title: Sexual abuse prevention with high-risk males: the roles of victim empathy and rape myths.
abstract: The outcome of two sexual abuse prevention programs, one emphasizing victim empathy and the other stressing modifying rape myths, was evaluated with high-risk males. Sixty-eight high-risk males, as determined by self-reported likelihood of committing sexual abuse, were randomly assigned to an empathy-treatment, a facts-treatment, or a no-treatment control group. Treatment effects were assessed using subjects' pre- and post-treatment scores on the Likelihood of Sexually Abusing scale, the Rape Empathy Scale, the Acceptance of Interpersonal Violence scale, the Adversarial Sexual Beliefs Scale, and a test of self-reported sexual arousal to forced versus consenting sex. In addition, posttest scores on an Asch-type conformity measure were obtained. Results of validity checks indicated that high-risk subjects differed from low-risk subjects on a number of rape-related variables, that the victim-empathy condition increased subjects' empathy, and that subjects found both treatments to be credible and helpful. Comparisons between the empathy-, facts-, and no-treatment group contraindicated the practice of dispelling rape myths as a method of preventing rape among high-risk males.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb 60115.
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Schewe
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: O'Donohue
mesh_terms: D001143:Arousal; D004645:Empathy; D005201:Fantasy; D006266:Health Education / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D009229:Mythology; D011322:Primary Prevention / Q000458:organization & administration*; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011902:Rape / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012307:Risk Factors; D017406:Sexual Harassment / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014743:Videotape Recording