Fear of acquaintance versus stranger rape as a "master status": towards refinement of the "shadow of sexual assault".
Using a sample of 1010 women from a southeastern state university, we explore whether associations between fear of sexual assault and other crime-specific fears vary based on presumed victim-offender relationship. More specifically, we assess the extent to which fear of stranger- and acquaintance-perpetrated sexual assaults differ in the extent to which they are correlated with fear of other crime victimizations. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that both fear of stranger-perpetrated sexual assault and fear of acquaintance-perpetrated sexual assault were positively associated with nearly all other crime-specific fears under examination. However, associations were particularly strong between fear of sexual assault by a stranger and fear of other stranger-perpetrated crimes. Findings have significant implications for how academic institutions should comprehensively address direct and indirect negative influences of violence against college women.
Wilcox
Pamela
P
Division of Criminal Justice, University of Cincinnati, OH 45221-0389, USA. pamela.wilcox@uc.edu
Jordan
Carol E
CE
Pritchard
Adam J
AJ
D000328:Adult; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D011902:Rape / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D012747:Sexual Partners / Q000523:psychology; D015206:Southwestern United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D035862:Vulnerable Populations / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data