Skip to main content

Sexual Assault Among College Students: Family of Origin Hostility, Attachment, and the Hook-Up Culture as Risk Factors

Journal of Child and Family Studies volume 24, pages 2827–2840 (2015)Cite this article

Abstract

Sexual assault has been recognized as a major public health problem and social concern among college students for several decades. In response to the inadequacies of many universities to effectively address this problem, researchers, policy makers, and the public alike have recently called for greater attention to reducing the high rates of sexual violence against college women. The present study expands on the current literature by investigating familial, individual, and sociocultural risk factors for sexual assault. Specifically, we examine insecure adult attachment styles and the hook-up culture on college campuses as mediators in the relationship between family of origin aggression and sexual assault perpetration by men and victimization among women. Research questions were addressed with a sample of 624 college undergraduates (54 % women). Consistent with hypotheses, results of structural equation modeling indicated that an avoidant attachment style and participation in the hook-up culture accounted for the relationship between exposure to interparental hostility and sexual assault perpetration by men and victimization among women. Further, among women, an anxious attachment style accounted for the relationship between harsh parenting and victimization. These findings have important implications for future research, relationship education programs for parents and young adults, and preventative interventions. For example, parents can learn about the risks of exposing their offspring to hostility and aggression while adolescents and young adults may benefit from relationship education programs that help establish healthy working models of relationships.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price includes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

References

  • Abbey, A. (2002). Alcohol-related sexual assault: A common problem among college students. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, Supplement No. 14, 118–128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Abbey, A., McAuslan, P., Zawacki, T., Clinton, A. M., & Buck, P. O. (2001). Attitudinal, experiential, and situational predictors of sexual assault perpetration. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 16, 784–807.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adams-Curtis, L. E., & Forbes, G. B. (2004). College women’s experiences of sexual coercion: A review of cultural, perpetrator, victim, and situational variables. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 5, 91–122.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adler-Baeder, F., Calligas, A., Skuban, E., Keiley, M., Ketring, S., & Smith, T. (2013). Linking changes in couple functioning and parenting among couple relationship education participants. Family Relations, 62, 284–297.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Armstrong, E. A., Hamilton, L., & Sweeney, B. (2006). Sexual assault on campus: A multilevel, integrative approach to party rape. Social Problems, 53, 483–499.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Babor, T. F., Higgin-Biddle, J. C., Saunders, J. B., & Monteiro, M. G. (2001). The alcohol use disorders identification test: Guidelines for primary care (2nd ed.). Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barriger, M., & Vélez-Blasini, C. J. (2013). Descriptive and injunctive social norm overestimation in hooking up and their role as predictors of hook-up activity in a college student sample. Journal of Sex Research, 50, 84–94.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Basile, K. C., & Saltzman, L. E. (2002). Sexual violence surveillance: Uniform definitions and recommended data elements. Atlanta: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/sv_surveillance_definitionsl-2009-a.pdf.

  • Bowlby, J. (1973). Attachment and loss: Vol 2. Separation: Anxiety and Anger (2nd ed.). New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bradshaw, C., Kahn, A., & Saville, B. (2010). To Hook up or date: Which gender benefits? Sex Roles, 62, 661–669.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brassard, A., Shaver, P. R., & Lussier, Y. (2007). Attachment, sexual experience, and sexual pressure in romantic relationships: A dyadic approach. Personal Relationships, 14, 475–493.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brody, G. H., Murry, V. M., McNair, L., Chen, Y. F., Gibbons, F. X., Gerrard, M., & Wills, T. A. (2005). Linking changes in parenting to parent-child relationship quality and youth self-control: The Strong African American Families Program. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 15, 47–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, A. L., Testa, M., & Messman-Moore, T. L. (2009). Psychological consequences of sexual victimization resulting from force, incapacitation, and verbal coercion. Violence Against Women, 15, 898–919.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Buchwald, E., Fletcher, P., & Roth, M. (1993). Transforming a rape culture. Minneapolis, MN: Milkweed Editions.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burnett, A., Mattern, J. L., Herakova, L. L., Kahl, D. H., Tobola, C., & Bornsen, S. E. (2009). Communicating/muting date rape a co-cultural theoretical analysis of communication factors related to rape culture on a college campus. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 37, 465–485.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conger, R. D., Elder, G. H., Lorenz, F. O., Simons, R. L., & Whitbeck, L. B. (1992). A family process model of economic hardship and influences on adjustment of early adolescent boys. Child Development, 63, 526–541.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Davis, D., Shaver, P. R., & Vernon, M. L. (2004). Attachment style and subjective motivations for sex. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 1076–1090.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Erdely, S. R. (2014). A rape on campus: A brutal assault and struggle for justice at UVA. Rolling Stone, 1223. Retrieved from http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/a-rape-on-campus-20141119.

  • Felson, R. B. (1993). Motives for sexual coercion. In R. B. Felson & J. T. Tedeschi (Eds.), Aggression and violence: Social interactionist perspectives (pp. 233–253). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Felson, R. B. (2002). Violence and gender reexamined. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, B. S., Cullen, F. T., & Turner, M. G. (2000). The sexual victimization of college women (Report No. NCJ 182369). Retrieved from Bureau of Justice Statistics: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/182369.pdf.

  • Flack, W. F., Jr, Daubman, K. A., Caron, M. L., Asadorian, J. A., D’Aureli, N. R., Gigilotti, S. N., et al. (2007). Risk factors and consequences of unwanted sex among university students: Hooking up, alcohol, and stress response. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 22, 139–157.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Foshee, V. A., Bauman, K. E., Ennett, S. T., Linder, F., Benefield, T., & Suchindran, C. (2004). Assessing the long-term effects of the Safe Dates Program and a booster in preventing and reducing adolescent dating violence victimization and perpetration. American Journal of Public Health, 94(4), 619–624.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fraley, R. C., Waller, N. G., & Brennan, K. A. (2000). An item response theory analysis of self-report measures of adult attachment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 350–365.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gentzler, A. L., & Kerns, K. A. (2004). Associations between insecure attachment and sexual experiences. Personal Relationships, 11, 249–265.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gross, A. M., Winslett, A., Roberts, M., & Gohm, C. L. (2006). An examination of sexual violence against college women. Violence Against Women, 12, 288–300.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hazan, C., & Shaver, P. (1987). Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 511–524.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hines, D. A., Armstrong, J. L., Reed, K. P., & Cameron, A. Y. (2012). Gender differences in sexual assault victimization among college students. Violence and Victims, 27, 922–940.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jones-Sanpei, H. A., Day, R. D., & Holmes, E. K. (2009). Core family process measures in the NLSY97: Variation by gender, race, income, and family structure. Marriage & Family Review, 45, 149–167.

    Google Scholar 

  • Katz, J., & Schneider, M. E. (2013). Casual hook up sex during the first year of college: Prospective association with attitudes about sex and love relationships. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 42, 1451–1462.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kernsmith, P. D., & Kernsmith, R. M. (2009). Gender differences in responses to sexual coercion. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 19, 902–914.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krebs, C. P., Lindquist, C. H., Warner, T. D., Fisher, B. S., & Martin, S. L. (2007). The Campus Sexual Assault (CSA) Study National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice. Retrieved fromWashington, DC. https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/221153.pdf.

  • McDonald, R. P., & Ho, M. R. (2002). Principles and practice in reporting structural equation analyses. Psychological Methods, 7, 64–82.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mikulincer, M. P., Shaver, R., & Pereg, D. (2003). Attachment theory and affect regulation: The dynamics, development, and cognitive consequences of attachment-related strategies. Motivation and Emotion, 27, 77–102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (1998–2010). Mplus user’s guide. 6 Edn. Los Angeles, CA: Muthén & Muthén.

  • Nason, E. E., & Yeater, E. A. (2012). Sexual attitudes mediate the relationship between sexual victimization history and women’s response effectiveness. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 27, 2565–2581.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • National Institute of Justice (NIJ, 2010). Rape and sexual violence. Retrieved from http://www.nij.gov/topics/crime/rape-sexual-violence/Pages/welcome.aspx.

  • Owen, J. J., Rhoades, G. K., Stanley, S. M., & Fincham, F. D. (2010). “Hooking up” among college students: Demographic and psychosocial correlates. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 39, 653–663.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Paul, E. L., & Hayes, K. A. (2002). The casualties of ‘casual’ sex: A qualitative exploration of the phenomenology of college students’ hookups. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 19, 639–661.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paxton, R. J., Valois, R. F., & Drane, J. W. (2007). Is there a relationship between family structure and substance use among public middle school students? Journal of Child and Family Studies, 16, 593–605.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sakaguchi, K., & Hasegawa, T. (2007). Personality correlates with frequency of being targeted for unexpected advances by strangers. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 37, 948–968.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schramm, D. G., & Gomez-Scott, J. (2012). Merging relationship education and child abuse prevention knowledge: An evaluation of effectiveness with adolescents. Marriage & Family Review, 48(8), 792–808.

  • Siegel, J. A., & Williams, L. M. (2009). Risk factors for sexual victimization of women: Results from a prospective study. Violence Against Women, 9, 902–930.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simons, L. G., Burt, C. H., & Simons, R. L. (2008). A test of explanations for the effect of harsh parenting on the perpetration of dating violence and sexual coercion among college males. Violence and Victims, 23, 66–82.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Simons, L. G., Burt, C. H., & Tambling, R. B. (2012a). Identifying mediators of the influence of family factors on risky sexual behavior. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 22, 460–470.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simons, L. G., Simons, R. L., Lei, M. K., Hancock, D. L., & Fincham, F. D. (2012b). Parental warmth amplifies the negative effect of parental hostility on dating violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 27, 2603–2626.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Simons, L. G., Simons, R. L., Lei, M. K., & Sutton, T. E. (2012c). Exposure to harsh parenting and pornography as explanations for male’s sexual coercion and female’s sexual victimization. Violence and Victims, 27, 378–395.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Smallbone, S. W., & Dadds, M. R. (2001). Further evidence for a relationship between attachment insecurity and coercive sexual behavior in nonoffenders. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 16, 22–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Straus, M. A., Douglas, E. M., & Medeiros, R. A. (2014). Primordial violence: Spanking children, psychological development, violence, and crime. New York, NY: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sutton, T. E., Simons, L. G., Wickrama, K. A. S., & Futris, T. G. (2014). The intergenerational transmission of violence: Examining the mediating roles of insecure attachment and destructive disagreement beliefs. Violence & Victims, 29(4), 670–687.

  • Tyler, K. A., Hoyt, D. R., & Whitbeck, L. B. (1998). Coercive sexual strategies. Violence and Victims, 13, 47–61.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ullman, S. E., Karabatsos, G., & Koss, M. P. (1999). Alcohol and sexual assault in a national sample of college women. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 14, 603–625.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ven, T. V., & Beck, J. (2009). Getting drunk and hooking up: An exploratory study of the relationship between alcohol intoxication and casual coupling in a university sample. Sociological Spectrum, 29, 626–648.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vrangalova, Z., & Ong, A. D. (2014). Who benefits from casual sex? The moderating role of sociosexuality. Social Psychological and Personality Science. doi:10.1177/1948550614537308.

  • Wade, L., Sweeney, B., Derr, A. S., Messner, M. A., & Burke, C. (2014). Ruling out rape. Contexts, 13, 16–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walker, D. F., Tokar, D. M., & Fischer, A. R. (2000). What are eight popular masculinity-related instruments measuring? Underlying dimensions and their relations to sociosexuality. Psychology of Men and Masculinity, 1, 98–108.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wechsler, H., Lee, J. E., Kuo, M., Sibring, M., Nelson, T. F., & Lee, H. (2002). Trends in college binge drinking during a period of increased prevention efforts: Findings from 4 Harvard School of Public Health college alcohol study surveys, 1993–2001. Journal of American College Health, 50, 203–217.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wentland, J. J., Herold, E. S., Desmarais, S., & Mihausen, R. R. (2009). Differentiating highly sexual women from less sexual women. The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 18, 169–182.

    Google Scholar 

  • White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault. (2014). Not alone: The first report of the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault. Retrieved from http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/report_0.pdf.

  • Center Against Rape & Domestic Violence (CARDV, n.d.). About sexual assault. Retrieved 11/14/14 from http://cardv.org/aboutsexualassault.php.

  • Yost, M. R., & Zurbriggen, E. L. (2006). Gender differences in the enactment of sociosexuality: An examination of implicit social motives, sexual fantasies, coercive sexual attitudes, and aggressive sexual behavior. The Journal of Sex Research, 43, 163–173.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University of Georgia, 214A Baldwin Hall, Athens, GA, 30602, USA

    Tara E. Sutton

  2. Department of Sociology, University of Georgia, 115 Baldwin Hall, Athens, GA, 30602, USA

    Leslie Gordon Simons

Authors
  1. Tara E. Sutton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Leslie Gordon Simons
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tara E. Sutton.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sutton, T.E., Simons, L.G. Sexual Assault Among College Students: Family of Origin Hostility, Attachment, and the Hook-Up Culture as Risk Factors. J Child Fam Stud 24, 2827–2840 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-014-0087-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-014-0087-1

Keywords

  • Interparental aggression
  • Hostile parenting
  • Insecure attachment
  • Hooking-up
  • Sexual assault