Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

12-2019

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Public Health

Major Professor

Kathleen C. Brown

Committee Members

Kristina Kintziger, Cristina Barosso, Michael Fitzgerald

Abstract

Sexual violence in U.S. military communities is a serious public health problem. The Department of Defense with significant recommendations and enforcement by Congress has taken step to address the problem. However, the effort has not captured the true magnitude of the problem. Current reports of sexual violence in military communities focuses on sexual assaults of military members and fails to account for military family members, DoD employees, and their family members who form military communities. In order to combat sexual violence in military communities, a comprehensive approach to sexual violence must be used that includes all community members and all types of sexual violence. The overall purpose of this study was to examine how military programs are executed, if policies related to sexual violence are meeting stated goals and recommendations, and to understand how perceptions of sexual violence in military communities could be affecting Americans and military recruitment efforts. To better understand sexual violence in military communities a non-traditional dissertation approach was utilized. The report of the results and findings are found in three individual manuscripts. The first two manuscripts, a scoping review and policy analysis, show that current military sexual violence programs are disjointed and confusing for those who have experiences sexual violence in military communities, and that the most current sexual harassment policy fails to incorporate recommendations from the Government Accountability Office and meet their intended goals. The third manuscript reports a survey conducted to explore the extent a person’s perceptions of sexual violence in military communities affect their decision to not join the U.S. military and how their gender influences their decision. Overall, this manuscript found more than a quarter of participants, regardless of their gender, stated their perceptions of sexual violence in military communities affects their decision to not join the U.S. military. This dissertation presents an innovative approach to understanding sexual violence in military communities. By looking at sexual violence from three different perspectives, it furthers our understanding of current approaches, policies, and the effect of sexual violence in military communities.

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