Exploring the utility of entitlement in understanding sexual aggression

Abstract

Purpose Sexual aggression on college campuses has received a great deal of research attention. Little criminological theory, however, has systematically linked individual-level risk factors for sexual aggression with broader societal factors like patriarchy. DeKeseredy and Schwartz (1993) proposed that societal patriarchy is translated into individual attitudes of male sexual proprietariness and entitlement, which provide motivation and justifications for sexual violence. Methods This study explored the concept of entitlement through various measures and demonstrated the utility of the concept by linking it with other theoretically-relevant variables, including self-control, sexual partners, use of pornography, adversarial sexual beliefs, and rape myth adherence. Results Entitlement was significantly correlated with theoretically-relevant variables in the expected directions. Additionally, entitlement was able to distinguish sexually aggressive and nonaggressive men. Multivariate models provided support for the theoretical assertion that entitlement fosters rape-supportive attitudes and behaviors, which in turn was related to sexual aggression. Conclusions Entitlement is an important concept in understanding sexual aggression, and the causal relationships implied by theory should be explored further in future research. Implications and directions for future research and theory are discussed.