Abstract
Two model-based interventions designed to reduce the amount of date rape attempted by male college students were developed and evaluated. The Rape Supportive Cognitions (RSC) intervention targeted commonly held false beliefs that promote or condone coercive sexual behavior. The Victim Empathy/Outcome Expectancies (VE/OE) intervention targeted poor victim empathy and problematic rape outcome expectancies. Seventy-four high-risk subjects as determined by scores on the Attraction to Sexual Aggression scale (ASA) (Malamuth, 1989) were randomly assigned to one of the treatment groups (RSC or VE/OE) or to a no-treatment control group. Treatment effects were assessed using subjects' pre- and posttreatment scores on the ASA, the Rape Myth Acceptance, the Acceptance of Interpersonal Violence, and the Adversarial Sexual Beliefs scales (Burt, 1980), as well as subjects' posttreatment scores on the Rape Conformity Assessment (Schewe and O'Donohue, 1995). Results indicated that both treatments were significantly more effective than no treatment. The RSC group showed clinically significant changes on three of the five dependent measures, while the VE/OE group evidenced clinically significant changes on only one measure. This is the first well-controlled rape prevention study to demonstrate clear improvements in treated high-risk males over control group subjects.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abel, G. G., Blanchard, E. B., and Becker, J. V. (1978). An integrated treatment program for rapists. In Rada, R. T. (ed.),Clinical Aspects of the Rapist, Grune & Stratton, New York.
American Psychiatric Association. (1987).Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mentals Disorders, 3rd ed., rev., American Psychiatric Association Press, Washington, DC.
Armentrout, J., and Hauer, A. (1978). MMPIs of rapists of adults, rapists of children, and nonrapist sex offenders.J. Clin. Psychol. 34: 330–332.
Bandura, A. (1977).Social Learning Theory, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Baier, J., Rosenzweig, M., and Whipple, E. (1991). Patterns of sexual behavior, coercion, and victimization of university students.J. Coll. Student Dev. 32: 310–322.
Berkowitz, A. (1992). College men as perpetrators of acquaintance rape and sexual assault: A review of recent research.J. Am. Coll. Health 40: 175–181.
Borden, L. A., Karr, S. K., and Caldwell-Colbert, A. (1988). Effects of a university rape prevention program on attitudes and empathy toward rape.J. Coll. Student Dev. 29: 132–136.
Burt, M. (1980). Cultural myths and supports for rape.J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 38: 217–230.
Crowne, D. P., and Marlowe, D. (1960). A new scale of social desirability independent of psychopathology.J. Consult. Psychol. 24: 349–354.
Denmare, D., Briere, J., and Lips, H. M. (1988). Violent pornography and self-reported like-lihood of sexual aggression.J. Res. Pers. 22: 140–153.
Fultz, J., Schaller, M., and Cialdini, R. (1988). Empathy, sadness, and distress: Three related but distinct vicarious affective responses to another's suffering.Pers. Soc. Psychol. Bull. 14: 312–325.
Gilbert, B., Heesacker, M., and Gannon, L. (1991). Changing the sexual aggression-supportive attitudes of men: A psychoeducational intervention.J. Counsel. Psychol. 38: 197–203.
Groth, A. N. (1979).Men Who Rape: The Psychology of the Offender, Plenum Press, New York.
Harrison, P. J., Downes, J., and Williams, M. D. (1991). Date and acquaintance rape: Perceptions and attitude change strategies.J. Coll. Student Dev. 32: 131–139.
Hildebran, D., and Pithers, W. (1989). Enhancing offender empathy for sexual-abuse victims. In Laws, D. (ed.), Relapse Prevention with Sex Offenders, Guiford Press, New York, pp. 236–243.
Hollon, S. D., and Beck, A. T. (1986). Cognitive and cognitive behavioral therapies. In Garfield, S. L., and Bergin, A. E. (eds.),Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behavior Change, 3rd ed., Wiley, New York.
Horvath, P. (1988). Placebos and common factors in two decades of psychotherapy research.Psychol. Bull. 104: 214–225.
Jacobson, N., and Traux, P. (1991). Clinical significance: A statistical approach to defining meaningful change in psychotherapy research.J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 59: 12–19.
Jenkins-Hall, K. D. (1989). The decision matrix. In Laws, D. R. (ed.),Relapse Prevention with Sex Offenders, Guilford, New York, pp. 159–166.
Jones, J., and Muehlenhard, C. (1990, November). Using education to prevent rape on college campuses. Presented at the annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sex, Minneapolis, MN.
Kanin, E. J. (1957). Male aggression in dating-courtship relations.Am. J. Sociol. 63: 197–204.
Kilpatrick, D. G., and Amick, A. E. (1985). Rape trauma. In Hersen, M., and Lat, C. G. (eds.),Behavior Therapy Casebook, Springer, New York, pp. 86–103.
Koss, M. (1988). Hidden rape: Sexual aggression and victimization in a national sample of students in higher education. In Burgess, A. (ed.),Rape and Sexual Assault II, Garland, New York, pp. 3–25.
Lee, L. (1987). Rape prevention: Experimental training for men.J. Counsel. Dev. 66: 100–101.
Lipton, D. N., McDonel, E. C., and McFall, R. M. (1987). Heterosocial perception in rapists.J. Consult. Clin Psychol. 55: 17–21.
Malamuth, N. M. (1986). Predictors of naturalistic sexual aggression.J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 50: 953–962.
Malamuth, N. M. (1989). The attraction to sexual aggression scale: Part 1.J. Sex Res. 26: 26–49.
Marshall, W. L., Jones, R., Ward, T., Johnston, P. and Barbaree, H. E. (1991). Treatment outcome with sex offenders.Clin. Psychol. Rev. 11: 465–485.
McFall, R. (1988). The enhancement of social skills: An information-processing analysis. In Marshall, W., Laws, D. R., and Barbaree, H. E. (eds.),Handbook of Sexual Assault, Plenum Press, New York, pp. 311–330.
Muehlenhard, C. L., and Linton, M. A. (1987). Date rape and sexual aggression in dating situations: Incidence and risk factors.J. Counsel. Psychol. 34: 186–196.
O'Donohue, W. T., McKay, J. S., and Schewe, P. A. (1995). Outcome expectancies of rape: The role of hypermasculinity and past sexual experience. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Parrot, A. (1990). Do rape education programs influence rape patterns along New York State college students? Presented at the Society for the Scientific Study of Sex, Minneapolis, MN.
Pirog-Good, M. A., and Stets, J. E. (1989). The help-seeking behavior of physically and sexually abused college students. In Pirog-Good, M., and Stets, J. (eds.),Violence in Dating Relationships, Fraeger, New York, pp. 108–125.
Pithers, W. D., Kashima, K., Cumming, G. F., Beal, L. S., and Buell, M. (1988). Relapse prevention of sexual aggression. In Prentky, R., and Quinsey, V. (eds.),Human Sexual Aggression: Current Perspectives, New York Academy of Sciences, New York, pp. 244–260.
Reynolds, W. M. (1982). Development of reliable and valid short forms of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale.J. Clin. Psychol. 38: 119–124.
Schewe, P. A., and O'Donohue, W. T. (1993a). Rape prevention: Methodological problems and new directions.Clin. Psychol. Rev. 13: 667–682.
Schewe, P. A., and O'Donohue, W. T. (1993b). Rape prevention with males: The role of victim empathy.Viol. Vict. 8: 339–351.
Schewe, P. A., and O'Donohue, W. T. (1995). Reversing the effects of socially desirable responding via Asch's conformity paradigm: Implications for research. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Stanko, E. (1985).Intimate intrusions: Women's experience of male violence, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, U.K.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
The writing of this manuscript was supported in part by the National Institute of Mental Health Prevention Research Branch and Office on AIDS Research Training Grant T32MH19933 to the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Schewe, P.A., O'Donohue, W. Rape prevention with high-risk males: Short-term outcome of two interventions. Arch Sex Behav 25, 455–471 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02437542
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02437542