The Sexual Victimization of College Women: (377652004-001)

Abstract

The National College Women Sexual Victimization (NCVS) study attempted to build on and surmount the limitations of existing research on the sexual victimization of college students. In addition to the study of sexual victimization, the study investigated how rape estimates that use the two-stage process of behaviorally specific questions and incident reports compared with estimates drawn from survey responses. The study results were based on a telephone survey of a randomly selected national sample of 4,446 college women in 1996. Twelve types of sexual victimization, from completed rape through stalking and verbal forms of sexual victimization, were studied. Survey responses suggest that many students encounter sexist and harassing comments and that many have a good chance of being stalked or enduring some form of coerced sexual contact. During any given academic year, 2.8% of women will experience a completed or attempted rape. Study results also show that a methodology that uses behaviorally specific screen questions in combination with an incident report yields considerably higher estimates of completed, attempted, and threatened rape than are found using the telephone methodology of NCVS. Most sexual victimization occurred when college women were alone with a man they know, at night, and in the privacy of a residence. Several factors appeared to increase the likelihood of being victimized. (Contains 14 exhibits and 37 endnotes.) (SLD) ENTIRE DOCUMENT. POOR PRINT QUALITY Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.