Nearly one in five college women were victims of rape or attempted rape during their freshmen year, with the most falling prey during their first three months on campus, according to a new study. The study, published online Wednesday in the Journal of Adolescent Health, surveyed 480 female freshmen at a university in upstate New York in 2010. The results confirm other research that has found about 20 percent of women are victimized by sexual assault in college. A Centers for Disease Control report last year showed 19.3 percent of women are victims of rape or attempted rape during their lifetimes. An accompanying editorial in the journal says the research shows “rape is a common experience among college-aged women.” The researcher…
Nearly one in five college women were victims of rape or attempted rape during their freshmen year, with the most falling prey during their first three months on campus, according to a new study.
The study, published online Wednesday in the Journal of Adolescent Health, surveyed 480 female freshmen at a university in upstate New York in 2010. The results confirm other research that has found about 20 percent of women are victimized by sexual assault in college. A Centers for Disease Control report last year showed 19.3 percent of women are victims of rape or attempted rape during their lifetimes.
An accompanying editorial in the journal says the research shows “rape is a common experience among college-aged women.” The researcher, Kate Carey, professor of behavioral and social sciences in the Brown University School of Public Health, wrote that if a similar number of young people were breaking their legs in their first year of school, “we would expect that the community would do something to enhance the safety of the environment.”
Lisa Maatz, vice president of government relations at American Association of University Women, said Carey’s study shows the problem of sexual violence among young women is “probably even worse than we thought.”
“My mind boggles a bit at the statistic that they found,” Maatz said, adding that Carey’s data “is critical” to efforts to address campus rape.
The study found sexual violence widespread. Among those surveyed, 37 percent said they were either raped or attacked by someone who attempted to rape them at least once from age 14 through the end of their freshman year.
Students were most vulnerable during fall semester of their freshmen year — a period often called the “red zone” between the start of classes and Thanksgiving break.
Previous research showing one in five college women had been raped has been challenged by conservative columnists and think tanks for more than 20 years. More recently, criticism has focused on research conducted on two Midwestern campuses in 2007.
“The challenge we have is the research varies a lot in terms of who is being focused on, and how the target behaviors are defined,” Carey said. “It has been exceedingly difficult to get a hard number because of all this variation in the literature.”
Colleges and universities have moved in recent years to gauge the prevalence of sexual violence on campuses. The survey results show variation, depending on how the questions are posed.
- Princeton University: One-in-six women said in a survey they had been sexually assaulted.
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 17 percent of women and 5 percent of men in a survey said they’d experienced sexual assault.
- University of Oregon: 10 percent of women had been raped, and 35 percent had at least one forcible sexual encounter.
- Occidental College: Nearly 8 percent of students said they’d been sexually assaulted.
- Kansas State University: Less than 1 percent said in a survey they’d experienced unwanted sexual contact at the school.
- University of Kansas: More than 1-in-10 had experienced sexual harassment or assault at the school.
“As a general rule it probably is a good idea and a responsible thing for a campus to do, even if they find out information that surprises them like my data surprised me,” Carey said. “Certainly it has to be done in a sensitive way.”
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