Diane R. Follingstad

Persistently high rates of campus rape combined with changing legal landscapes surrounding reproductive health make student perceptions of the reproductive health consequences resulting from rape an important topic of research. In this study, we analyze student perceptions of a hypothetical campus rape in which a victim experiences no medical consequences, becomes pregnant, or contracts a sexually transmitted infection (STI) as a result of rape. Students in the sample recommended consistently severe punishment for the perpetrator across all three experimental conditions but viewed victim guilt and responsibility to be greatest for the rape resulting in pregnancy and least for the rape resulting in an STI. Qualitatively, students voiced strong sympathy for the victim due to the STI, yet rarely discussed the impact of pregnancy. We recommend that future research investigate the perceptions, prevalence, and consequences of reproductive health outcomes resulting from campus rape and suggest a reproductive justice framework for doing so.

The term Red Zone refers to a period of time thought to be high risk for sexual victimization upon entering college in the United States, although empirical evidence for a defined Red Zone has not been established. This article critically reviews empirical research from the last 20 years that investigates the temporality of sexual assault reported by undergraduate women. A keyword search of three major sociopsychological databases was conducted, and articles were included if they reported original empirical results of the timing of sexual assault on campuses, if they directly compared different class years, or if they reported on sexual assault by class year. Ten articles meeting criteria were evaluated in light of methodological, definitional, and measurement issues to assess whether support for a Red Zone of risk exists. We posit that the current extant literature does not provide clear empirical support for the concept of a Red Zone at the beginning of a woman’s entry into college and lasting for the first month or two. However, extending the potential time frame for a Red Zone to include college women’s first and second years has some merit, although the usefulness of considering half of a woman’s college career as high risk for sexual violence is questioned. Importantly, investigations into the temporality of campus sexual assault (CSA) would benefit from the inclusion of multiple other risk factors as potential mediators/moderators to understand whether identifying a particular time frame is useful or whether social contexts and risk factors explain the significance of an identified time frame.

Assessing change in campus interpersonal violence over time is an important step to understand the nature and prevalence of students’ victimization experiences. Using a repeated cross-sectional campus survey of interpersonal violence from a large southern university, this article tracks the change of students’ victimization experiences over a three-year period for two identified undergraduate student cohorts and offers empirical evidence to determine the best time in a college student’s career to initially launch a campus interpersonal violence survey and how often such data should be collected. Controlling for demographic characteristics, the results indicate that both administration-year-effect and cohort-effect exist. The results further suggest that yearly campus interpersonal violence surveys would be most beneficial to track campus interpersonal violence change.

Bystander interventions are recognized as “promising” programming to reduce sexual violence. Gaps in current evaluations include limited follow-up post-training (beyond 24 months) and knowledge of additional bystander training during follow-up. In this prospective cohort study, nested in a cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT), three cohorts of high school (HS) seniors were recruited (Fall 2013-2015) and followed through Spring 2018 (n = 1,831). Training was based on their school cluster RCT assignment and receipt of additional Green Dot (GD) training after HS. Training was hypothesized to be associated with lower scores indicating less acceptance of violence or sexism. Sixty percent reported GD training after HS (68.7% of 986 in intervention and 50% of 845 in control conditions). No significant differences (p < .05) were observed by GD training for four of the five violence acceptance or sexism attitudinal measures at recruitment or final surveys. For “ambivalent sexism” alone was there a significant reduction in scale scores over time in the intervention versus control condition. Additional GD training after the RCT significantly reduced neither violence acceptance nor sexism scores over time. GD training does not appear to have a consistent longer-term impact on reducing violence acceptance and sexism.

Personality traits, attitudes, and behavioral intentions of high school seniors prior to attending or not attending institutions of higher education were explored. Because of this age-group’s risk level, variables assessed included historical social/cultural factors, internal/contextual factors, and lifestyle factors potentially associated with violence experiences. Participants were seniors at 24 Kentucky high schools who voluntarily completed surveys. A year later, 2,073 reported whether they attended a 4-year institution (n = 1,038), a 2-year institution (n = 341), or did not attend college (n = 694). The 4-year college attendees reported significantly more protective factors and significantly fewer violence risk factors in high school than peers attending 2-year institutions or not attending college. The 2-year college students largely resembled nonattendees across variables in high school. Traits, behaviors, and attitudes/beliefs occurring prior to young adults’ postsecondary years may not only have potential for predicting post-high school choices but also vulnerability to violence experiences.

This chapter defines prevention in the context of intimate partner violence and discusses popular models of prevention science along with the major limitations of these models. The chapter also presents the spectrum of prevention model, which informs the development of subsequent chapters, and provides an overview of the topics the chapter authors address.

BACKGROUND: In 2013, President Obama lifted the federal ban on gun violence research. The current study provides one of the first reports to estimate household gun ownership as reported by youth.METHODS: In this cohort study of 3006 high school seniors from 24 schools, we examined the frequency of household guns ownership.RESULTS: About 65% reported having at least 1 gun in their household. White males were more likely to have a gun and to have more guns than other demographically characterized groups. After adjustment for race and sex, those of higher income, who lived in suburban or rural areas, identified as being exclusively attracted to the opposite sex, and in a romantic relationship, were more likely to have a gun in their household. Having a gun was not associated with increasing symptoms of depression or current poor physical or mental health.CONCLUSIONS: Whereas we cannot determine gun types or reasons for having a gun, this research indicates that high school seniors are aware of and may have access to guns for use other than their intended purpose. Household gun ownership among students at higher risk for violence may pose safety challenges for communities and schools.