Exploring Race, Alcohol Use and Victimization in the Campus Climate Survey Validation Study (CCSVS)

• In Event: Campus Climate and Victimization

Abstract

This presentation uses data collected by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) Campus Climate Survey Validation Study (CCSVS) to explore the incidents of campus rape, sexual battery and sexual assault by student demographics with particular focus given to alcohol use and location of incident. Using aggregated data from nine participating non HBCUs, the findings are discussed in the context of a 2010 NIJ study on Campus Sexual Assault at HBCUs that suggested that differences in victimization rates by race are correlated with alcohol-use frequency. Prior research suggests that alcohol use frequency, while controlling for other factors, seems to have an independent association with the likelihood of an undergraduate black woman being sexually assaulted, but this has not yet been explored for undergraduate black women in a study with multiple non HBCUs. This presentation discusses whether this finding is consistent and whether race of the student or other university climate or cultural factors are more strongly associated with this finding. This research supports additional efforts to explore campus sexual assault victimization in HBCUs to determine what, if any, potentially unique characteristics exist in HBCUs and how to better respond to the needs of victims of sexual violence.

Author

• Jessica Stroop, Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice