A Comparison of Sexual Aggression Risk Factors Between the United States and the Philippines

ABSTRACT

Sexual violence against women is a global problem, prompting the need to investigate the risk factors among males in non-Western, non-industrialized countries. Using the expanded Confluence Model, this study examined and compared risk factors of sexual aggression between male college students in the Philippines and the United States. Using path analysis and multiple group analysis, results indicated that the expanded Confluence Model was generally invariant between countries. Direct paths from hostile attitudes toward women and impersonal sex to sexual aggression were non-significant, but indirect effects from hostile attitudes toward women, alcohol consumption, and impersonal sex to sexual aggression via the frequency of misperceiving a woman’s sexual intent were observed. Additional risk analysis indicated that the number of elevated risk factors were associated with higher self-reports of sexual aggression.

KEYWORDS:

• College students
• Confluence Model of Sexual Aggression
• Philippines
• risk factors
• sexual aggression

Acknowledgments

Part of the data presented in this paper has been presented in the 11th Biennial Conference of the Asian Association of Social Psychology and the 52nd Annual Convention of the Psychological Association of the Philippines Joint Convention, Cebu City, Philippines.

Disclosure of interest

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Ethical standards and informed consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation [institutional and national] and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study. The University of Nebraska – Lincoln and Creighton University Institutional Review Boards (IRB) reviewed and approved the research protocol. For the Philippines, the University of the Philippines – Visayas Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Extension approved the protocol for this study.