Ethnic differences in female sexual victimization

Abstract

This study examined the link between ethnicity, early sexual victimization experiences and college sesual assault in a sample of 383 undergraduate women. One third of the sample (32.9%) had experienced some form of sexual assault during college (22% of whom reported that they had been raped), and 52 percent had experienced unwanted sexual activity before the age of 18 (17.5% of whom reported that a family member or trusted family friend asked for or forced sexual activities). There were substantial differences among the Black, White, Hispanic and Asian women on two of four measures of college sexual assault. Black women had the highest and Asian women the lowest incidence of forced intercourse through verbal threats or pressure. Hispanic women had the highest and Black women the lowest incidence of attempted rape. Black and White women were almost three times as likely as Hispanic women to have had experiences that meet the legal definition of rape, but do not consider themselves rape victims. There were significant differences in college victimization experiences as a result of experiencing incest before age 18, experiencing extrafamilial sesual abuse before age 18, and the use of alcohol. Ethnicity interacted with alcohol use and early experiences with extrafamilial sexual abuse. However, the effect of incest on college victimization was similar for the women in the study, regardless of ethnicity.