EXPLAINING MACRO-LEVEL RAPE WITH ROUTINE ACTIVITIES THEORY: A MULTITHEORETICAL APPROACH USING BACKLASH HYPOTHESIS, SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION THEORY, AND EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY

Abstract

Previous macro-level studies of rape have only examined the relationship between gender inequality or socioeconomic status and possible exposure to rapists. The current study overcomes the limitations of previous research by using Social Disorganization Theory, Evolutionary Psychology, and Backlash Hypothesis to simultaneously measure the three key components of RAT. Our analysis predicts victim/offender disaggregated rape counts in U.S. counties using the U.S. Census data and the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS). Our findings reveal the following: (1) Evolutionary Psychology and Backlash Hypothesis variables were not significant as individual predictors for most of the tested models, (2) Social Disorganization variables were positive and significant in most models, and (3) the Evolutionary Psychology-RAT framework was a poor predictor of all types of rape. Our findings reveal the strength of the Backlash Hypothesis as a predictor of rape, as well as the importance of measuring the components of RAT fully and simultaneously.