College students' perceptions of date rape : the relationship between personal relevance and victim empathy

The main purpose of this study was to empirically analyze college studenls' perceptions of date rape, specifically focusing on the relationship between personal relevance and victim empathy. Drawing from the Elaboration Likelihood Model (Petty V & Cacioppo, 1981, 1986a, 1986b ), the personal relevance of a date rape scenario was manipulated and victim empathy was measured usrng the Rape Empathy Scale (Deitz, S.R., Blackwell, K.T., Daley, P.C., & Bentley, B.J., 1982) and the Acquaintance Rape Empathy Scale (Berg, Lonsway, & Fitzgerald, 1999). Participants in this study included 199 college students from a mid-sized university who read either a personally relevant date rape scenario, a general date rape scenario, or no date rape scenario. Victim empathy was measured five ,veeks bdore participanls in the experimental groups read the scenario and immediately after they read the scenario. On the ARES, participants who did not read a date rape scenario indicated higher levels of empathy for a rape victim than did participants who read a personally relevant date rape scenario. No differences were found between participants who read a personally relevant date rape scenario and those who read a general scenario. No differences were found between the groups on the RES.