Forcible Rape and Attempted Rape on a Midwestern University Campus: Test of Self-Control Theory and Identification of Risk Factors

• In Event: Sexual Violence Risk and Protective Factors at Colleges and Universities

Abstract

A review of extant nationwide campus sexual assault surveys show that college women are at risk for serious sexual assault victimization during their college careers: 14.5% will be raped or experience an attempted rape while an additional 12.4% will be raped because they were too incapacitated by alcohol or drugs to resist (Waters and Waters, 2016). Understanding the etiology of various forms of campus sexual assault victimization and the identification of risk factors are paramount for advancing criminological theory and reducing sexual assaults on college campuses. During recent years, criminology has begun to test the applicability of self-control theory to victimization with indications that low self-control is a modest predictor of victimization; however, studies examining sexual assault of women are “severely underrepresented” (Pratt et. al., 2014). This study attempts to remedy this deficiency by testing whether victims’ level of self-control, lifestyles, opportunities, previous victimization, and demographic characteristics, are significant predictors of rape and attempted rape of college women. Data for the study includes a survey administered to the entire student population of a Midwestern university with an enrollment of approximately 8,600 students. Analytic strategies include binary logistic regression analyses. Findings and policy recommendations will be discussed.

Authors

• Kevin Waters, Northern Michigan University

• Kenneth Houston Waters, Western State College of Law at Argosy University