| Summary: | The purpose of this study was to investigate longitudinally the developmental antecedents of physical and sexual violence against young women, using a theoretically based multicausal model that included characteristics related to the victim, the perpetrator, and the environment. The researchers used a classic longitudinal design, replicated over two cohorts (those born in 1972 and 1973), each assessed first when 18 years old, and again when 19, 20, 21, and 22 years old. The first survey (Part 1, Female Data) collected information on the respondent's experiences of sexual assault from age 14 to the present (age 18). Other questions focused on the kind of person the respondent thought she was, how much of an influence religion had on the way she chose to spend each day, her dating behavior during high school, the number of times the respondent had used behavior such as discussing issues relatively calmly, arguing, sulking, stomping out of the room, or threatening to hit, with a romantic partner during high school, and how frequently romantic partners used these types of behavior with the respondent. Other items elicited information on the number of women the respondent knew who had been sexually victimized, whether men forced them to engage in sexual activities, the nature of the respondent's sexual experience from the time she was 14 to the present, the respondent's age when each experience occurred, if the respondent or the other person was using drugs or alcohol when it happened, if the respondent was injured, and whom the respondent told about the experience. Information was collected on sexual abuse prior to the age of 14 as well. The respondent was also asked to describe how often her parents or stepparents had administered physical blows (i.e., hitting, kicking, throwing someone down), whether someone had fondled her in a sexual way, whether a male had attempted intercourse with the respondent, the relationship between the respondent and the perpetrator, the respondent's age when the experience occurred, who the other person was, who initiated the date or paid for the food, drinks, or tickets, whether the respondent or the other person was using drugs or alcohol, the respondent's opinions about men and women in America (i.e., if the respondent agreed or disagreed that chivalrous gestures toward women on the part of men should be encouraged), whether the respondent had engaged in sexual intercourse when she did not want to because a male threatened or used some degree of physical force (twisting her arm, holding her down, etc.), and the respondent's drug and alcohol use. The subsequent surveys contained measures of sexual assault during each year of college (i.e., since the previous survey). Questions asked in subsequent surveys were similar to those in the first survey, and the responses are all included in Part 1. Questions posed to males (Part 2, Male Data) included the number of women the respondent had sexual intercourse with, how often the respondent heard talk that speculated how a particular woman would be in bed, reasons the respondent engaged in sexual activity, number of times the respondent engaged in sexual intercourse when a woman didn't want to, and questions similar to those in Part 1 with the respondent as the perpetrator. Demographic information in Part 1 and Part 2 describes the female or the male respondent's education, race, religious preference, sexual orientation, and marital or relationship status.
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