University of Wisconsin-La Crosse freshmen students' sex role stereotype attitudes and their vulnerability to acquaintance rape in the 1986 spring semester

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to determine if the 1986 Spring Semester, freshmen students at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse were vulnerable to acquaintance rape based on sex role stereotype attitudes. Specific questions were: How many freshmen fit conservative sex role stereotypes for their gender? What were the demographic characteristics of the surveyed freshmen? How close to other surveyed freshmen were the attitudes of the surveyed UW-L freshmen? How much contact with abusive relationships had the surveyed freshmen students experienced? The researcher designed, 5-point Likert scale was given to 156 freshmen students who were taking English, 110 College Writing I. Only courses with instructors who taught at least two or more sections at UW-L in the 1986 Spring Semester were utilized. Subjects completed the survey during either the first or last 10 minutes of each class. Results indicated that, overall, freshmen students at UW-L did not appear to have formulated rigid attitudes about sex role stereotypes and that both sexes were able to initiate social activities. The study also indicated that the freshmen students at UW-L may be vulnerable to acquaintance rape based on their conservative sex role stereotyped attitudes about sexual intercourse and dating activities.