Journal article
Sexual‐perception processes in acquaintance‐targeted sexual aggression
Aggressive behavior, Vol.44(3), pp.316-326
05/2018
DOI: 10.1002/ab.21754
PMCID: PMC6019272
PMID: 29492975
Abstract
This study analyzes data from seven published studies to examine whether three performance‐based indices of men's misperception of women's sexual interest (MSI), derived from a self‐report questionnaire, are associated with sexual‐aggression history, rape‐supportive attitudes, sociosexuality, problem drinking, and self‐reported MSI. Almost 2000 undergraduate men judged the justifiability of a man's increasingly unwanted advances toward a woman on the Heterosocial Perception Survey‐Revised. Participants self‐reported any sexual‐aggression history, and some completed questionnaires assessing rape‐supportive attitudes, sociosexuality, problem drinking, and self‐reported MSI. A three‐parameter logistic function was fitted to participants’ justifiability ratings within a non‐linear mixed‐effects framework, which provided precise participant‐specific estimates of three sexual‐perception processes (baseline justifiability, bias, and sensitivity). Sexual‐aggression history and rape‐supportive attitudes predicted: (a) reduced sensitivity to women's affect; (b) more liberal biases, such that the woman's affect had to be more negative before justifiability ratings dropped substantially; and (c) greater baseline justifiability of continued advances after a positive response. Sexual‐aggression history and attitudes correlated more strongly with sensitivity than baseline justifiability; remaining variables showed the opposite pattern. This work underscores the role of sexual‐perception processes in sexual aggression and illustrates the derivation of performance‐based estimates of sexual‐perception processes from questionnaire responses.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Sexual‐perception processes in acquaintance‐targeted sexual aggression
- Creators
- Teresa A Treat - University of IowaRichard J Viken - Indiana University
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Aggressive behavior, Vol.44(3), pp.316-326
- DOI
- 10.1002/ab.21754
- PMID
- 29492975
- PMCID
- PMC6019272
- NLM abbreviation
- Aggress Behav
- ISSN
- 0096-140X
- eISSN
- 1098-2337
- Number of pages
- 11
- Grant note
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (R21AA022754)
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 05/2018
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Brain Sciences
- Record Identifier
- 9984214741702771
Metrics
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