Disclosure of sexual assault experiences among undergraduate women at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs)

ABSTRACT

Objective: To document the sexual assault disclosure experiences of historically black college or university (HBCU) students. Participants: A total of 3,951 female, undergraduate students at 4 HBCUs. Methods: All women at the participating schools were recruited in November 2008 to participate in a Web-based survey including both closed- and open-ended questions. Survey data were weighted for nonresponse bias. Results: The majority of sexual assault survivors disclosed their experience to someone close to them, but disclosure to formal supports, particularly law enforcement agencies, was extremely rare. Nonreporters had concerns about the seriousness of the incident and their privacy. On the basis of qualitative data, strategies identified by students to increase reporting included more education and awareness about sexual assault, more survivor services and alternative mechanisms for reporting, and better strategies for protecting the confidentiality of survivors. Conclusions: Official sexual assault victimization data are of limited utility in conveying the extent of sexual assault among HBCU students, and efforts to increase reporting, such as peer education and enhanced confidentiality procedures, are needed.

KEYWORDS:

• College women
• disclosure
• HBCU
• reporting
• sexual assault

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 and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of RTI.

Funding

This project was supported by grant 2007-WG-BX-0021, awarded by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, US Department of Justice. Points of view are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the US Department of Justice.RTI International is an independent organization dedicated to conducting innovative, multidisciplinary research that improves the human condition.

Notes

¹ Because the 4 participating HBCUs were not all the same size (in terms of the number of undergraduate women enrolled), the survey sample was not evenly divided among the 4 schools. The largest school contributed 33% of the sample and the smallest contributed 15%, with the 2 remaining schools contributing 23% and 29%.

² The survey also asked (separately) about attempted unwanted sexual contact by physical force or the threat of force, but follow-up questions were not asked about these incidents and those who only experienced attempted physically forced sexual assault are not included in the current analyses.

³ The survey also asked (separately) about suspected unwanted sexual contact when the survivor was incapacitated, but follow-up questions were not asked about these incidents and those who only experienced suspected incapacitated sexual assault are not included in the current analyses.

⁴ Fifty-five women had survived both types of sexual assault since entering college and were therefore included in both subsamples. However, the same incident should not have been double counted (ie, reported as both physically forced and incapacitated) because students were instructed to report an incident that involved both tactics as physically forced only. When comparing the disclosure experiences of the 55 women who experienced both types of tactics (in separate incidents) with those who experienced only physically forced or only incapacitated sexual assault, the disclosure experiences appear similar.

⁵ Only themes directly relevant to increasing the reporting of sexual assault are listed in Table 3 and discussed in this section. Many students listed strategies for preventing sexual assault or discussed general points that could be conveyed to an individual survivor to encourage her to report. However, these responses are not relevant to the current analyses and were therefore not coded systematically.