Information Seeking Among Women Aged 18 to 25 About the Risk of Sexual Aggression

Abstract

Many researchers have studied risk factors related to sexual violence, and few studies have explored what differences account for the various ways women seek information about sexual violence. This study accomplishes this by applying part of the Risk Information Seeking and Processing (RISP) model to sexual aggression among young females (18-25 years). The results from a national survey of females show that negative affect (worry and anger combined) showed a direct positive effect on risk information seeking. Also, binge drinking does not make women feel much more at risk from sexual assault. Some differences exist between women in school and out.

Keywords

Risk communication sexual aggression info seeking

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abbey

(2002). Alcohol-related sexual assault: A common problem among college students. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 14, 118-128.

Abbey

Zawacki

Buck

Clinton

McAuslan

(2003). Alcohol and sexual assault. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Newsletter. Retrieved from https://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh25-1/43-51.htm

Ajzen

(1985). From intentions to actions: A theory of planned behavior. In Kuhl

Beckmann

(Eds.), Action-control: From cognition to behavior (pp. 11-39). Heidelberg, Germany: Springer.

Ajzen

(1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 179-211.

Bandura

(1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84, 191-215.

Bever

Ohlheiser

(2017, December 6). Time’s person of the year: “The Silence Breakers” for speaking out against sexual harassment. Time. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2017/12/06/times-person-of-the-year-the-silence-breakers-for-speaking-out-against-sexual-harassment/?utm_term=.59eff3a47dae

Byrne

B. M.

(2016). Structural equation modeling with AMOS (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.

Carmines

E. G.

McIver

J. P.

(1983). An introduction to the analysis of models with unobserved variables. Political Methodology, 9, 51-102.

Cho

Boster

(2007, May). Effects of gain vs. loss framed antidrug ads on adolescents. Paper presented at International Communication Association conference, San Francisco, CA.

10.

Cohen

(1983). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

11.

Dunn

J. R.

Schweitzer

(2005). Feeling and believing: The effects of emotion on trust. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 736-748.

12.

Dunwoody

Griffin

R. J.

(2015). Risk information seeking and processing model. In Cho

Reimer

McComas

(Eds.), The SAGE handbook of risk communication (pp. 102-116). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

13.

Eagly

A. H.

Chaiken

(1993). The psychology of attitudes. Sand Diego, CA: Brace.

14.

Fischer

A. R. H.

Frewer

L. J.

(2009). Consumer familiarity with foods and the perception of risks and benefits. Food Quality and Preference, 20, 576-585.

15.

Fishbein

Ajzen

(2010). Predicting and changing behavior: The reasoned action approach. New York, NY: Psychology Press.

16.

Fishbein

Hall-Jamieson

Zimmer

vonHaeften

Nabi

(2002). Avoiding the boomerang: The need for experimental tests of the relative effectiveness of anti-drug public service announcements prior to their use in a national campaign. American Journal of Public Health, 92, 238-245.

17.

Fox

Krugman

Fletcher

Fischer

(1998). Adolescent attention to beer and cigarette print advertisements and associated product warnings. Journal of Advertising, 27(3), 57-68.

18.

Frijda

N. H.

(1986). The emotions. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

19.

Fung

T. K. F.

Griffin

R. J.

Dunwoody

(2018). Testing links among uncertainty, affect, and attitude toward a health behavior. Science Communication, 40, 33-62.

20.

Gidycz

McNamara

Edwards

(2006). Women’s risk perception and sexual victimization: A review of the literature. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 11, 441-456.

21.

Gilligan

M. B.

Kaysen

Desai

Lee

C. M.

(2011). Alcohol-involved assault: Associations with post trauma alcohol use, consequences, and expectancies. Addictive Behaviors, 36, 1076-1082.

22.

Gray

(2014a, May 26). The crisis in higher education. Time, pp. 20-29.

23.

Griffin

R. J.

Dunwoody

Neuwirth

(1999). Proposed model of the relationship of risk information seeking and processing to the development of preventive behaviors. Environmental Research, 80, 230-245.

24.

Griffin

R. J.

Dunwoody

Yang

(2012). Linking risk messages to information seeking and processing. In Salmon

(Ed.), Communication yearbook 36 (pp. 323-362). New York, NY: Routledge.

25.

Griffin

R. J.

Neuwirth

Dunwoody

Giese

(2004). Information sufficiency and risk communication. Media Psychology, 6, 23-61.

26.

Griffin

R. J.

Neuwirth

Giese

Dunwoody

(2002). Linking the Heuristic-Systematic Model and depth of processing. Communication Research, 29, 705-732.

27.

Griffin

R. J.

Yang

Ter Huurne

Boerner

Ortiz

Dunwoody

(2008). After the flood: Anger, attribution, and the seeking of information. Science Communication, 29, 285-315.

28.

Hindmarch

Kerr

Sherwood

(1991). The effects of alcohol and other drugs on psychomotor performance and cognitive function. Alcohol and Alcoholism, 26, 71-79.

29.

Holbert

R. L.

Grill

(2015). Clarifying and expanding the use of confirmatory factor analysis in journalism and mass communication research. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 92, 292-319.

30.

The Hunting Ground Box Office Receipts. (2016). Available from www.boxofficemojo.com

31.

Hwang

Jeong

(2016). Information insufficiency and information seeking: An experiment. Science Communication, 38, 679-698.

32.

Jessop

Simmonds

Sparks

(2009). Motivational and behavioural consequences of self-affirmation interventions: A study of sunscreen use among women. Psychology & Health, 24, 529-544.

33.

Kahlor

L. A.

(2010). PRISM: A planned risk information-seeking model. Health Communication, 25, 345-356.

34.

Kahlor

L. A.

Dunwoody

Griffin

R. J.

Neuwirth

(2006). Seeking and processing information about impersonal risk. Science Communication, 28, 163-194.

35.

Kline

R. B.

(2005). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

36.

Koss

(1988). Hidden rape: Sexual aggression and victimization in a national sample of students in higher education. In Burgess

(Ed.), Rape and sexual assault (Vol. 2, pp. 3-25). New York, NY: Garland.

37.

Koss

Abbey

Campbell

Cook

Norris

Testa

White

(2007). Revising the SES: A collaborative process to improve the assessment of sexual aggression and victimization. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 31, 357-370.

38.

Loehlin

J. C.

Beaujean

A. A.

(2017). Latent variable models: An introduction to factor, path, and structural analysis (5th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.

39.

Lonsway

Banyard

Berkowitz

Gidycz

Katz

Koss

Edwards

(2009). Rape prevention and risk reduction: Review of the research literature for practitioners. National Online Resource Center on Violence Against Women. Available from https://VAWnet.org

40.

Manyiwa

Brennan

(2012). Fear appeals in anti-smoking advertising: How important is self-efficacy? Journal of Marketing Management, 28, 1419-1437.

41.

Nasta

Shah

Brahmanandam

Richman

Wittels

Allsworth

Boardman

(2005). Sexual victimization: Incidence, knowledge and resource use among a population of college women. Journal of Pediatric & Adolescent Gynecology, 18, 91-96.

42.

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. (2016). College drinking. Retrieved from http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/special-populations-co-occurring-disorders/college-drinking

43.

Nurius

(2000). Risk perception for acquaintance sexual aggression: A social-cognitive perspective. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 51(1), 63-78.

44.

Peipins

McCarty

Hawkins

Rodriguez

Scholl

Leadbetter

(2015). Cognitive and affective influences on perceived risk of ovarian cancer. Psycho-Oncology, 24, 279-286.

45.

The relationship between alcohol and sexual assault on the college campus. (2013). Washington, DC: EverFi.com. Retrieved from https://www.nvcc.edu/support/_files/RelationshipBetween%20Alcohol%20and%20SexualAssault.pdf

46.

Sandman

(1987, November). Risk communication: Facing public outrage. EPA Journal, 9, 21-22.

47.

Schoof

(2014, July 10). Colleges ignore sex assault cases. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, p. 6A.

48.

Sheehan

Tsao

Pokrywczynski

(2012). Stop the music! How advertising can help stop college students from downloading music illegally. Journal of Advertising Research, 52, 309-321.

49.

Sinozich

Langton

(2014, December 11). Rape and sexual assault among college-age females, 1995-2013 (Bureau of Justice Report NCJ248471). Retrieved from http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=5176

50.

Slovic

(1987). Perception of risk. Science, 36, 280-285.

51.

Slovic

(2010). The feeling of risk. London, England: Earthscan.

52.

Söchting

Fairbrother

Koch

W. J.

(2004). Sexual assault of women: Prevention efforts and risk factors. Violence Against Women, 10, 73-93.

53.

Sorenson

Stein

Siegel

Golding

Burnam

(1987). The prevalence of adult sexual assault: The Los Angeles epidemiologic catchment area project. American Journal of Epidemiology, 126, 1154-1164.

54.

Steele

Josephs

(1990). Alcohol myopia: Its prized and dangerous effects. American Psychologist, 45, 921-933.

55.

Taylor

Chermack

(1993). Alcohol, drugs, and human physical aggression. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 11, 78-88.

56.

Ter Huurne

Griffin

R. J.

Gutteling

. (2009). Risk information seeking among U.S. and Dutch residents: An application of the model of risk information seeking and processing. Science Communication, 31, 215-237.

57.

U.S. Census Bureau. (2014). Current Population Survey September 2014 [Data file and interviewer’s manual]. Available from http://dataferrett.census.gov/

58.

Walsh

J. F.

Foshee

(1998). Self-efficacy, self-determination and victim blaming as predictors of adolescent sexual victimization. Health Education Research, 13, 139-144.

59.

Walsh

Stock

Peterson

Gerrard

(2013). Women’s sun protection cognitions in response to UV photography: The role of age, cognition and affect. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 37, 553-563.

60.

Weiner

(2000). Intrapersonal and interpersonal theories of motivation from an attributional perspective. Educational Psychology Review, 12, 1-14.

61.

Witte

Allen

(2000). A meta-analysis of fear appeals: Implications for effective public health campaigns. Health Education & Behavior, 27, 591-615.

62.

Wolburg

(2001). The “risky business” of binge drinking among college students: Using risk models for PSAs and anti-drinking campaigns. Journal of Advertising, 30(4), 23-39.

63.

Wolburg

(2016). Insights for prevention campaigns: The power of drinking rituals in the college student experience from freshman to senior year. Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising, 37, 80-94.

64.

Yang

Z. J.

Aloe

A. M.

Feeley

(2014). Risk information seeking and processing model: A meta-analysis. Journal of Communication, 64, 20-41.

65.

Yang

Z. J.

Kahlor

L. A.

(2013). What me worry? The role of affect in information seeking and avoidance. Science Communication, 35, 189-212.

66.

Yang

Z. J.

McComas

K. A.

Gay

Leonard

J. P.

Dannenberg

A. J.

Dillon

(2010). Motivation for health information seeking and processing about clinical trial enrollment. Health Communication, 25, 423-436.

67.

Ziering

(Producer), & Dick

(Director). (2015). The hunting ground [Motion picture]. USA: Anchor Bay Entertainment.