Development of a Measure of Anti-Rape Attitudes as a Potential Protective Factor Against Rape Perpetration (P033)

• In Event: Poster session

Abstract

The role of attitudes towards women and sexual violence in predicting men's perpetration of rape against women has been well-documented in the literature. Although research on rape perpetration has largely focused on risk factors, limited knowledge of protective factors has resulted in a lack of psychometric measures to assess attitudinal protective factors. However, understanding these protective factors is crucial to fully grasp the risk of rape perpetration and to advance promising strengths-based approaches.

This research describes the development of a new scale to measure anti-rape attitudes in young heterosexual men. Anti-rape attitudes were conceptualized as beliefs that rape is a crime with serious consequences for its victims, involving any non-consensual sexual penetration of the victim's body, and for which the perpetrator is solely responsible.

An initial item pool was created using information from sexual violence support service websites and was extended and adapted using the Delphi method. After conducting cognitive interviews and a pilot study, 33 items were used in a follow-up validation study (n = 201). Rape myth acceptance and sexist beliefs scales were also administered to assess construct validity, along with a social desirability scale. The resulting 19-item scale was used in an experimental study and the control group’s data (n = 106) was used to further validate the scale.

The pooled data (n = 407) on the final scale showed good reliability (alpha = .86) with item-total correlations ranging from .38 to .63. Exploratory factor analyses revealed no meaningful multi-factor structure. The new scale allows for a more comprehensive risk assessment and opens up new possibilities for research into protective factors against rape. Overall, our study is an important step towards strengths-based approaches to sexual violence.

Authors

• Evelyn Schapansky, Ghent University

• Arne Roets, Department of Developmental, Personality & Social Psychology, Ghent University, Belgium

• Christophe Vandeviver, Ghent University