Date of Graduation
Spring 2017
Degree
Master of Science in Psychology
Department
Psychology
Committee Chair
David Zimmerman
Abstract
The purpose of this research was to study the effect of a university-mandated sexual assault prevention program-Haven: Understanding Sexual Assault-on college students' judgments of three different rape vignettes (Stranger Rape, Acquaintance Rape, Acquaintance Rape with Intoxication), and overall rape myth acceptance. A sample of 490 participants who either had or had not completed Haven training participated in the study, and each participant was also randomly assigned to read either a brief summary of the Haven training or a control paragraph before judging the vignettes. Gender was also treated as an independent variable due to robust evidence of gender differences in rape myth acceptance and victim-blaming. Participants assigned more blame to victims of acquaintance rape, less blame to the perpetrators, and were less likely to recommend those victims report the incident than the victim of a stranger rape. The account of a stranger rape was the vignette most likely to be labeled rape by participants. Men assigned more blame to victims than women when the vignette contained fewer stereotypical features of rape. Men also endorsed more rape myths overall. Neither the actual Haven training nor the brief Haven summary were significant predictors of any judgments. Future research efforts should focus on obtaining a more representative no-Haven control, as confounding variables make it difficult to interpret the null effects.
Keywords
sexual assault, rape myth acceptance, victim blame, perpetrator blame, haven, gender, reporting rates
Subject Categories
Applied Behavior Analysis
Copyright
© Katerina M. Oberdieck
Recommended Citation
Oberdieck, Katerina Marie, "Examining the Impact of the Haven Training on Perceptions of Rape" (2017). MSU Graduate Theses. 3145.
https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/theses/3145
