Recurring Sexual Assault and Sexual Misconduct Victimization Among College Students: What Does the Association of American Universities’ Study Reveal About These Victims?

• In Event: Sexual Victimization Among Vulnerable/Understudied College Populations: Focus on LGBTQ, Male, and Repeat Victims

Abstract

Recurring victimization refers to experiencing more than one incident within the academic year, either the same type of victimization (repeat) or different types (multiple). Past research has shown that a sizable percentage of the college students experience recurring sexual victimization during the academic year, with a minority accounting for most incidents of sexual victimization; 65 percent of incidents were experienced by 6 percent of the recurring victims. Using college students’ responses to a web-based survey administer on 27 campuses in the spring of 2015, we describe the extent and nature of recurring victimization for six types of victimization (forced and incapacitated penetration and sexual touching, stalking, intimate partner violence) and patterns of single, repeat and multiple victimization. We also examine school, individual and campus climate (e.g., knowledge of sexual assault reporting process and perceptions of campus officials’ response) characteristics as predictors of repeated only victims and multiple/repeated victims compared to single incident victims through a series of multinomial regressions. Findings have implications for campus/service provider outreach in terms of targeting at-risk recurring victims and addressing skepticism about the support someone would receive from other students and from campus officials if they were to make a report about sexual assault or misconduct.

Authors

• Bonnie Sue Fisher, University of Cincinnati

• Suzanne Kaasa, Westat

• David Cantor, Westat

• Reanne Townsend, Westat