Sexual victimization: incidence, knowledge and resource use among a population of college women.

STUDY OBJECTIVE

To assess the incidence of sexual victimization among a convenience sample of college women and evaluate both victims and non-victims' knowledge and use of available on and off campus resources.

DESIGN

Written questionnaire distributed to students in lobbies of two campus libraries and large computing center

SETTING

A private northeastern university

PARTICIPANTS

Upper-class undergraduate women (sophomores, juniors and seniors)

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Respondents (n=234) were asked to complete demographic information, report instances of sexual victimization (including rape, sexual coercion and unwanted sexual contact) that occurred during the 1999-2000 academic year and indicate whether they would or did use either university and/or outside resources available to sexual assault victims.

RESULTS

Of the women who participated, 38% (90/234) affirmed one or more episodes of sexual victimization, with 6% (14/234) reporting a completed rape and 4% (9/234) an attempted rape. Drug or alcohol-related impairment leading to unwanted sexual activity was reported by 15% (35/234) of women. Utilization of available on- and off-campus resources was uncommon among victims (22% and 6%, respectively); 12% contacted health services, while only 4% reported an event to university security. Victims cited fear, embarrassment and guilt, as well as lack of confidentiality, as the most common reasons for failure to use resources.

CONCLUSIONS

Increasing campus awareness of sexual victimization and removing barriers to access for victims should remain university goals.