Journal article
Risk Processing and College Women's Risk for Sexual Victimization
Psychology of violence, Vol.10(5), pp.575-583
09/2020
DOI: 10.1037/vio0000270
Abstract
Objective: Sexual assault is a widespread problem among college women. Interventions effective in reducing college men's sexually aggressive behavior are scarce making research with at-risk women a necessary adjunct to work with men. This study examined whether individual differences in decoding risk information and making decisions about risky situations prospectively predicted sexual victimization 6 months later, as well as whether these cognitive processes mediated the association between baseline and follow-up victimization. Method: Participants were 481 freshman undergraduate women aged between 18 and 24 years, who were heterosexual or bisexual, and unmarried. At baseline, participants completed tasks measuring decoding and decision-making about victimization risk in written vignettes describing risky social situations. They also completed the Sexual Experiences Survey to measure the severity of victimization experiences at baseline and follow-up. Results: Less effective decision-making at baseline prospectively predicted more severe follow-up victimization. Judging more situations as high risk at baseline, as well as relying more on risk cues when judging risk at baseline, indirectly predicted less severe follow-up victimization via more effective decision-making. Less effective decision-making at baseline partially accounted for the strong prospective link between victimization severity at baseline and follow-up. Conclusion: Risk-related decoding and decision-making processes either directly or indirectly prospectively predicted the severity of future sexual victimization of college women. Cognitive-training methods designed to enhance college women's detection of and response to victimization risk should be explored as a potential preventative strategy for the reduction of women's risk for sexual violence.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Risk Processing and College Women's Risk for Sexual Victimization
- Creators
- Elizabeth A Yeater - Department of Psychology, University of New MexicoTeresa A Treat - Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of IowaRichard J Viken - Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Indiana University BloomingtonAngela D Bryan - Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder
- Contributors
- Antonia Abbey (Editor)
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Psychology of violence, Vol.10(5), pp.575-583
- DOI
- 10.1037/vio0000270
- ISSN
- 2152-0828
- eISSN
- 2152-081X
- Publisher
- Educational Publishing Foundation
- Grant note
- DOI: 10.13039/100000027, name: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, award: RAA021878A
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 09/2020
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Brain Sciences
- Record Identifier
- 9984213391502771
Metrics
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