Sexual violence in dating relationships: Are college athletes at higher-risk?

Abstract

International studies developed at the university context consistently point out for the over-representation of athletes as frequent perpetrators of sexual assault in intimate relationships. The scientific literature has argued that there are aspects of the athletic culture that contribute to greater adherence to sociocultural myths and stereotypical attitudes to gender, increasing the propensity of athletes to commit more sexually abusive behaviors. This exploratory study sought to analyze the possible differences between two independent samples of male college students – athletes and non-athletes – at two levels: 1) degree of acceptance of sexual violence against women, 2) prevalence rate and types of sexually violent behaviors perpetrated in non-marital romantic relationships (dating). For the data collection we used the Beliefs Scale about Rape (ECV) and the Sexual Experiences Survey – Short Form-perpetration (SES-SFP), which were both administered to 50 college athletes of contact sports and to 50 non-athletes. The results suggest that college athletes do not report higher overall levels of legitimacy of sexual violence against women, and that they do not have higher rates of committing acts of sexual violence in the intimacy. In terms of behavior, there is empirical evidence that both college athletes, as non-athletes, report disturbing perpetration levels of severe acts of sexual assault in private (e.g., rape). 

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17575/rpsicol.v27i1.245