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Abstract

This study examined the effectiveness of two rape prevention programs on rape-supportive beliefs among college students. The effectiveness was examined in terms of whether or not the students knew someone who had been sexually assaulted, knew someone who had committed a sexual assault, or were themselves a victim of sexual assault.

The participants were divided into three groups. One group participated in a didactic rape prevention program involving primarily lecture and video instruction. The second group participated in an experiential rape prevention program utilizing improvisational theater. The third group was the control group.

The 55 participants completed two attitude scales developed by Burt (1980): Adversarial Sexual Beliefs (ASB) and Rape Myth Acceptance (RMA). They then participated in their workshop and took the attitude scales again as a post-treatment test Two weeks later, the participants took a follow-up post-treatment test using the same attitude scales.

Participants who had been victims of sexual assault scored significantly lower than non-victims in the ASB and RMA across all groups. It was also found that participants who had any previous experience with sexual assault, such as familiarity with a victim or an offender, scored significantly lower in rape-supportive beliefs after participating in the didactic program than participants who had no previous experience with sexual assault.

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Familiarity with Sexual Assault and Its Relationship to the Effectiveness of Acquaintance Rape Prevention Programs

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