Analysis of Empirical Estimates of Sexual Aggression Victimization and Perpetration

• NCJ Number: 180720
• Journal: Violence and Victims Volume: 14 Issue: 3 Dated: 1999 Pages: 241-260
• Author(s): Brian H. Spitzberg
• Date Published: 1999
• Length: 20 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

This article analyzes empirical estimates of sexual aggression victimization and perpetration.

Abstract

Estimates of prevalence for several categories of sexual coercion, including rape and attempted rape, were statistically aggregated across 120 studies, involving more than 100,000 subjects. Almost 13 percent of women and more than 3 percent of men had been raped, and almost 5 percent of men claimed to have perpetrated rape. Approximately 25 percent of women and men claimed to have been sexually coerced and to have perpetrated sexual coercion. In general, the mediating variables examined—population type, decade, date of publication and type of operationalization—were not consistently related to rates of victimization or perpetration. Nevertheless, the extensive variation among study estimates strongly suggests the possibility of systematic sources of variation that have yet to be identified. Finally, this analysis indicates that sexual aggression and victimization are problems that affect sizable percentages of the American population, regardless of various methodological and operational features used to study such phenomena. Tables, notes, references, appendix