Rape myths and rape by juveniles

Abstract

Rape committed during adolescence is a vital indicator for predicting the propensity of committing rape in adulthood. Moreover, although numerous studies related juvenile rape have been proposed in Western countries, most of these studies have focused on the impact of personal factors, and have neglected to examine the impact of rape myths. Therefore, in the present study, we investigated the relationship between rape myths and male juvenile rape. This study used an anonymous self-report questionnaire to collect data. Participants included 466 male middle- and high-school students in Taiwan. The results showed that rape myths are associated with juvenile rape. Furthermore, rape victim myths were the myth category relating to juvenile rape, rather than rape perpetrator myths. Among the rape victim myths, the dimension, women secretly wish to be raped, had the strongest association. Discussions pertaining to implications, applications, limitations, and future research are included in the present study.

Keywords:

• Juvenile
• rape
• rape myths