Understanding Campus Sexual Assault; Why Women Don’t Use Resources
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Date
2021-05
Authors
Eden, Erika
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
Background: Sexual assault on college campuses has long been recognized as a serious problem. As more legislation aims to respond to this serious issue and make resources more available to students, victims of sexual assault seem to not use these resources as often as they are intended to be.
Methods: In this study, data from the 2019 Association of American Universities Campus Climate Survey is analyzed to better understand the top reasons women are not using resources following a sexual assault. Data from each campus was abstracted and put in tables (n=30). The analysis broke out the data by three types of sexual assault (penetration by inability to consent, penetration by physical force, and sexual touching) to determine if types of sexual assault are associated with different reasons for not utilizing resources. The top reasons women reported for not using resources following a sexual assault were recorded and researched further to understand some of the underlying causes for those responses.
Results: The top reasons given for not using resources did show some variability, but some of the most common reasons given were: “I could handle it myself”, “I did not think it was serious enough to contact programs or resources”, and “I felt embarrassed, ashamed, or that it would be too emotionally difficult”.
Conclusion: This study is crucial for understanding why women are not utilizing resources following a sexual assault so schools can make changes to better attend to student needs.
Description
80 pages.