Sexual violence prevalence and disclosure patterns among college undergraduates: exploring types of sexual violence and incident-specific characteristics

Abstract

Objective: Study explores the role of well-documented individual-level correlates of a range of types of sexual violence among undergraduates and examines both individual-level and incident-level correlates of disclosure patterns to formal and informal sources. Participants: The current study involves the analysis of campus climate data collected in 2018 from 2,271 undergraduate participants. Methods: Descriptive and bivariate analyses are conducted to examine correlates of sexual violence, and a logistic regression model is estimated to examine disclosure by both individual and incident-level correlates. Results: 19% of students experience at least one incident of sexual violence since coming to campus, with many reporting multiple victimizations which differs by race, gender, and sexual orientation. Significant differences found in disclosure based on gender and relationship to who committed the sexual violence. Conclusions: Overall, findings from this study highlight the importance of using a nuanced approach to examining college students’ experiences of sexual violence.

Keywords:

• College
• disclosure
• sexual violence

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States of America and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of Rutgers University.

Funding

No funding was used to support this research and/or the preparation of the manuscript.