ABSTRACT
Obtaining accurate prevalence rates of sexual violence is made difficult by discrepancies in self-report questionnaires. Thus, the current study sought to explore participants’ perceptions of acceptability (i.e., perceived difficulty and preference) as a potential mechanism of discrepancy between different questionnaires. Participants were 673 college students who completed two frequently used sexual victimization questionnaires, the Sexual Experiences Survey-Short Form Victimization (SES-SFV) and the Post-Refusal Sexual Persistence Scales-Victimization (PRSPS-V). Participants then answered questions about each measure’s perceived difficulty and their preference between the two. Participants found the PRSPS-V easier to understand and preferred it 2.5 to 1 over the SES-SFV. Preference was related to reporting; participants who preferred the PRSPS-V reported more instances of sexual victimization on the PRSPS-V by 9.8%. Our results indicate that acceptability impacts reported prevalence rates and is one mechanism of discrepancy between questionnaires. Thus, researchers may wish to consider acceptability when choosing sexual victimization questionnaires.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism under grant (5K01AA026643-02) to Dr Anderson. The views presented in this manuscript do not represent the opinions of the National Institutes of Health. Thank you to the participants who shared their experiences with us.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Ethical standards and informed consent
All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975 as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all participants included in the study.
Additional information
Funding
Notes on contributors
RaeAnn. E. Anderson
RaeAnn E. Anderson, PhD., is an Assistant Professor and Principal Investigator of the Sexual Violence Prevention Laboratory at the University of North Dakota. These data were collected, while Dr Anderson was a postdoctoral fellow at Kent State University in Kent, OH.
Erica L. Goodman
Erica L. Goodman., is a former member of the Sexual Violence Prevention Laboratory and now a full-time clinical psychologist at Depression and Anxiety Specialty Clinic of Chicago. She also has a special interest in eating disorders.
Emily M. Carstens Namie
Emily M. Carstens Namie., is a former member of the Sexual Violence Prevention Laboratory and now Assistant Professor at Lewis-Clark State College. She has an interest in forensic psychology, especially memory and eyewitness testimony.