic settings
The first theme, Participant Knowledge, directly answers Research Question 1, what do student-athletes know about sexual assault? In addition to learning what former student-athletes know about sexual assault, findings indicate how they have come to that knowledge
This study detailed the findings from interviews with former student-athletes, delineating their responses into three major themes: (1) Participant Knowledge; (2) Sexual Assault Within the Context of Athletics; and (3) Creating Change in Athletic Department Culture
Summary
Prior to the women’s movement of the 1960s and 1970s in the United States, sexual assault, rape, and other forms of violence against women were rarely discussed in public forums, let alone studied in academic settings During this era of the women’s rights movement, rape crisis centers and other support mechanisms for women were created nationwide, though little research into either victimization or perpetration was conducted during this time (Sable, Danis, Mauzy & Gallagher, 2006). Crosset and colleagues (1996) found an overrepresentation of male student-athletes as perpetrators of sexual assault in reports to campus judicial affairs, and Koss and Gaines (1993) reported a low but significant relationship in the self-reports of sexual aggression by studentathletes. Crosset (1999) and Koss and Cleveland (1996) detailed the methodological and conceptual concerns with the studies that led to such mixed empirical results, including calls for more qualitative research
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