Attitudes toward victims of rape among university populations

The purpose of this study was to assess the attitudes toward victims of rape among four university populations. Data were collected during the fall, 1996 semester. A total of 349 participants in this investigation consisted of four populations at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, including 52 administration, 144 faculty, 64 designated contact persons, and 89 undergraduate students. A modified Semantic Differential Scale was utilized. Respondents were asked to rate four concepts, each representing varying degrees of acquaintanceship between the perpetrator and the victim (stranger, acquaintance, date, and gang rape), followed by ten bipolar descriptors, representative of Evaluative, Potency, and Activity dimensions. An analysis of variance was utilized to determine whether there were differences among university populations. An independent t test was applied to measure the effect of gender and personal knowledge of a rape incident. The effect of gender was further examined on each descriptor respective of the four semantic concepts using the Kruskal-Wallis One Way ANOVA on ranks. Data analysis showed that there were no differences in attitudes among the four university populations toward victims of stranger, acquaintance, date, or gang rape. Gender differences were found in attitudes toward victims of stranger and gang rape, but not toward victims of acquaintance or date rape. Among the total sample population with and without personal knowledge of a rape incident, no differences were found in attitudes toward a victims of stranger, acquaintance, date, or gang rape. The following conclusions were drawn: 1. The perception of victims of stranger, acquaintance, date, and gang rape is viewed as more similar than dissimilar across administrative, faculty, designated contact person, and student populations. 2. The perception of victims of stranger and gang rape is viewed as more dissimilar than similar between males and females across administrative, faculty, designated contact person, and student populations. 3. The perception of victims of acquaintance and date rape is viewed as more similar than dissimilar between males and females across administrative, faculty, designated contact person, and student populations. 4. It can be concluded that analysis of bipolar descriptors can elicit useful information regarding as to whether specific differences exist within each semantic concept. 5. Males are more likely than females to perceive victims of stranger, acquaintance, date, or gang rape with less favorable characteristics among bipolar descriptors within the Evaluation category opposed to the Potency or Activity categories of the Semantic Differential Scale. 6. The perception of victims of stranger, acquaintance, date, or gang rape is viewed as more similar than dissimilar between individuals with and without personal knowledge of a rape incident across administrative, faculty, designated contact person, and student populations.