NCJ Number
53060
Date Published
1978
Length
4 pages
Annotation
RESULTS ARE REPORTED FROM A STUDY COMPARING ATTITUDES TOWARD RAPE IN A GROUP OF 19 PREDOMINANTLY MALE EMERGENCY ROOM PHYSICIANS AND 21 FEMALE VOLUNTEER RAPE CRISIS COUNSELORS.
Abstract
THE INITIAL POOL OF POTENTIAL RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS CONSISTED OF 42 PHYSICIANS WITH EMERGENCY ROOM DUTIES AND 31 VOLUNTEER COUNSELORS FROM THE RAPE CRISIS CENTER OF A LARGE METROPOLITAN AREA IN THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES. A SERIES OF 25 ITEMS WITH SIX-POINT RATING SCALES WAS CONSTRUCTED USING ITEMS DERIVED FROM PREVIOUS RESEARCH, FROM THEORIES ABOUT THE RAPE INCIDENT, AND FROM REPORTED REACTIONS OF RAPE VICTIMS. AN INDEPENDENT ADMINISTRATION OF THE 25 ITEMS WAS CONDUCTED WITH A SAMPLE OF 182 SUBJECTS (111 FEMALES AND 71 MALES) AND THEN FACTOR ANALYZED USING A PRINCIPAL FACTOR SOLUTION ROTATED TO A VARIMAX CRITERION. TWO MAIN FACTORS RESULTED FROM THE ANALYSIS: FACTOR 1, REPRESENTING THE PERCEIVED CAUSALITY OF THE RAPE, AND FACTOR 2, CONSISTING OF ITEMS DEALING WITH THE PERCEIVED SEVERITY OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF RAPE. RESPONSES OF THE 19 PHYSICIANS WHO COMPLETED AND RETURNED THE RATING INSTRUMENT AND OF THE 21 RESPONDING VOLUNTEERS WERE COMPARED ON THE ITEMS, USING TWO-TAILED T-TESTS. EMERGENCY ROOM PHYSICIANS, ALONG WITH THE MALES OF THE PREVIOUS STUDY, VIEW THE RAPE VICTIM AS PLAYING A GREATER ROLE IN PRECIPITATING THE INCIDENT THAN DO THE RAPE CRISIS COUNSELORS; HOWEVER, A STRONGER FINDING IS THAT CRISIS COUNSELORS VIEW RAPE AS LEADING TO MORE SEVERE PSYCHOLOGICAL AND INTERPERSONAL CONSEQUENCES THAN DO THE PHYSICIANS. HOWEVER, IN THE PRIOR FACTOR ANALYSIS, NO SIGNIFICANT MALE/FEMALE DIFFERENCE IN PERCEPTION OF THE SEVERITY OF CONSEQUENCES OF RAPE HAD BEEN DETECTED. IT IS ACKNOWLEDGED THAT THE SMALLNESS OF THE SAMPLE AND THE LACK OF INFORMATION CONCERNING THE PHYSICIANS WHO DID NOT PARTICIPATE MAKE THE RESULTS PRELIMINARY. FACTOR LOADINGS AND MEANS OF ITEMS ABOUT THE RAPE ARE INCLUDED, ALONG WITH REFERENCES. (RCB)