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Psychology of Women Quarterly
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The online version of this article can be found at:

DOI: 10.1111/j.1471-6402.1996.tb00669.x
1996 20: 147 Psychology of Women Quarterly
Antonia Abbey, Lisa Thomson Ross, Donna McDuffie and Pam McAuslan
Women
Alcohol and Dating Risk Factors for Sexual Assault Among College

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Psychology of Women Quarterly, 20 (1996), 147-169. Printed in the United States of America.
ALCOHOL AND DATING RISK
FACTORS FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT
AMONG COLLEGE WOMEN
Antonia Abbey, Lisa Thomson Ross,
Donna McDuffie, and Pam McAuslan
Wayne State University
American societal norms frequently link alcohol, dating, and sexuality.
This cross-sectional study examined the role of alcohol and dating risk
factors for sexual assault among a representative sample of female stu-
dents at a large urban university. Over half of the 1,160 women had
experienced some form of sexual assault. Ninety-five percent of these
assaults were committed by someone the woman knew and almost half
of these assaults involved alcohol consumption by either the man, the
woman, or both. Discriminant function analyses indicated that dating,
sexual, and misperception experiences and alcohol consumption during
these experiences predicted assault group status. Furthermore, alcohol
consumption during consensual sex and sexual misperceptions were
positively related to alcohol consumption during the sexual assault. The
predictors of assault group status were similar for African American and
Caucasian women. Theoretical implications are discussed and sugges-
tions are made for combining alcohol and sexual assault prevention
programming.
Many researchers have investigated antecedents and correlates of sexual
assault in order to identify circumstances that may put women at risk for
being sexually assaulted. In some of the early research (Amir, 1971), the
presumption was that many women precipitate a sexual assault by virtue
of their personality. Recent research indicates that personality characteris-
tics are not good predictors of sexual assault status (Koss & Dinero, 1989).
This research was funded by a grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and
Alcoholism to the first author. Portions of this paper were presented at the Fifth Annual
Meeting of the American Psychological Society, June, 1993, Chicago.
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Antonia Abbey, Department of Commu-
nity Medicine, Wayne State University, 4201 St. Antoine, Detroit, MI 48201.
Published by Cambridge University Press 0361-6843196 $7.50 +.10 147
by Pepe Portillo on April 30, 2014 pwq.sagepub.com Downloaded from
148 ABBEY E l AL.
Feminist researchers actively avoid associating risk with victim blame,
and instead emphasize how information about circumstances surrounding
sexual assault can empower women and make them feel less vulnerable to
attack (Harney & Muehlenhard, 1991). This study was conducted within
this philosophical framework, which associates awareness of risk with em-
powerment and control, rather than with guilt and recrimination.
Abbey and colleagues (Abbey, 1991; Abbey, Ross, & McDuffie, 1994)
developed a theoretical model that posits that gender differences in beliefs
and experiences with dating, sexuality, and alcohol enhance the likelihood
that heterosexual social interactions may involve misperception of sexual
intent and lead to sexual assault. This model was not developed to describe
all known predictors of sexual assault or all types of sexual assault (see
Berkowitz, 1992; Malamuth & Briere, 1986; Scully, 1991; and White &
KOSS, 1991 for reviews of other factors such as early family influences,
perpetrator personality characteristics, peer group influences, and expo-
sure to sexually violent media depictions of heterosexual interactions).
Instead, this model focuses on sexual assaults that occur among acquain-
tances during social interactions. Although a full examination of this
model was not possible with the data presented in this paper (because
information from perpetrators and victims of the same assault was not
collected), this study provides a partial examination of this model with
retrospective information from women college students. Below, we review
relevant past research linking dating and sexual activity, misperception of
sexual intent, and alcohol consumption with sexual assault.
Dating and Sexual Activity
One set of risk factors associated with sexual assault involves dating and
sexual behavior. Women who frequently date are at increased risk of
interacting with a sexually aggressive man (Koss & Dinero, 1989). The
number of dating and sex partners a woman has had (Koss & Dinero,
1989; Wyatt, Newcomb, & Riederle, 1993) and the frequency of consen-
sual sexual intercourse (Wyatt et al., 1993) have been associated repeat-
edly with experiencing sexual assault. These results have been explained
within a situational vulnerability framework: frequent dating and sexual
activity increase the probability that a woman will interact with a sexually
violent man who is willing to force sex on disinterested companions. Kanin
(1985), after conducting extensive interviews with 71 college men who
acknowledged committing date rape, labeled them sexually predatory
(p. 223). Compared to college men who had not committed date rape,
they were much more sexually active and much more likely to feel that
certain types of women such as a bar pick-up, a woman with a loose
reputation, or a known tease were fair targets for sexual aggression (p.
225). Kanins findings, although from a small sample, demonstrate how
frequent dating and sexual activity, or a reputation for engaging in fre-
quent sexual activity, are risk factors for sexual assault.
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Ri sk Factors for Sexual Assault 149
Many adolescents and young adults believe that there are dating circum-
stances that make forced sex acceptable. Fifty-nine percent of the adoles-
cents surveyed by Kikuchi (1988) felt that it was acceptable for a man to
force intercourse on a date if they had been dating a long time. Sixty-one
percent of these students felt that forced sex would be acceptable if she
let him do it before, while 31 % thought forced sex would be acceptable
if the woman had previously had sexual intercourse with other men. Craig
and Kalichman (in Koss & Harvey, 1991) found that 24% of the college
students they surveyed thought that it was acceptable for a man to force
sex on a woman when they had been dating exclusively. Goodchilds and
Zellman (1984) found that 43% of the male adolescents in their study
thought that forced sex was acceptable if a couple had been dating a long
time, whereas 39% said forced sex would be acceptable if she had sexual
intercourse with other men. Thus, a woman who refuses to have sexual
intercourse with a dating partner is at risk of being sexually assaulted by
him, as is a woman who has a reputation for having sex with other men.
Misperception of Friendly Cues as Sexual Intent
A second risk factor involves the misperception of friendliness as sexual
intent. Men perceive a variety of verbal and nonverbal cues to be a
stronger indicator of a womans sexual interest than the woman intended
(Abbey, 1982; Shotland & Craig, 1988). Approximately two-thirds of col-
lege women report experiencing a situation in which the man with whom
they were socializing misperceived the level of sexual intimacy the woman
desired (Abbey, 1987; Koss & Oros, 1982).
Misperception of sexual intent can cause a man to feel entitled to have
sex with his partner and, consequently, lead to acquaintance rape (Abbey,
1991; Goodchilds & Zellman, 1984). Approximately half of young men
feel that forced sex is acceptable if they have been led on or sexually
aroused (Goodchilds & Zellman, 1984; Koss & Harvey, 1991) and a man
who has misperceived his partners cues is likely to feel led on when she
rebuffs his sexual advances. Muehlenhard and Linton (1987) asked college
men and women to describe a date during which sexual aggression oc-
curred and a date during which sexual aggression did not occur. They
found that on sexually assaultive dates, as compared to nonassaultive
dates, men were more likely to feel that they had been led on by the
woman. Women agreed that sexually assaultive dating partners had often
felt led on; however, they reported that they had not intended to convey
sexual interest and had been misperceived.
Alcohol Consumption
A third risk factor for sexual assault is alcohol consumption. Alcohol con-
sumption by the perpetrator, the victim, or both, has consistently been
linked to sexual assault ( KOSS, 1988; Muehlenhard & Linton, 1987; Rada,
1975; Scully, 1991). I n a national college sample, Koss (1988) found that
74 % of the perpetrators and 55 % of the victims of rape had been drinking
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150 ABBEY ET AL.
alcohol prior to the incident. I n their comparison of the characteristics of
college students sexually assaultive and nonassaultive dates, Muehlenhard
and Linton (1987) found that sexually assaultive dates were more likely
than nonassaultive dates to involve heavy alcohol consumption by the man
and the woman. Studies conducted with incarcerated rapists found that
over half of the perpetrators had consumed alcohol or other drugs immedi-
ately prior to the assault (Rada, 1975; Scully, 1991).
Alcohol and sexuality are consistently linked in American society. Many
people believe that alcohol enhances sexual feelings and performance
(Crowe & George, 1989; Lang, 1985). Some men use alcohol as a cue to
determine their female companions sexual availability. The results of sev-
eral studies suggest that men perceive a woman who is drinking alcohol to
be more sexually available and more likely to have sex with her partner
than a woman who is not drinking alcohol (Corcoran & Thomas, 1991;
George, Gournic, & McAfee, 1988; Goodchilds & Zellman, 1984). Stereo-
types about sexual availability of drinking women make some men feel
that they are appropriate targets for sexual aggression. More than half of
the college date rapists interviewed by Kanin (1985) felt that their status
with their peers would be enhanced if they forced sex on a woman they
drank with at a bar. Three-quarters of these men reported purposely get-
ting a date intoxicated in order to have sexual intercourse with her (see
Mosher & Anderson, 1986 for similar results).
Alcohol consumption increases the likelihood that friendliness will be
misperceived as a sexual intent, and it reduces the likelihood that misper-
ceptions will be quickly or easily rectified (Abbey, 1987; Muehlenhard &
Linton, 1987). A man who believes traditional stereotypes about drinking
women may presume that a date who is drinking alcohol is interested in
having intercourse. Because of the self-fulfilling nature of stereotypes, if a
man is looking for signs of sexual interest he is likely to see them, even if
that is not what his date intended. Asnoted above, once a man feels that
he has been led on, he may feel justified forcing sex (Goodchilds &
Zellman, 1984). Thus, a drinking man may feel entitled to have sex with
his partner (Kanin, 1985). The cognitive and physical impairments associ-
ated with alcohol consumption (Hull & van Treuren, 1986) make it more
difficult for women to successfully resist an assault; consequently, a drink-
ing woman may have a more difficult time escaping from a sexually ag-
gressive man. Thus, there are cognitive and behavioral processes through
which alcohol consumption during heterosexual social interactions can
contribute to sexual assault.
Goals of This Study
The main purpose of the study described in this paper was to examine the
role of the factors described above in the sexual assault experiences of
college women. I t was hypothesized that dating and sexual activity, being
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Risk Factors for Sexual Assauft 151
sexually misperceived, and alcohol consumption in heterosexual social sit-
uations were risk factors for sexual assault, and consequently, would occur
more frequently for women who had been sexually assaulted as compared
to those who had not. Past research has distinguished between different
types of sexual assault, such as assaults that involve physical force as com-
pared to verbal pressure, and assaults that involve penetration as com-
pared to other types of forced sexual activity (Koss, Gidycz, & Wisniewski,
1987). Although it was our expectation that alcohol and dating risk factors
would contribute to all types of sexual assault, the measure that was used
(Koss et al., 1987) allowed for discrimination between different types of
sexual assault.
The second purpose of this study was to compare the assault characteris-
tics and risk factors of African American and Caucasian women. Past
studies of the circumstances associated with sexual assault either omit
African American women from the analyses (Koss & Dinero, 1989) or use
samples that are largely Caucasian and do not consider possible ethnic
differences (Muehlenhard & Linton, 1987; for an exception, see Wyatt,
1992). These analyses were viewed as exploratory, and for most of the
variables no specific hypotheses were made. In general, African American
women consume less alcohol than do Caucasian women (National Insti-
tute on Drug Abuse, 1991), so alcohol consumption was expected to occur
less often during sexual assaults on African American women.
The third purpose of this study involved examining the correlates of
womens and mens alcohol consumption during sexual assault. As de-
scribed above, sexual assaults often arise out of dating and social interac-
tions that begin as a friendly exchange. Thus, it was hypothesized that
alcohol consumption in dating and consensual sexual situations would be
related to alcohol consumption during sexual assault. Women who tend to
drink alcohol during dating and sexual interactions, or women who tend
to interact with men who drink alcohol, are at risk for having one of these
interactions turn into an alcohol-involved sexual assault.
METHOD
Participants
Participants were 1,160 women attending 94 classes that represented un-
dergraduate student enrollment at a large urban commuter university.
The students at this university are economically and ethnically diverse.
The majority of the students are employed and most are the first genera-
tion in their families to attend college. On average they are older and
there are more married students than at a residential school. Sixty percent
of the sample was Caucasian (n = 700), 29% was African American
( n = 338), 4% was Asian (n = 44), 3% was Arabic (n = 301, 1% was
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152 ABBEY ETAL.
Hispanic ( n = 15), and 3% either had another ethnic background or did
not answer this question ( n = 33). This is similar to the ethnic breakdown
for the universitys undergraduate population.
Participants ranged in age from 18 to 58. Thirty-seven percent of parti-
cipants were 18 to 21 years of age, 46% were 22 to 30 years of age, 12%
were 31 to 40 years of age, and the remaining 5% were 41 years of age or
older. Seventy-six percent of participants had never been married, 17 %
were currently married or living with a partner, and 7 % were separated,
divorced, or widowed.
Procedures
In order to survey a representative sample of undergraduates, a sampling
scheme was developed using information provided by the universitys En-
rollment Services Office. Undergraduate classes were selected in propor-
tion to (a) the number of undergraduates enrolled in each college, and (b)
within colleges, the number of undergraduates enrolled in each major.
Initially, the dean of each college was contacted, followed by department
chairs, to obtain support for the study. With permission, faculty members
from the colleges of allied health (e.g., pharmacy, occupational therapy),
art, business, education, engineering, liberal arts (which included sciences
and humanities), nursing, and social work were recruited to cooperate
with the study by providing class time for survey administration. Eighty
faculty members agreed to allow their students to participate in the study
(3 faculty members refused and 3 could not be reached by telephone,
resulting in a faculty response rate of 93 % ) , Students in courses represent-
ing 27 different majors participated in the study. Overall, this sampling
strategy provided a fairly accurate representation of the student popula-
tion.
Depending on the size of the class, one or more members of the research
team (four women and two men) administered the survey. The researcher
informed the students that the purpose of the study was to examine inti-
mate experiences with members of the opposite sex, including consensual
and forced sexual experiences. Students were told that participation was
voluntary and that they were free to refuse to answer any and all ques-
tions. Nine percent of the eligible students refused to participate. Students
were asked to respect each others right to privacy and avoid looking at
each others answers. A large box was placed in the front of the classroom
and students were asked to place their questionnaires in the box when they
were finished. Participants kept a copy of the consent form, which in-
cluded telephone numbers for community and campus mental health cen-
ters, as well as for the principal investigator. One small college refused to
provide class time and their students completed the questionnaire indepen-
dently outside of class. These students were asked to return their question-
naires to a box located in their departments main office.
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Ri sk Factors for Sexual Assault
Measures
153
Sexual assault experiences. A modified 8-item version of the Sexual
Experiences Survey was used (Koss & Oros, 1982; Koss et al., 1987; see the
Appendix for the eight questions included). Questions are phrased in terms
of women being the victims of sexual assault and men being the perpetra-
tors; childhood (through age 14) and incestuous sexual experiences are not
included. Response options for each question ranged from zero tofive (five
or more times). Following past use of the Sexual Experiences Survey (Koss
& Oros, 1982; Koss et al., 1987), sexual assault was viewed as a continuum
of increasing severity. Five mutually exclusive groups were formed: (a) no
adolescent or adult sexual assault experiences, (b) forced sexual contact,
(c) verbally coerced sexual intercourse, (d) attempted rape, and (e) com-
pleted rape. The Sexual Experiences Survey has been used extensively. A
national sample (Koss et al., 1987) yielded acceptable internal consistency
(a = .74) and high tes-retest reliability (93% agreement over a l-week
interval). In this study, the Cronbach coefficient 1y was .77.
Dating and consensual sexual experience. An open-ended question
asked participants to estimate how many different people they had dated.
Participants were also asked Approximately how many times in your life
have you had sexual intercourse with a man when you both wanted to?.
This question was answered using an 8-point scale with the response op-
tions never, once, twice, 3 times, 4 times, 5 to 10 times, 11 to 30 times,
and 31 or more times. Based on the advice of J udd, Smith, and Kidder
(1991), response categories were provided for the consensual sex question,
rather than using an open-ended format, in order to simplify the partici-
pants recall task. Past research indicates that correlation and regression
analyses are robust when such ordinal scales are used (Borgatta & Bohrn-
stedt, 1980).
Misperception of friendliness as sexual intent. To assess misperception,
participants responded to the following question: Sometimes people mis-
interpret or misperceive what we do or say. How often has a man thought
you wanted a greater degree of sexual intimacy than you actually de-
sired? (Abbey, 1987; Koss & Oros, 1982). Responses were based on the
same 8-point scale described above, with response options ranging from
never to 31 or more times.
Alcohol consumption. Two types of alcohol consumption measures
were included for all participants: frequency of alcohol consumption dur-
ing consensual sexual intercourse and frequency of alcohol consumption
during misperceptions of sexual intent. Participants were asked how fre-
quently they and their sexual partners (two separate questions) consumed
alcohol during consensual intercourse. Similarly, participants were asked
to rate the frequency with which they and the men who misperceived
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154 ABBEY ET AL.
them consumed alcohol during misperceptions of sexual intent. These four
questions were answered with 6-point scales with response options that
included never, once in a while, less than half the time, about half the
time, more than half the time, and nearly every time or every time (Hilton
& Clark, 1987).
For each sexual assault question, women who had been sexually as-
saulted were asked two additional questions about alcohol consumption.
They were asked if the perpetrator had consumed alcohol and if they had
consumed alcohol. Responses were made on 4-point scales with response
options that ranged from no alcohol; yes, a small amount; yes, a moderate
amount; to yes, a large amount. If a woman had experienced more than
one of the same type of incident, then she was asked to describe the one
she remembered the best.
For each sexual assault question, follow-up
questions were included about participants age at the time of the assault,
their relationship to the perpetrator, and where the incident occurred. For
both the relationship and the location questions, a checklist was provided
that included an other category. If a woman had experienced more than
one of the same type of incident, then she was asked to describe the one
she remembered the best. Participants current age, marital status, and
ethnicity were also assessed.
Descriptive information.
RESULTS
Prevalence and Characteristics of Sexual Assault
As described in the Measures section, womens experiences were classified
into one of five groups based on the most serious type of assault they
reported: no assault, forced sexual contact, sexual coercion, attempted
rape, or completed rape. If a woman reported experiencing two or more
levels of assault (e.g., sexual contact and attempted rape), then for ana-
lytic purposes she was categorized as having experienced the higher-level
assault (e.g., attempted rape). I n this sample, 41 % of the women had no
adolescent or adult sexual assault experiences. Two percent of the women
had a forced sexual contact experience, 26% had been sexually coerced,
8 % experienced an attempted rape, and 23 % experienced completed rape
as their most serious assault.
Because so few women reported forced sexual contact as their most
serious incident (n = 24), it was not possible to include this group in the
data analyses. The attempted rape group was also relatively small for
multivariate analyses ( n = 87). Because attempted rape is usually legally
considered a form of rape (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1991), the
attempted and completed rape groups were combined for the analyses
reported in this paper. Thus, the analyses described in this paper included
1,136 women divided into three groups: no assault, sexual coercion, or
attempted/completed rape.
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Ri sk Factors for Sexual Assault 155
Table 1
Descriptive characteristics of womens most serious sexual assault
~
Characteristic
Percentage Reporting
Sexual Attempted or
Coercion Completed
Overall (%) (%) Rape (%)
(n = 656) (n = 299) (n = 357)
Age at time of assault
15-17
18-21
22-25
26-28
Alcohol consumption during the assault
Neither man nor woman consumed
Both man and woman consumed
Only man consumed alcohol
Only woman consumed alcohol
Stranger
Acquaintance
Friend
Casual date
Steady dating partner
Spouse (includes ex-spouse)
Other
Location of assault
Perpetrators home
Womans home
Car or outdoors
Party or bar
Other
alcohol
alcohol
Relationship to perpetrator
25
53
14
8
54
28
16
2
5
10
13
12
43
12
5
39
27
15
6
13
18
61
14
7
70
18
12
0
1
4
13
9
58
11
4
47
32
9
5
7
30
47
13
10
41
36
20
3
9
15
13
15
30
12
6
34
23
18
8
17
Descriptive information about these assaults is displayed in Table 1.
Information is presented for all sexual assaults, and separately for sexual
coercions and rapes. The average age at the time of the most serious assault
was 20 years of age. Sexually coerced and raped women did not differ in
age at the time of the assault, t (591) = 1.11, m. Almost half of the
most serious assaults involved alcohol consumption, and when alcohol was
involved, it was most common for the woman and the perpetrator both to
drink alcohol. Sexual coercions were less likely than rapes to involve alco-
hol consumption, x 2 (3, N = 609) = 50.99, p < .001. Ninety-five per-
cent of the sexual assaults were committed by someone the woman knew.
Although steady dating partners were the modal perpetrator for both
sexual coercions and rapes, sexual coercions were more likely to be com-
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156 ABBEY ET AL.
mitted by a steady dating partner, and rapes were more likely to be com-
mitted by a stranger or acquaintance, x 2 (3, N = 601) = 70.48, p <
.001. About two-thirds of the sexual assaults took place in either the perpe-
trators or the womans home. Although these were the most common
locations for both types of sexual assaults, rapes were more likely than
sexual coercions to occur in cars, outdoors, at a party, or at another loca-
tion, x 2 (3, N = 328) = 17.02, p < .01.
Discrimination Between Sexual Assault Groups
Using Dating and Alcohol Risk Factors
Discriminant function analysis. A stepwise discriminant function
analysis was conducted in order to predict assault group membership from
the predictor variables (see Table Zfor the intercorrelations between the
predictor variables). The stepwise procedure was used because (a) the pre-
dictor variables were correlated, and the stepwise procedure allows for the
most parsimonious set of predictors to emerge as significant, and (b) there
was no theoretical justification for an a priori ordering of the variables
(Tabachnick & Fidell, 1989). Following standard procedure (Klecka,
1980), the discriminant function analysis took into account the prior prob-
abilities of group membership: 42% no assault, 26% coerced, 32%
raped. Two significant discriminant functions emerged. The first func-
tion had a Wilks lambda of .66 with x 2 (12, N = 1136) = 461.68, p c
.001, while the second function had a Wilks lambda of .97, x 2 (5, N =
1136) = 40.12, p < .001. The first function accounted for 93% of the
total discriminating power for the analysis (Klecka, 1980; Tabachnick &
Fidell, 1989). Together these functions accounted for 35 % of the variance
associated with assault group status (Klecka, 1980).
The correlations between the predictor variables and the two discrimi-
nant functions are displayed in Table 3 (see columns marked Correlations
with Functions). Only one variable, the frequency of the womans drink-
ing during consensual sexual intercourse, did not significantly contribute
to the prediction of assault group status. To enhance interpretation of the
discriminant function results (Klecka, 1980), variable means, along with
the results of follow-up Tukey tests, are also displayed in Table 3 (see
columns labeled Assault Group Means).
With one exception (described below), the pattern of means was similar
for all the predictor variables: Women who had not been sexually as-
saulted had the lowest scores on the risk factors; women who had experi-
enced attempted or completed rape had the highest scores; and women
who had experienced sexual coercion had scores that fell between those for
the other two groups. As can be seen from the means presented in Table 3,
nonassaulted women had fewer dating partners than did sexually coerced
women, who in turn had fewer dating partners than did woman who
experienced rape. Nonassaulted women reported fewer consensual sexual
intercourse experiences than did sexually coerced or raped woman. This
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Risk Factors for Sexual Assault 159
was the only contributing variable for which the two assault groups mean
scores did not significantly differ from one another.
Women who had not been sexually assaulted had their sexual intentions
misperceived less frequently than did women who had been sexually
coerced, who in turn had been misperceived less often than women who
had been raped. Nonassaulted women reported that their partners less
often consumed alcohol during consensual sexual interactions than did
women who had been sexually coerced, who reported this less often than
women who had been raped. Although the frequency with which the
woman drank alcohol during consensual sexual interactions did not signifi-
cantly discriminate between assault groups, the pattern of means was
similar to that found for the other variables. Finally, nonassaulted women
were less likely than sexually coerced women to report that both they
and the men who misperceived them were drinking at the time of the
misperception; sexually coerced women reported this less often than
women who had experienced rape.
The magnitude of the correlations with the functions indicates the order
in which the variables entered the stepwise equation. Thus, the number of
times the woman had been misperceived entered the equation first, fol-
lowed by the number of times the woman had consensual sex, the fre-
quency with which the man who misperceived her was drinking, the
number of dating partners, and the frequency with which the man was
drinking during consensual sex. The womans frequency of drinking dur-
ing misperception was the final variable to enter the discriminant function
analysis.
In order to assess how well these variables discriminated between
groups, classification rates were examined (Klecka, 1980). A z-test of pro-
portions was computed to determine whether the percentage of cases cor-
rectly classified by the discriminant functions significantly exceeded the
percentage of cases that would have been classified by chance alone
(Brown & Tinsley, 1983). Overall, 59% of the women were correctly
classified, which significantly improved upon a chance rate of 34 % , z
(1136) = 16.92, p < .01. The pattern of classification indicated that the
predictor variables most successfully identified women with no sexual as-
sault experiences (80% correctly classified). The women who had been
raped were more likely to be correctly classified (58 % ) than were sexually
coerced women (24%). Few of the women who had not been assaulted
were misclassified as having been sexually coerced (8 % ) or raped (12 % ).
However, a greater proportion of women with assaults were misclassified
as not assaulted (43% of sexually coerced, 27% of raped).
Comparing African American and Caucasian Womens Experiences
An additional research question concerned whether these findings were
applicable to women with different ethnic backgrounds. Because there
were too few Arabic, Asian, and Hispanic women in the sample to repli-
by Pepe Portillo on April 30, 2014 pwq.sagepub.com Downloaded from
160 ABBEY ET AL.
cate the analyses described above separately for each group, only African
American and Caucasian women were included. The sexual assault preva-
lence rates differed for African American and Caucasian women, x 2 (4,
N = 1,016) = 13.19, p < .01. African American women were some-
what more likely than Caucasian women to have experienced some type
of sexual assault (68 % vs. 57%); differences were largest in the experience
of rape (39% African American women vs. 30% Caucasian women).
There were also ethnic differences in alcohol consumption during the most
serious sexual assault, x 2 (3, N = 617) = 50.88, p < .001. African
American women were more likely than Caucasian women to report that
neither individual consumed alcohol (70 % vs. 49 % ). There were no other
significant differences in the characteristics of the sexual assaults experi-
enced by these two groups of women.
The discriminant function analysis described above was recomputed
separately for African American and Caucasian women using the set of six
predictor variables that significantly discriminated assault groups for the
entire sample. For African American women, two functions successfully
discriminated assault groups, accounting for 31 % of the variance associ-
ated with assault group status. Overall, 57 % of the women were correctly
classified, which significantly improved upon a chance rate of 34%, z
(334) = 8.89, p < .01. As in the sample as a whole, correct classification
rates were higher for nonassaulted women (68%) than raped women
(60% ), who were more likely to be correctly classified than were sexually
coerced women (41 % ).
Similarly, two functions successfully discriminated the three groups of
Caucasian women, accounting for 37% of the variance associated with
assault group status. For Caucasian women, 58 % were correctly classi-
fied, significantly improving upon a chance rate of 35% , z (682) = 12.69,
p < .01. Again, correct classification rates were highest for nonassaulted
women (78 % ), more moderate for raped women (54 % ), and lowest for
sexually coerced women (32 % ) .
All six of the variables that were found to significantly discriminate
among assault groups for the entire sample also discriminated among the
assault groups for African American and Caucasian women. Furthermore,
the pattern of the means for both African American and Caucasian
women was similar to the pattern found for the entire sample.
Multiple Regression Analyses for Sexually Assaulted Women
In order to examine the characteristics of alcohol-involved sexual assaults,
analyses had to be restricted to those women who had experienced sexual
assault ( N = 656). Two sets of multiple regressions were run: one in
which the dependent variable was the perpetrators amount of alcohol
consumption during the assault (none to a large amount) and the second
in which the dependent variable was the womans degree of alcohol con-
sumption during the assault (none to a large amount). These two variables
by Pepe Portillo on April 30, 2014 pwq.sagepub.com Downloaded from
Risk factors for Sexual Assault 161
were highly correlated, r (656) = .62, p < .001; however, we analyzed
them separately to allow for differences in their predictors.
Hierarchical multiple regressions were completed. In the first step, all
of the main effects were included. In the second step, the interaction
between the dating, sexual, and misperception variables and alcohol con-
sumption in these settings was examined using centered multiplicative
interaction terms (J accard, Turrisi, & Wan, 1990). None of these interac-
tion terms were significant so they will not be described. When the perpe-
trators alcohol consumption during the sexual assault was the depen-
dent variable, there were three significant predictors (adjusted R2 =
16.44 % ): the frequency with which the man who misperceived her was
drinking (/3 = .38); the frequency with which the man was drinking dur-
ing consensual sex (0 = .lo); and number of dating partners (0 = .11).
Greater amounts of alcohol consumed by the womans assailant during the
assault were associated with more frequent drinking by the man during
misperception and consensual sexual experiences, and with a greater num-
ber of dating partners.
The results when the dependent variable was the womans alcohol con-
sumption during the sexual assault complemented those described above.
Three significant predictors resulted in an adjusted R = 16.18: the wom-
ans frequency of drinking during misperception (0 = .39); the frequency
with which the woman was drinking during consensual sex (/3 = .lo);
and number of dating partners (0 = .07). Greater amounts of alcohol
consumed by the woman during the assault were associated with more
frequent drinking by the woman during misperception and consensual sex,
and with a greater number of dating partners. Replication analyses for
African American and Caucasian women yielded similar overall results.
Contingency table analyses were also conducted to provide descriptive
information about the characteristics of alcohol-involved versus non-
alcohol-involved assaults. Once again the analyses were run separately for
the mans and the womans alcohol consumption. The relationship be-
tween the woman and the perpetrator was significantly associated with
whether or not alcohol was consumed during the assault, x 2 (6, N = 601)
= 56.69, p < .001 for his alcohol consumption; x 2 (6, N = 601) =
51.14, p < .001 for her alcohol consumption. Both the man and the
woman were more likely to be drinking alcohol when they were less well
acquainted (strangers, acquaintances, casual dates), and less likely to be
drinking alcohol when they were well acquainted (steady dating partner,
spouse). The relationship between alcohol consumption and the location
of the assault was also significant. When the sexual assault occurred
in either the womans or the perpetrators home, alcohol was less likely
to be involved than when it occurred at a party or bar. This was the
case for reports of his alcohol consumption, x 2 (4, N = 328) = 28.11,
p < .001, and for her alcohol consumption, xz (4, N = 328) = 40.27,
p < ,001.
by Pepe Portillo on April 30, 2014 pwq.sagepub.com Downloaded from
162 ABBEY ET AL.
DISCUSSION
The theoretical model underlying this study argues that dating cues, mis-
perception of sexual intent, and alcohol consumption are causal anteced-
ents to sexual assault. This is not meant to imply these are the only risk
factors associated with sexual assault; there are many others that would
need to be included in a comprehensive model (see Harney & Muehlen-
hard, 1991; Koss & Dinero, 1989 for reviews of this literature). Further-
more, because this was a cross-sectional, retrospective study, it cannot be
determined if the alcohol and dating variables played a causal role in the
occurrence of these sexual assaults. Most of the questions asked about
lifetime experience of the risk factors; in retrospect it would have been
better to distinguish between incidents (e. g. , misperception) that occurred
prior to and after the experience of sexual assault. In future research it
would also be valuable to include situation-specific measures of mispercep-
tion and multi-item scales for the major concepts.
The prevalence of sexual assault at this university was similar to what
has been reported by other researchers. In Koss et al.s (1987) nationally
representative college sample, 54% of the women had experienced some
level of sexual assault after age 14. In this study, 59% of the women had
been sexually assaulted after age 14. Unlike Koss et al.s (1987) results, in
this study African American women were somewhat more likely to have
been sexually assaulted than were Caucasian women. This may be due to
regional differences or characteristics of the studied university. This study
was conducted with a college sample, and consequently the results cannot
be generalized to the entire female population. This large urban universi-
tys student body, however, is more economically and culturally diverse
than is the undergraduate population at most universities.
The set of predictor variables examined in this study significantly dis-
criminated between women who had been sexually assaulted and women
who had not. However, as other authors have found (Koss & Dinero,
1989), we were more successful at correctly identifying women who were
not assaulted than women who were. This may be because sexual assault
is unpredictable and is largely determined by characteristics of the perpe-
trator. As Koss and Dinero (1989) argued, the primary difference between
these groups may simply be that sexually assaulted women encountered a
sexually aggressive man (p. 249).
Although there was great diversity in participants experiences, the pro-
totypic sexual assault took place when participants were 20 years old, by a
steady dating partner, in the mans home. As found in past research, and
in support of situational theories of sexual assault, number of dating part-
ners and frequency of consensual sexual experiences were positively related
to being sexually assaulted. Women who are frequently in potentially
sexual situations have an increased risk of interacting with a sexually ag-
gressive man (Kanin, 1985).
by Pepe Portillo on April 30, 2014 pwq.sagepub.com Downloaded from
Risk Factors for Sexual Assault 163
As hypothesized, the frequency of having ones sexual intentions misper-
ceived was positively related to experiencing sexual assault. As described
in the introduction, many men and women believe that forced sex is ac-
ceptable on a date if the woman led him on (Goodchilds & Zellman,
1984). This suggests that many people will condone forced sex when mis-
perception of sexual intent has occurred. One woman in our study wrote,
The man assumed I would have sex with him because I allowed him to
take me into the playground at night. I honestly believed we were going
for an innocent walk. Another woman wrote, He thought that because I
enjoyed his kissing and stroking that sexual intercourse naturally followed.
It was only the first time we actually went out.
Furthermore, women who tended to be misperceived in situations
where alcohol was consumed, by either the man or the woman, were more
likely to experience sexual assault. Many men perceive alcohol as a sexual
cue; thus, alcohol increases the likelihood that friendliness will be misper-
ceived as sexual intent and that a man will feel comfortable forcing sex
after misperceiving a womans cues (Abbey, 1991; Abbey et al., 1994;
Kanin, 1985). One woman in this study wrote that her assault occurred,
Because Im a very nice person and I refer to a lot of my friends as
honey, sweetie, etc. He was drinking [alcohol] and just misinterpreted my
actions. Women who have been drinking during a misperception may
also be more vulnerable to sexual assault because of the physical and
cognitive impairments associated with alcohol consumption. As one
woman in this study wrote, I wasnt able to respond soon enough to his
advances . . . because of my drinking. Another woman wrote, . . . had
I been sober, I think I would have seen his intentions sooner and been able
to change the situation.
Suggestions for Future Research
In order to obtain permission to administer a sexual assault survey during
class time from instructors across a wide range of academic disciplines, it
was necessary to keep the questionnaire brief. Consequently, it was not
possible to include detailed background questions about the womans life
or the circumstances surrounding her sexual assault. This lack of detail
makes it difficult to interpret some of the secondary findings. For example,
consistent differences were found between women who had experienced
different types of sexual assault, with raped women having more extreme
scores on the risk factors than sexually coerced women. Rapes were more
likely than sexual coercions to be committed by someone the woman did
not know well, outdoors or in a car, with one or both individuals drinking
alcohol. In contrast, sexual coercions were more likely than rapes to be
committed by a steady dating partner, at one of the individuals homes. It
seems reasonable that sexual coercions, which involve verbal pressure to
engage in unwanted sexual intercourse, more often occur in the context of
a long-term relationship and may be associated with somewhat different
by Pepe Portillo on April 30, 2014 pwq.sagepub.com Downloaded from
164 ABBEY El AL.
precursors than rape. Additional research, with more detailed questions
about the circumstances leading up to the assault, are needed to under-
stand these findings more fully.
A second issue that requires additional research concerns the similarities
and differences in the sexual assault experiences of women from a variety
of ethnic and cultural backgrounds. This is a difficult area in which to
conduct responsible research. On the one hand, much past research has
ignored the experiences of members of minority groups and it is important
to redress this past imbalance. On the other hand, results can be difficult
to interpret and misleading if the researcher is not culturally sensitive
(Scarr, 1988; Wyatt, 1994). Because this research was conducted at a
university with an ethnically diverse student population, we felt it was
important to include a representative sample and to present results from
different ethnic groups. I n this study, fewer of the sexual assaults experi-
enced by African American women, as compared to Caucasian women,
involved any alcohol consumption. This result reflects general societal
trends in the United States, as Caucasian women and men drink more
alcohol than do African American women and men (National Institute on
Drug Abuse, 1991). Alcohol consumption, however, discriminated be-
tween assault groups for both African American and Caucasian women.
Thus, although African Americans heterosexual social situations may less
often involve alcohol, when alcohol is involved, it puts both African Amer-
ican and Caucasian women at risk for being sexually assaulted. As men-
tioned above, time constraints precluded detailed questions about socio-
cultural experiences. Qualitative interviews are needed with female sexual
assault survivors from different sociocultural and ethnic groups in order to
fully explore and understand the sexual assault experiences of women from
different backgrounds.
Additional research is also needed to specify the mechanisms through
which alcohol consumption contributes to sexual assault. Alcohol con-
sumption by the woman and/or her male companion in heterosocial sit-
uations was a significant predictor of alcohol consumption during the
assault. Alcohol consumption is relatively consistent across different situa-
tions (Clark & Midanik, 1982), so this finding partially reflects general
drinking patterns. It may also indicate that women who drink in social
situations are labeled as sexually available by male companions and are
more likely to be sexually assaulted (George et al., 1988; Kanin, 1985).
Frequent dating was also a significant predictor of alcohol use during the
assault, perhaps because alcohol and dating are so commonly linked in
American society (Crowe & George, 1989). In-depth interviews with per-
petrators and victims (cf. Scully, 1991) are needed to specify the precise
role of alcohol before, during, and after sexual assault. Prospective studies
that measure risk factors at one point in time, and the occurrence of
sexual assault at a later point in time, would provide invaluable evidence
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Risk Factors for Sexual Assault 165
regarding the causal direction of the relationships that have been found in
this and other cross-sectional studies.
Suggestions for Prevention Programming
The findings of this study have some important implications for sexual
assault prevention. Most laypersons image of sexual assault involves a
stranger assault, although the results of this and many other studies dem-
onstrate the prevalence of acquaintance rape (Koss et al., 1987; Wyatt,
1992). The analyses comparing sexual coercions and rapes indicate that
verbally and physically forced assaults have many similarities and differ-
ences. As noted above, sexual coercions were more likely than rapes to
occur among steady dating partners, in the mans home, without alcohol
consumption. Rapes were more likely among acquaintances and casual
dates and were also more likely to involve alcohol consumption. Preven-
tion programs need to describe the full range of circumstances under
which sexual assault occurs.
The results regarding alcohol also highlight the importance of combin-
ing sexual assault and substance abuse prevention programming for college
students and other populations. Many sexual assault prevention programs
mention alcohol as a risk factor, but few focus on it (Miller, 1988; Roden,
1991). Substance abuse prevention programs seldom mention sexual mis-
communication and sexual assault as consequences of intoxication; they
tend to focus on problems more commonly experienced by men such as
drunk driving, fist fights, and vandalism (Moskowitz, 1989). Describing
sexual assault as one of the potential costs of heavy alcohol consumption
would make substance abuse prevention programs more relevant to
women. Perpetrators of sexual assault are responsible for their actions;
however, information about risk factors such as misperception and alcohol
consumption empowers women. Men need to know that intoxication is not
a legal justification for forcing sex on someone. Men also need to realize
that alcohol impairs their decision-making capacity and that they must
not engage in sexual activities without explicit consent.
Men and women need to learn to communicate clearly their interest or
lack of interest in sexual relations. Men need to learn that no really
means no. Both men and women must feel comfortable saying maybe
if they are genuinely unsure about their sexual intentions. Open communi-
cation about sex is unlikely to occur in an environment in which women
are penalized for acknowledging their sexual drives and men are penalized
for acknowledging their sexual naivete or conservatism. Peer pressure to
be sexually active motivates some men to force sex on an unwilling com-
panion on Saturday night in order to have something to brag about on
Sunday afternoon (Berkowitz, 1992). Peer pressure to consume large
quantities of alcohol at parties and other social gatherings also exacerbates
communication problems and aggressive tendencies. Educational efforts
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166 ABBEY ET AL.
are needed at an early age because alcohol consumption, sexual miscom-
munication, and sexual assault frequently occur in junior high and high
school. Sexual assault prevention programs need to be broad-based and
to occur in conjunction with concerted efforts to identify, examine, and
eliminate societal sexual double standards.
First draft received: October 29, 1994
Final draft accepted: August 28, 1995
NOTES
1. There was an overrepresentation of students in the college of business administration (8 %
of the population and 17 % of the research sample) and an underrepresentation of liberal
arts students (59% of the population, 43% of the sample). For all other colleges, the
numbers were quite close. The comparisons for the university enrollment and the study
sample percentages, respectively, for the remaining colleges are as follows: allied health
( 3%; 3%) , art (10%; 12%), education (6%; 8%), engineering (10%; 9%), nursing ( 3%;
5 % ), and social work (1 % ; 3 % ). Data from men were also collected, but are not described
in this paper.
2. The use of the term most serious sexual assault is based on the Sexual Experiences Survey
continuum of sexual assault. I t may be that some women experienced a forced sexual
contact that was for them more upsetting than an attempted rape. Based on the informa-
tion available from the questionnaire, however, this seemed like the best approach for
developing mutually exclusive categories of sexual assault. I n addition, if a woman re-
ported two or more different types of assaults within the same level of assault (e.g.,
answered yes to two different completed rape questions), descriptive information about
her most serious assault was based on a predetermined ranking of experiences. For sexual
coercion, continual arguments and pressure was considered more serious than believing
the assailant was too aroused to stop. For completed rape, the order from least to most
serious was: lack of consent, forced oral or anal sex, forced sexual intercourse, and labeled
incident as rape.
3. The discriminant function analyses reported in this paper were rerun three times: (a)
including the forced sexual contact women as part of the sexual coercion group, (b)
considering women with attempted rape as their most serious assault as a group separate
from women who had experienced completed rape, and, (c) following Koss and Dinero
(1989), using age as a covariate. The results of these analyses were virtually identical to
those reported in the text.
4. Ideally, all of the predictor variables in Table 2 would be included as predictors of both
mens and womens alcohol consumption during the sexual assault. However, mens and
womens alcohol consumption in consensual sexual and misperception situations were
highly correlated (rs [656] =.65, .70, ps < ,001 respectively) so both could not be
included as predictors or there would have been multicollinearity problems. Consequently,
when predictions of the perpetrators alcohol consumption were made, male drinking
variables were included in the analysis and when predictions of the womans alcohol
consumption were made, female drinking variables were included. All the other variables
in Table 2 were included as predictors for both dependent variables. I t is important to note
that the man who committed the sexual assault was typically not the same man the
participant was referring to in the consensual sex and misperception questions.
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Ri sk Factors for Sexual Assault
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Ri sk Factors for Sexual Assault
APPENDIX
Sexual Assault Questions
1. Have you ever engaged in sex play (fondling, kissing, petting) when you didn't want to
because a man threatened or used physical force (twisting your arm, holding you
down)Tb (forced sexual contact)
2. Have you ever had intercourse because a man was so sexually aroused that you felt it
was useless to stop him even though you did not want to have sexual intercourse?"
(verbally coerced sexual intercourse)
3. Have you ever given in to intercourse when you didn't want to because you were
overwhelmed by a man's continual arguments and pressure? (verbally coerced sexual
intercourse)
4. Have you ever had a man attempt sexual intercourse with you when you didn't want to
by threatening or using physical force (but intercourse did not occur)? (attempted rape)
5. Have you ever had sexual intercourse when you didn't want to because a man threatened
or used physical force? (rape)
6. Have you ever engaged in sex acts (anal or oral sex) when you didn't want to because a
man threatened or used physical forceTb (rape)
7. Have you ever had sexual intercourse when you were unable to give your consent,
because you were drunk or taking drugs at the time, or because you are a heavy sleeper,
or because you were unconscious for any reason?" (rape)
8. Have you ever been raped?" (rape)
"From Koss and Oros (1982). bFrom Koss et al. (1987). 'Expanded version of the item in
Koss et al. (1987).
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MENTORING PROGRAM AVAILABLE
FOR INTERNATIONAL SCHOLARS
APAs Committee on International Relations in Psychology is encourag-
ing publication of international scholars manuscripts in US journals.
To accomplish this initiative, the Committee is looking for authors
whose native language is not English to work with U.S. mentors. U.S.
mentors will help authors to bring manuscripts into conformity with
English-language and U.S. publication standards.
The Committee also continues to update its mentor list and is looking
for U.S. mentors, especially those with translating and APA journal
experience. Interested individuals should contact Marian Wood in the
APA International Affairs Office, 750 First Street, NE, Washington,
DC 20002; E-Mail: mzw.apa@email.apa.org; Telephone: 202/336-
6025; and FAX: 2021336-5919.
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