Citation

Ford J, Soto-Marquez JG. Violence Gend. 2016; 3(2): 107-115.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Mary Ann Liebert Publishers)

DOI

10.1089/vio.2015.0030

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The rise of sexual assault reporting on college campuses has prompted extensive scholarly inquiry and debate. Overall, the central focus of the college sexual assault debate has centered on heterosexual female victims. As a result, academic research has hardly focused on the actual prevalence of college sexual assault for heterosexual males or for gay, lesbian, or bisexual individuals of either gender. To address this empirical gap in the sexual assault literature, this study investigates both the prevalence of sexual assault and its associated factors for straight, bisexual, and gay individuals. Our analyses use data from the Online College Social Life Survey (OCSLS), which is a cross-sectional survey of 21,000 students. As has been widely reported from previous studies, we find that around one in every four heterosexual women experience sexual assault after four years in college. We also find that gay and bisexual men report sexual assault at frequencies similar to those reported by heterosexual women. Bisexual women were the most vulnerable to sexual assault in college, as nearly two out of every five bisexual female college students had experienced sexual assault after four years in college. Greek life (e.g., membership in fraternities or sororities) proved to be strongly associated with higher prevalence of sexual assault for most groups of students. Sexual assault survivors also reported having participated in their college hookup culture at higher levels. We hope that these findings will help university administrators and counseling centers more adequately address and reduce sexual assault for all groups of students on college campuses.

Language: en