A ‘Red Zone’ of Risk for Campus Sexual Assault: What Do Research Findings Show?

• In Event: The Victimization of Young Adults on University/College Campuses

Abstract

The term “red zone” appears regularly in conversations related to campus sexual assault, referring to a period of time when undergraduate women are thought to be at especially high risk. Yet, a precise definition of the red zone is difficult to pin down, whether in academic or non-academic writing. We conduct a review of research that investigates the temporality of campus sexual assault reported by undergraduate women in the United States over the previous 20 years. We identify relevant research and evaluate findings in light of methodological, definitional, and measurement issues to ask if empirical support for a red zone of risk exists. We find that the current extant literature does not provide clear empirical support for the concept of a red zone occurring at the very beginning of a woman’s entry into college and lasting for the first month or two primarily due to a lack of research that directly assesses this phenomenon. We conclude that research and public interest related to the temporality of campus sexual assault would benefit from wholistic understandings of heightened risk of campus sexual assault, including not only temporality but campus context as well.

Authors

• Lisa Kistler, University of Kentucky

• Rachel Barczak, University of Kentucky

• Diane R. Follingstad, University of Kentucky