The impact of college men’s sexual coercion perpetration on proclivity toward sexual assault and their cognitive and emotional reactions

Abstract

Sexual coercion is one of the most frequent manifestations of sexual aggression that occurs within intimate relationships. The current research examined the role of previous perpetration of sexual coercion toward an intimate partner on men’s proclivity toward partner sexual assault and their cognitive and emotional reactions to a sexual assault scenario. Male college students with (n = 45) and without (n = 52) self-reported previous sexual coercion perpetration watched a video clip showing an unwanted sexual interaction that included verbal and physical tactics used by the perpetrator, and they indicated the point at which they would stop acting like the man (response latency), their degree of identification with the perpetrator, their attributions of responsibility to victim and perpetrator, and their emotional state. Results indicated that prior sexual coercion perpetrators scored higher on sexual assault proclivity and reported lower responsibility attributed to the perpetrator than did nonperpetrators. No differences were found in attributed victim’s responsibility and emotional reactions. Furthermore, the increase in severity of the sexual aggression situation resulted in lower identification with the man, higher responsibility toward him, and more negative emotions in general. Findings could have implications for both the assessment of individual risk of future sexual assault and primary prevention efforts.