An all-male rape prevention peer education program: Decreasing fraternity men's behavioral intent to rape

Journal of College Student Development, Nov/Dec 1998 by Foubert, John D, McEwen, Marylu K

Participants were 155 fraternity men (88% White, mean age of 19.9, mostly sophomores and juniors) who were in either a pretested and posttested rape prevention program group, a posttested rape prevention program group, or an untreated control group. Significant declines in rape myth acceptance and behavioral intent to rape were shown among program participants regardless of whether they were pretested.

Research conducted during the 1980s showed that IS% of college women in a nationwide sample from 32 colleges and universities reported at least one experience since their 14th birthday that met the legal definition of rape (Koss, Gidycz, & Wisniewski, 1987). An additional 12% had experienced attempted rape without penetration. A more recent replication study using a survey of more than 4,600 college students at 136 institutions found that 20% of college women reported being forced to have sexual intercourse at some point in their lifetimes (Douglas et al., 1997).

The United States Department of Justice National Crime Victimization Survey (Maguire & Pastore, 1995) reported that in the last 6 months of 1995, 432,700 women nationwide survived rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault; a figure that computes to 99 women every hour. If the 6-month figure is extended to a full year, as many as 865,400 women survived sexual assault. Yet, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reports, only 102,216 sexual assault cases (including rape, attempted rape, and less invasive forms of sexual assault) were reported to police agencies that year (FBI, 1995). A comparison of these numbers reveals that roughly 1 in 8 sexual assaults (12%) was reported to the police. Other researchers have found reporting rates to the police as low as 4% (Koss, Dinero, Seibel, & Cox,1988).

Two studies have demonstrated that more than 1 out of 5 college men reported at least one instance of becoming so sexually aroused that they could not stop themselves from having sex, even though the woman did not consent (Koss & Oros, 1982; Peterson & Franzese, 1987). Additional research has shown that between 25% and 50% of men report committing some type of sexually aggressive behavior after entering college (Garrett-Gooding & Senter, 1987; Koss et al., 1987).

Given the pervasiveness of rape, effective methods for decreasing its frequency are urgently needed. Although many studies have been conducted to assess the impact of rape prevention programs on men's attitudes (Lonsway, 1996), research on the impact of such programming on men's behavioral intent to rape is very limited (Schewe & O'Donohue,1993). More research in this area is needed to identify a reliable method for decreasing the pervasiveness of rape.

One population that has received attention in the research literature on sexual violence is college fraternity men. Qualitative assessments of fraternities suggest that some fraternity members reinforce attitudes among themselves that help perpetuate sexual coercion against women (Martin & Hummer, 1989). Quantitative assessments support this suggestion. For example, O'Sullivan (1991) found that fraternity members committed 55% of the gang rapes reported between 1980 and 1990 on college campuses. Fraternity members have also been shown to have more traditional attitudes toward women and to believe more strongly in rape myths when compared to men who live in coeducational housing (Schaeffer & Nelson, 1993).

Others have shown that men who are in fraternities are more sexually coercive than other men (Garrett-- Gooding & Senter, 1987). Garrett-Gooding and Senter suggest that a combination of more traditional sex roles and the fraternal socialization process contribute to this higher level of rape myth belief.

So how can men be effectively persuaded to change their attitudes toward rape? In a comprehensive review of rape prevention programs published during the past 20 years, Lonsway (1996) noted the recent rise in popularity of programs targeting all-male audiences. She cited the success of these programs, yet Lonsway cautioned that success was most often restricted to measurement of attitude change. She added that "because all-- male programs offer the greatest promise in truly reaching the potential of rape prevention, such programs offer particular interest for future intervention and evaluation" (p. 242). She also noted that the effects of same gender programming and peer facilitation have not been fully determined. This recommendation that sexual assault programs for men be restricted to all-male audiences is widely supported in the literature. Several authors suggest that lower levels of defensiveness are elicited by all-male programs and that stronger programmatic impacts are found in all-male as opposed to coeducational programs (Berkowitz, 1994; Foubert & Marriott,1996; 1997; Hamilton & Yee,1990; Lenihan & Rawlins,1994; Schewe & O'Donohue,1993).

Not only have all-male approaches been encouraged in the research literature, research also supports an approach where peers educate their fellow students. Earle (1996) compared a small-- group discussion program in a coeducational audience led by administrators, a coeducational program presented by administrators to a large group in a lecture format, and an all-male peer education program. He found that the all-male peer education program was the only condition that significantly improved participants' attitudes toward rape relative to a control group and that significant improvement emerged on both attitudes toward women and attitudes toward rape.