research paper topics sexual assault

99 Rape Topics & Research Questions

When writing research about sexual assault, you must consider many nuances as the topic is very sensitive. Have a look at these rape topics, where we delve into a painful and critical aspect of society that involves issues of violence, consent, trauma, and justice. As you explore these topics, reflect on the complexities surrounding sexual violence, think of how to promote awareness, and address the profound impact it has on society.

⛔ TOP 10 Rape Topics

🏆 catchy sexual assault research questions, 🎓 interesting rape topics, 💡 simple sexual assault topics for research paper, ❓ more research questions about sexual assault.

• Date Rape, Its Causes, Effects, and How to Avoid This Case
• Relationships and Rape in “Disgrace” by Coetzee
• The Rape of Nanking
• Marital Rape: Definition, History, and Elimination
• Sexual Abuse and Different Factors of Rape
• Rape and Sexual Violence
• Heroic Rape in Historic Art Exhibition
• Rape as a Social Vice: Factors and Prevention
• Discussion of Rape Problem in the India
• Childhood Psychological Trauma: Rape
• A Trial on Rape Accusations and Motions This case study is based on rape accusations against three men, Jones, Walsh, and Bert. This paper will analyze the case study and discuss the legal terms.
• Date Rape and Victim-Offender Relationships Analysis The victim/offender relationship is one of the most significant factors, which help to determine offender’s behavior at different stages of committing a crime.
• “Disgrace” by John Maxwell Coetzee: Attitudes to Rape Disgrace is a 1999 novel by J. M. Coetzee, written from the perspective of a middle-aged white South African professor living in Cape Town.
• Rape, Its Dynamics, Factors, and Prevention Rape is one of the most critical offences that have occurred throughout the history of crime. Currently, myriad definitions are provided in an attempt to explain what rape is.
• Rape’ Definition and Dynamics Rape is a form of sexual exploitation usually characterized by copulation or other related forms of penetration.
• Evaluation of “Obscuring Causality in Rape Discourse” by Hilton This paper evaluates the article “Obscuring causality in rape discourse: A quantitative analysis of variation in argument Structure” and discusses its fundamental problems.
• Rape Laws in the US, the UK, and Pakistan This essay considers the rape laws that are existing in advanced countries like USA, UK, etc and in developing Islamic states like Pakistan.
• Mass Rapes Committed by the Soviet Army in the Axis Countries This paper provides an annotated bibliography about mass rapes committed by the Soviet Army in the axis countries, both analytical articles and the ones based on personal experience.
• The Influence of Drugs and Alcohol on Date Rape While drugs can affect mental health and make the victim forget everything, the perpetrators indulge in alcohol abuse to escape the blame and deny non-consensual sex.
• The Concept of PREA (Prison Rape Elimination Act) Rape remains among the dominant crimes in the USA; almost every minute an American becomes a victim of it. The problem is especially acute in penitentiaries.
• Non-Consent: Reforming the Law of Rape About half of the states in the US consider non-consent to be insufficient to admit rape. This situation is unacceptable and signals the necessity for immediate legislative reform.
• Rape as a Sexual Assault Rape is committed when a victim withdraws his or her consent during a sexual act and is forced to complete the sexual act.
• Sexual Abuse: Definitions and Dynamics of Rape Rape cases have been on the rise over the past few years. So far, little has been done to address the issue and it’s high time that the government took up the responsibility.
• Sexual Abuse Prevention and Rape Factors Rape is a type of sexual abuse, as a rule, implying sexual intercourse with a person by one or several people without consent. The rapists, use a helpless status of a victim.
• “Beyond Blurred Lines: Rape Culture in Popular Media”: Book Overview The book discusses how the idea of rape culture has permeated people’s collective imagination to create a cultural environment where violence against women has been normalized.
• Reforms Examination: Rape and Sexual Assault The paper is a critical examination of reforms that need to be done in regards to rape and sexual assault. There are eight categories of reforms that need to be initiated.
• The Statutory Rape Laws Analysis Statutory rape laws are uncontroversial. Few people object to harsh prison sentences for adults who sexually prey on minors.
• Personal and Psychosocial Effects of Rape Sexual intercourse or coming into close body contact with an individual without the consent of that person is referred to as rape.
• Crime Theory Regarding Rape Laws This paper describes the crime or act of delinquency, the application of the psychological theory, and the application of the non-psychological theory.
• Rape Shield Laws and Women’s Rights in Canada This paper argues that for all its controversy, the rape shield has had a positive impact on women’s rights in Canada.
• Revealing Marital Rape as Domestic Violence Marital rape entails sexual action with one’s partner devoid of his or her consent. Failure to get consent is the fundamental component that results in the involvement in violence.
• Rape Trauma: Intervention and Therapy This paper presents an analysis of the intervention addressing the needs of a rape victim, including elements of the CBT, motivational interviewing, and play therapy.
• Rolling Stone’s “A Rape Case on Campus” The Rolling Stone’s version of the story, “A Rape Case on Campus”, is a story of journalistic failure that could be avoided.
• Websites Preventing Rape and Types of Messages Articulated Rape is one of the most common crimes in the US and in the entire world. Masters explores one of the prevention strategies and examines six websites aimed at preventing rape.
• Prevention Techniques for Rape and Child Abuse
• Rape and Sexual Assault on College Campuses
• Australia and Changing Laws on Rape
• Rape Culture in Modern Society and the Need to End It
• The Physical and Psychological Effects of Rape on Women
• Rape Within the Military as a Global Social Issue
• The Link Between Pornography & Rape
• Rape and Sexual Assault in the Military
• Mental and Physical Effects of Rape on Male and Female
• Popular Rape Problems and Solutions
• The Issue Behind Bars: Abuse and Rape of LGBT Members
• Rape Culture and the Role of Media
• Gender Roles and Laws on Rape and Adultery
• The Impact War Rape Has on Development Sociology
• Challenging the Rape Culture in Greek Life
• Factors Influencing the Judgement of Marital Rape
• Rape and the Corrupt Judicial System of Colonial America
• The Congo War Rape as a Weapon History
• The Role of Alcohol and Education in Sexual Assault and Rape
• Rape and Sexual Assault During the United States
• Sexual Assault and Rape on College Campuses
• The Rape Abuse and Incest National Network
• Marital Rape and Marital Exemptions in Rape Statutes
• Gender Role Theory and Male Rape Victims
• Rape and Its Effects on South Africa
• Importance of Anti-rape and Anti-sexual Harassment Programs
• Prisoners’ Sexual Aggression and Rape Among People
• Indian Film Industry Promotes Rape and Violence
• What Teenage Boys Still Don’t Know About Sexual Rape
• Social Work Rape and Sexual Assualt
• Marital Rape: Current Views, Laws, and Effects on Women
• Rape and Sexual Assault in Today’s Society and Their Impact
• The Factors That Contribute to Rape and Treating Victims With Rape Trauma Syndrome
• Creative Writing Assignment About a Rape and the Importance of DNA
• Rape During the War: Comfort Women in Japanese Army
• Sexual Harassment and Rape in the Military
• The Role of Objects in Pope’s Rape of the Lock
• General Information About Serial Rape and Serial Rapists
• The Problems With the Law on Rape in Nigeria
• Sexual Rape and Its Effects on Mental Health Problems
• Are Rape and Sexual Assaults Considered Hate Crimes?
• Why Don’t Women Report Rape?
• How Can Technology Prevent Rape?
• What Do Victims Need to Know About California’s Rape Shield Law?
• Does Porn Influence One to Commit Rape?
• What Is the Difference Between Rape and Sexual Assault?
• How Does the Criminal Justice System Handle Rape and Sexual Assault?
• Was the Relationship Between Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson Love or Rape?
• Are Statutory Rape Laws Discriminatory to Boys?
• Should Statutory Rape Laws Be Legal?
• What Does Prosecution Need to Prove in a Rape Case?
• Does Rape Justify Abortion?
• Who Are the Real Victims of Rape Crimes?
• Why Are Statutory Rape Laws in NC More Favorable for the Girl Rather Than the Guy?
• What Is Rape Culture?
• How to Overcome Rape Trauma?
• What Are the Psychological and Physical Effects of Rape?
• How Does Rape Affect Memory and the Brain?
• What Are the Ways to Avoid Rape?
• Can a Woman Rape a Man and Why Does It Matter?
• What Is Rape Trauma Syndrome?
• How Long Does Rape Trauma Syndrome Last?
• What Are the Ways of Recovering From Rape and Sexual Trauma?
• Can Rape Be Considered a Global Epidemic?
• What Happens During a Rape or Sexual Assault Investigation?

Cite this post

• Chicago (N-B)
• Chicago (A-D)

StudyCorgi. (2022, June 5). 99 Rape Topics & Research Questions. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/rape-essay-topics/

"99 Rape Topics & Research Questions." StudyCorgi , 5 June 2022, studycorgi.com/ideas/rape-essay-topics/.

StudyCorgi . (2022) '99 Rape Topics & Research Questions'. 5 June.

1. StudyCorgi . "99 Rape Topics & Research Questions." June 5, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/rape-essay-topics/.

Bibliography

StudyCorgi . "99 Rape Topics & Research Questions." June 5, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/rape-essay-topics/.

StudyCorgi . 2022. "99 Rape Topics & Research Questions." June 5, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/rape-essay-topics/.

These essay examples and topics on Rape were carefully selected by the StudyCorgi editorial team. They meet our highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, and fact accuracy. Please ensure you properly reference the materials if you’re using them to write your assignment.

This essay topic collection was updated on January 3, 2024 .

• University of Wisconsin–Madison
• University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Research Guides
• College Undergraduate Research Group
• Current Topics: An Undergraduate Research Guide
• Sexual Assault/Rape

Current Topics: An Undergraduate Research Guide : Sexual Assault/Rape

• Writing, Citing, & Research Help
• Black Lives Matter Movement
• Climate Change
• Hate Crimes
• Fast Fashion
• Health Care
• Sexual Harassment
• Newspaper Source Plus Newspaper Source Plus includes 1,520 full-text newspapers, providing more than 28 million full-text articles.
• Newspaper Research Guide This guide describes sources for current and historical newspapers available in print, electronically, and on microfilm through the UW-Madison Libraries. These sources are categorized by pages: Current, Historical, Local/Madison, Wisconsin, US, Alternative/Ethnic, and International.

Organizations

• Dane County Rape Crisis Center "The Rape Crisis Center offers support and information for anyone who has experienced past or recent sexual assault."
• Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault "The Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault (WCASA) is a statewide organization created and incorporated in 1985 to support and complement the work of Wisconsin’s community-based sexual assault service provider programs and other organizations working to end sexual violence."
• RAINN: Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network Provides relevant links to resources and other information sources. A nationally known, reputable, and active organization that, among other things, coordinates corporate financial support around sexual assault issues.
• National Alliance to End Sexual Violence "The National Alliance to End Sexual Violence educates the policy community about federal laws, legislation and appropriations impacting the fight to end sexual violence."

About Sexual Assault/Rape

This Research Guide focuses on sexual violence. Included are materials covering such topics as date rape, marital rape and sexual assault, as well as the rape victims' emotional responses, legal rights and options. See also: Sexual Harassment

Try searching these terms using the resources linked on this page: date rape AND alcohol, date rape AND drugs, acquaintance rape, marriage AND rape, statutory rape, rape AND military, rape AND college, sexual assault AND college, incest

Overview Resources - Background Information

• Opposing Viewpoint in Context Opposing Viewpoints in Context provides viewpoint articles, topic overviews, statistics, primary documents, links to websites, and full-text magazine and newspaper articles related to controversial social issues.
• National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) "This is a center for the collection and distribution of statistics, information, and resources about sexual violence. It is aimed at caregivers, policy makers, and crisis centers. Provides a searchable database of the library catalogs of the center and of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape, publications, a calendar of events, funding resources, profiles of organizations, materials on specific types of sexual violence, and classified ads for jobs in the field."
• Sexual Violence - CDC Includes a fact sheet (with statistics and risk factors), a brochure on sexual violence prevention strategies, details about prevention activities of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and other health agencies, and links to websites of groups working on sexual violence prevention.

Articles - Scholarly & Popular

• Academic Search Includes scholarly and popular articles on many topics.
• PsycInfo Includes articles in the field of psychology as well articles about the psychological aspects of related disciplines.
• SocIndex Includes full text for a variety of journals and books encompassing all sub-disciplines of sociology and closely related areas of study.
• Consumer Health Complete Covers areas of health and wellness from mainstream medicine to the many perspectives of complementary, holistic and integrated medicine.
• GenderWatch A gender, women, and gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) issues database with thousands of English-language full-text articles from over 200 magazines, academic journals, regional publications, and newsletters. Earliest articles are from 1970; most are from the 1990s to the present.
• Bureau of Justice Statistics: Rape and Sexual Assault Statistics on rape and sexual assault.
• Statistical Abstract of the United States This tool is the authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States. Sources of data include the Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Economic Analysis, and many other Federal agencies and private organizations.
• << Previous: Pandemics
• Next: Sexual Harassment >>
• Last Updated: Apr 24, 2024 3:01 PM
• URL: https://researchguides.library.wisc.edu/current

The Global Prevalence of Sexual Assault: A Systematic Review of International Research Since 2010

Affiliations.

• 1 University of Washington, United States.
• 2 University of Potsdam, Germany.
• 3 Clemson University, United States.
• PMID: 34737898
• PMCID: PMC8562086
• DOI: 10.1037/vio0000374

Objective: We present a review of peer-reviewed English-language studies conducted outside the United States and Canada on the prevalence of sexual assault victimization in adolescence and adulthood published since 2010.

Method: A systematic literature search yielded 32 articles reporting on 45 studies from 29 countries. Studies that only provided prevalence estimates for sexual assault in intimate relationships or did not present separate rates for men and women were excluded. All studies were coded by two coders, and a risk of bias score was calculated for each study. Both past-year and prevalence rates covering longer periods were extracted.

Results: The largest number of studies came from Europe ( n =21), followed by Africa ( n =11), Asia and Latin America ( n =6 each). One study came from the Middle East and no studies were found from Oceania. Across the 22 studies that reported past-year prevalence rates, figures ranged from 0% to 59.2% for women, 0.3% to 55.5% for men, and 1.5% to 18.2% for LGBT samples. The average risk of bias score was 5.7 out of 10. Studies varied widely in methodology.

Conclusion: Despite regional variation, most studies indicate that sexual assault is widespread. More sustained, systematic, and coordinated research efforts are needed to gauge the scale of sexual assault in different parts of the world and to develop prevention measures.

Keywords: Sexual assault; international; rape; review; sexual minority.

Grants and funding

• R00 AA026317/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/United States

Click through the PLOS taxonomy to find articles in your field.

For more information about PLOS Subject Areas, click here .

Loading metrics

Open Access

Peer-reviewed

Research Article

Sexual assault incidents among college undergraduates: Prevalence and factors associated with risk

Contributed equally to this work with: Claude A. Mellins, Kate Walsh, Aaron L. Sarvet, Melanie Wall, Leigh Reardon, Jennifer S. Hirsch

Roles Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliation Division of Gender, Sexuality and Health, Departments of Psychiatry and Sociomedical Sciences, New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University Medical Center, New York, New York, United States of America

Roles Conceptualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Yeshiva University, New York, New York, United States of America, Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States of America

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Visualization, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Division of Biostatistics, Department of Psychiatry, New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University Medical Center, New York, New York, United States of America

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Visualization, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Division of Biostatistics, Department of Psychiatry, New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University Medical Center, New York, New York, United States of America, Department of Biostatistics, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States of America

Roles Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

¶ ‡ These authors also contributed equally to this work.

Affiliation Social Intervention Group, School of Social Work, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States of America

Roles Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States of America

Roles Methodology, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Youth, Family, and Community Studies, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina, United States of America

Roles Investigation, Methodology, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States of America

Roles Conceptualization, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Sociology, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States of America

Roles Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – review & editing

Roles Data curation, Investigation, Methodology

Roles Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Writing – review & editing

Roles Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – review & editing

• Claude A. Mellins, 
• Kate Walsh, 
• Aaron L. Sarvet, 
• Melanie Wall, 
• Louisa Gilbert, 
• John S. Santelli, 
• Martie Thompson, 
• Patrick A. Wilson, 
• Shamus Khan, 

• Published: November 8, 2017
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0186471
• Reader Comments

25 Jan 2018: The PLOS ONE Staff (2018) Correction: Sexual assault incidents among college undergraduates: Prevalence and factors associated with risk. PLOS ONE 13(1): e0192129. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0192129 View correction

Sexual assault on college campuses is a public health issue. However varying research methodologies (e.g., different sexual assault definitions, measures, assessment timeframes) and low response rates hamper efforts to define the scope of the problem. To illuminate the complexity of campus sexual assault, we collected survey data from a large population-based random sample of undergraduate students from Columbia University and Barnard College in New York City, using evidence based methods to maximize response rates and sample representativeness, and behaviorally specific measures of sexual assault to accurately capture victimization rates. This paper focuses on student experiences of different types of sexual assault victimization, as well as sociodemographic, social, and risk environment correlates. Descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and logistic regression were used to estimate prevalences and test associations. Since college entry, 22% of students reported experiencing at least one incident of sexual assault (defined as sexualized touching, attempted penetration [oral, anal, vaginal, other], or completed penetration). Women and gender nonconforming students reported the highest rates (28% and 38%, respectively), although men also reported sexual assault (12.5%). Across types of assault and gender groups, incapacitation due to alcohol and drug use and/or other factors was the perpetration method reported most frequently (> 50%); physical force (particularly for completed penetration in women) and verbal coercion were also commonly reported. Factors associated with increased risk for sexual assault included non-heterosexual identity, difficulty paying for basic necessities, fraternity/sorority membership, participation in more casual sexual encounters (“hook ups”) vs. exclusive/monogamous or no sexual relationships, binge drinking, and experiencing sexual assault before college. High rates of re-victimization during college were reported across gender groups. Our study is consistent with prevalence findings previously reported. Variation in types of assault and methods of perpetration experienced across gender groups highlight the need to develop prevention strategies tailored to specific risk groups.

Citation: Mellins CA, Walsh K, Sarvet AL, Wall M, Gilbert L, Santelli JS, et al. (2017) Sexual assault incidents among college undergraduates: Prevalence and factors associated with risk. PLoS ONE 12(11): e0186471. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0186471

Editor: Hafiz T. A. Khan, University of West London, UNITED KINGDOM

Received: July 28, 2017; Accepted: October 2, 2017; Published: November 8, 2017

Copyright: © 2017 Mellins et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: The data underlying the study cannot be made available, beyond the aggregated data that are included in the paper, because of concerns related to participant confidentiality. Sharing the individual-level survey data would violate the terms of our agreement with research participants, and the Columbia University Medical Center IRB has confirmed that the potential for deductive identification and the risk of loss of confidentiality is too great to share the data, even if de-identified.

Funding: This research was funded by Columbia University through a donation from the Levine Family. The funder (Levine Family) had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Introduction

Recent estimates of sexual assault victimization among college students in the United States (US) are as high as 20–25% [ 1 – 3 ], prompting universities to enhance or develop policies and programs to prevent sexual assault. However, a 2016 review [ 4 ] highlights the variation in sexual assault prevalence estimates (1.8% to 34%) which likely can be attributed to methodological differences across studies, including varying sexual assault definitions, sampling methods, assessment timeframes, and target populations [ 4 ]. Such differences can hamper efforts to understand the scope of the problem. Moreover, while accurate estimates of prevalence are crucial for calling attention to the population-health burden of sexual assault, knowing more about risk factors is critical for determining resource allocation and developing effective programs and policies for prevention.

Reasons for the variation in prevalence estimates include different definitions of sexual assault and assessment methods. Under the rubric of sexual assault, researchers have investigated experiences ranging from sexual harassment at school or work, to unwanted touching, including fondling on the street or dance floor, to either unwanted/non-consensual attempts at oral, anal or vaginal sexual intercourse (attempted penetrative sex), or completed penetrative sex [ 3 , 5 – 7 ]. Some studies have focused on a composite variable of multiple forms of unwanted/non-consensual sexual contact [ 8 , 9 ] while others focus on a single behavior, such as completed rape [ 10 ]. Some studies focus on acts perpetrated by a single method (e.g. incapacitation due to alcohol and drug use or other factors) [ 11 ], while others include a range of methods (e.g., physical force, verbal coercion, and incapacitation) [ 12 – 15 ]. In general, studies that ask about a wide range of acts and use behaviorally specific questions about types of sexual assault and methods of perpetration have yielded more accurate estimates [ 16 ]. Behavioral specificity avoids the pitfall of participants using their own sexual assault definitions and does not require the respondent to identify as a victim or survivor, which may lead to underreporting [ 10 , 17 – 19 ].

Although an increasing number of studies have used behaviorally specific methods and examined prevalence and predictors of sexual assault [ 20 , 21 ], they typically have used convenience samples. Only a few published studies have used population-based surveys and achieved response rates sufficient to mitigate some of the concerns of sample response bias [ 4 ]. US federal agencies have urged universities to implement standardized “campus climate surveys” to assess the prevalence and reporting of sexual violence [ 22 ]. Although these surveys have emphasized behavioral specificity, many have yielded low response rates (e.g., 25%) [ 23 ], particularly among men [ 24 ], creating potential for response bias in the obtained data. Population-based probability samples with behavioral specificity, good response rates, sufficiently large samples to examine risk for specific subgroups (e.g., sexual minority students), and detailed information on personal, social, or contextual risk factors (e.g., alcohol use) [ 22 , 23 ] are needed to more accurately define prevalence and inform evidence-based sexual assault prevention programs.

Existing evidence suggests that most sexual assault incidents are perpetrated against women [ 25 ]; however, few studies have examined college men as survivors of assault [ 26 – 28 ]. Furthermore, our understanding of how sexual orientation and gender identity relate to risk for sexual assault is limited, despite indications that lesbian, gay, bisexual (LGB), and gender non-conforming (GNC) students are at high risk [ 29 – 31 ]. It is unclear if these groups are at higher risk for all types of sexual assault or if prevention programming should be tailored to address particular types of assault within these groups. Also, although women appear to be at highest risk for assault during freshman year [ 32 , 33 ], the dearth of studies with men or GNC students have limited conclusions about whether freshman year is also a risky period for them.

Additional factors associated with experiencing sexual assault in college students include being a racial/ethnic minority student (although there are mixed findings on race/ethnicity) [ 34 , 35 ], low financial status, and prior history of sexual assault [ 3 , 33 , 36 ]. Other risk factors include variables related to student social life, including being a freshman [ 24 ], participating in fraternities and sororities [ 19 , 37 , 38 ], binge drinking [ 1 , 39 ] and participating in “hook-up” culture [ 40 – 42 ]. Whether sexual assault is happening in the context of more casual, typically non-committal sexual relationships (“hook-ups”) [ 40 ] vs. steady intimate or monogamous relationships has important implications for prevention efforts.

To fill some of these knowledge gaps, we examined survey data collected from a large population-based random sample of undergraduate women, men, and GNC students at Columbia University (CU) and Barnard College (BC). The aims of this paper are to:

• Estimate the prevalence of types of sexual assault incidents involving a) sexualized touching, b) attempted penetrative (oral, anal or vaginal) sex, and c) completed penetrative sex since starting at CU/BC;
• Describe the methods of perpetration (e.g., incapacitation, physical force, verbal coercion) used; and
• Examine associations between key sociodemographic, social and romantic/sexual relationship factors and different types of sexual assault victimization, and how these associations differ by gender.

Materials and methods

This study used data from a population-representative survey that formed one component of the Sexual Health Initiative to Foster Transformation (SHIFT) study. SHIFT used mixed methods to examine risk and protective factors affecting sexual health and sexual violence among college undergraduates from two inter-related institutions, CU’s undergraduate schools (co-educational) and BC (women only), both located in New York City. SHIFT featured ethnographic research, the survey, and a daily diary study. Additionally, SHIFT focused on internal policy-translation work to inform institutionally-appropriate, multi-level approaches to prevention.

Participants

Survey participants were selected via stratified random sampling from the March 2016 population of 9,616 CU/BC undergraduate students ages 18–29 years. We utilized evidence-based methods to enhance response rates and sample representativeness [ 22 , 43 ]. Using administrative records of enrolled students, 2,500 students (2,000 from CU and 500 from BC) were invited via email to participate in a web-based survey. Of these 2,500 students, 1,671 (67%) consented to participate (see Procedures). Among those who consented to participate, 80.5% were from CU and 19.5% were from BC (see Table 1 below for demographic data on the CU/BC student population, the random sample of students contacted, the survey responders, and the current analytic sample).

• PPT PowerPoint slide
• PNG larger image
• TIFF original image

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0186471.t001

SHIFT employed multiple procedures to assure protection of students involved in our study; these procedures also improve scientific rigor. The study was approved by the Columbia University Medical Center Institutional Review Board and we obtained a federal Certificate of Confidentiality to legally protect our data from subpoena. SHIFT also obtained a University waiver from reporting on individual sexual assaults, as reporting would obviate student privacy and willingness to participate. Students were offered information about referrals to health and mental health resources during the consent process and at the end of the survey, and such information was available from SHIFT via other communication channels. Finally, in reporting data we suppressed data from tables where there were less than 3 subjects in any cell to avoid the possibility of deductive identification of an individual student [ 44 ].

SHIFT used principles of Community Based Participatory Research regarding ongoing dialogue with University stakeholders on study development and implementation to maximize the quality of data and impact of research findings [ 45 ]. This included weekly meetings between SHIFT investigators and an Undergraduate Advisory Board, consisting of 13–18 students, reflecting the undergraduate student body’s diversity in terms of gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, year in school, and activities (e.g., fraternity/sorority membership). It also included regular meetings with an Institutional Advisory Board comprised of senior administrators, including CU’s Office of General Counsel, facilities, sexual violence response, student conduct, officials involved in gender-based misconduct concerns, athletics, a chaplain, mental health and counseling, residential life, student health, and student life.

Following both the Undergraduate Advisory Board’s recommendations and Dillman’s Tailored Design Method for maximizing survey response rates [ 43 ], multiple methods were used to advertise and recruit students. These included: a) email messages, both to generate interest and remind students who had been selected to participate, crafted to resonate with diverse student motives for participation (e.g., interest in sexual assault, compensation, community spirit, and achieving higher response rates than surveys at peer institutions), b) posting flyers, c) holding “study breaks,” in which students were given snacks and drinks, and d) tabling in public areas on campus.

Participants used a unique link to access the survey either at our on-campus research office where computers and snacks were provided (16% of participants) or at a location of their choosing (84% of participants) from March-May, 2016. Before beginning the survey, participants were asked to provide informed consent on an electronic form describing the study, confidentiality, compensation for time and effort, data handling procedures, and the right to refuse to answer any question. Students who completed the survey received $40 in compensation, given in cash to those who completed the survey in our on-campus research office or as an electronic gift card if completed elsewhere. Students were also entered into a lottery to win additional $200 electronic gift cards. This compensation was established based on feedback from student and institutional advisors and reviewed by our Institutional Review Board. It was judged to be sufficient to promote participation, and help ensure that we captured a representative sample, including students who might otherwise have to choose between paid opportunities and participating in our survey, but not great enough to feel coercive for low resource students. This amount of compensation is in line with other similar studies [ 46 ]. On average, the survey took 35–40 minutes to complete.

The SHIFT survey included behaviorally-specific measures of different types of sexual assault, perpetrated by different methods, as well as measures of key sociodemographic, social and sexual relationship factors, and risk environment characteristics. The majority of instruments had been validated previously with college- age students. The survey was administered in English using Qualtrics ( www.qualtrics.com ), providing a secure platform for online data collection.

Sexual assault.

Sexual assault was assessed with a slightly modified version of the revised Sexual Experiences Survey [ 16 ], the most widely used measure of sexual assault victimization with very good psychometric properties including internal consistency and validity previously published [ 17 , 47 ]. The Sexual Experiences Survey employs behaviorally specific questions to improve accuracy [ 18 ]. The scale includes questions on type of assault, including sexualized touching without penetration (touching, kissing, fondling, grabbing in a sexual way), attempted but not completed penetrative assault (oral, vaginal, anal or other type of penetration; herein referred to as attempted penetrative assault) and completed penetrative assault (herein referred to as penetrative assault). We used most of the Sexual Experiences Survey as is. However, with strong urging from our Undergraduate Advisory Board, we made a modification, combining the questions about different types of penetration (oral, vaginal, etc.) rather than asking about each kind separately. In the Sexual Experiences Survey, for each type of assault there are six methods of perpetration. Two of the types reflect verbal coercion: 1) “Telling lies, threatening to end the relationship, threatening to spread rumors about me, making promises I knew were untrue, or continually verbally pressuring me after I said I didn’t want to” (herein referred to as “lying/threats”), and 2) “Showing displeasure, criticizing my sexuality or attractiveness, getting angry but not using physical force, after I said I didn’t want to” (herein referred to as “criticism”). The remaining types included use of physical force, threats of physical harm, or incapacitation (“Taking advantage when I couldn’t say no because I was either too drunk, passed out, asleep or otherwise incapacitated”), and other. For each incident of sexual assault, participants could endorse multiple methods of perpetration. Participants were also asked to report whether these experiences occurred: a) during the current academic year (this was a second modification to the Sexual Experiences Survey) and/or b) since enrollment but prior to the current academic year. For this paper, data for the two time periods were combined, reflecting the entire period since starting CU/BC. See Fig 1 for a replica of the questionnaire.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0186471.g001

Demographics.

Demographics included gender identity (male, female, trans-male/trans-female, gender queer/gender-non-conforming, other) [ 48 ], year in school (e.g., freshman, sophomore, junior, senior), age, US born (yes/no), lived in US less than five years (yes/no; proxy for recent international student status), transfer student (yes/no), low socioeconomic status (receipt of Pell grant-yes/no [need-based grants for low-income students, with eligibility dependent on family income]); how often participant has trouble paying for basic necessities (never, rarely, sometimes, often, all of the time), and race/ethnicity (non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic-Asian, non-Hispanic black, Hispanic/Latin-x, other [other included: American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, More than one Race/Ethnicity, Other]). Gender was categorized as follows: female, male and GNC (students who responded to gender identity question as anything other than male or female).

Fraternity/Sorority.

Fraternity/sorority membership (ever participated) was assessed with one question from a school activities checklist (yes/no). We report on Greek life participation here to engage with the substantial attention this has received as a risk factor.

Problematic drinking.

Problematic drinking during the last year was assessed with the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) [ 49 ], a widely used, well-validated standardized 10-item screening tool developed by the World Health Organization. Psychometrics have been established in numerous studies [ 50 – 52 ]. The AUDIT assesses alcohol consumption, drinking behaviors, and alcohol-related problems. Participants rate each question on a 5-point scale from 0 (never) to 4 (daily or almost daily) for possible scores ranging from 0 to 40. The range of AUDIT scores represents varying levels of risk: 0–7 (low), 8–15 (risky or hazardous), 16–19 (high-risk or harmful), and 20 or greater (high-risk). We also examined one AUDIT item on binge drinking, defined as having 6+ drinks on one occasion at least monthly [ 49 ].

Sexual orientation.

Sexual orientation was assessed with one question with the following response options (students could select all that applied): asexual, pansexual, bisexual, queer, heterosexual and homosexual, as well as other [ 53 , 54 ]. Students were categorized into four mutually exclusive groups for analyses: heterosexual, bisexual, homosexual, and other which included asexual, pansexual, queer, or another identity not listed. Non-heterosexual students who indicated more than one orientation were assigned hierarchically to bisexual, homosexual, then other.

Romantic/sexual relationships.

Romantic/sexual relationships since enrollment at CU/BC were assessed with one question. Response choices included: none, steady or serious relationship, exclusive or monogamous relationship, hook-up-one time, and ongoing hook-up or friends with benefits. Students defined “hookup” for themselves. Students could check all that applied. This variable was trichotomized: at least one hook-up, only steady or exclusive/monogamous relationships, and no romantic/sexual relationships.

Pre-college sexual assault.

Students also were asked one yes/no question on whether they had experienced any unwanted sexual contact prior to enrolling at CU/BC.

Data analysis

To assess the representativeness of the sample, the distribution of demographic variables based on administrative records from CU and BC for the total University undergraduate population were compared to the random sample of students contacted, the survey responders, and the current analytic sample, which consists of students that responded to the questions about sexual assault. Demographics for survey responders are based on self-report from the survey. Cramer’s V effect size was used to assess the magnitude of the differences in demographic distributions between the CU/BC population and respondent sample where smaller values (i.e. Cramer’s V <0.10) indicate strong similarity [ 55 ].

Analyses were performed on each type of sexual assault as well as a combined “Any type of sexual assault” variable: yes/no experienced sexualized touching, attempted penetrative assault, and/or penetrative assault since CU/BC. Prevalence of each type of sexual assault was calculated by gender and year in school, with chi-square tests of difference used to compare prevalence between genders across each year in school versus freshman year. The total number of incidents of assault and the mean, median and standard deviation for number of incidents of assault per person reporting at least one assault were summarized. Among individuals who experienced any type of sexual assault, the proportions that experienced a particular method of perpetration (e.g. incapacitation, physical force) were calculated by type of sexual assault. Chi-square tests compared proportions between males and females for each perpetration method. The associations of each key correlate with the odds of experiencing any sexual assault were calculated and tested using logistic regression stratified by male/female gender. In addition, a multinomial regression with hierarchical categories (no assault, sexualized touching only, attempted penetrative assault [not completed], and penetrative assault [completed]) as the outcome was performed to examine if associations differed by type of sexual assault. To adjust for the fact that the sample comes from a finite population (i.e. CU/BC N = 5,765 women; N = 3,851 men), a standard finite population correction was implemented for standard error estimation using SAS Proc Surveylogistic. Given the low sample size of GNC students, they were excluded from some analyses. All analyses were conducted using SAS (v. 9.4).

Descriptive statistics

Table 1 presents demographic data on the full University, the randomly selected sample, the respondents and the analytic sample for this paper. Among students who consented to the survey (n = 1,671), 46 stopped the survey before the sexual assault questions and 33 refused to answer them resulting in an analytic sample of n = 1,592 (95% completion among responders). Demographic characteristics (i.e. gender [male, female], age, race/ethnicity, year in school, international status, and economic need [Pell grant status]) of the respondent sample were very similar (Cramer’s V effect size differences all <0.10 [ 55 ]) to the full CU/BC population ( Table 1 ) indicating that the responder and final analytic samples were representative of the student body population.

The analytic sample included 58% women, 40% men, and 2% GNC students (4 students refused to identify their gender) and was distributed evenly by year in school with most (92%) between18-23 years of age. Self-reported race/ethnicity was 43% white non-Hispanic, 23% Asian, 15% Hispanic/Latino, and 8% black non-Hispanic; 13% were transfer students, and the majority of the sample was born in the US (76%). Twenty-three percent of participants received Pell grants and 51% of students acknowledged at least sometimes having difficulty paying for basic necessities.

The majority of women (79%) and men (85%) identified as heterosexual. In terms of romantic/sexual relationships since starting CU/BC, 30.0% of women and 21.6% of men reported no relationships, 21.0% of women and 22.6% of men reported only steady/exclusive relationships with no hookups, and 49.0% of women and 55.7% of men reported at least one hook-up. Finally, 25.5% of women, 9.4% of men, and 47.0% of GNC students reported pre-college sexual assault.

Aim 1: Prevalence of sexual assault victimization at CU/BC

Overall rates by gender and school year..

Since starting CU/BC, 22.0% (350/1,592) of students reported experiencing at least one incident of any sexual assault across the three types (sexualized touching, attempted penetrative assault, and penetrative assault). Table 2 presents data on types of assault by gender and year in school. Women were over twice as likely as men to report any sexual assault (28.1% vs 12.5%). There was evidence of cumulative risk for experiencing sexual assault among women over four years of college, so that by junior and senior year, respectively, 29.7% and 36.4% of women reported experiencing any sexual assault, compared to 21.0% of freshman women who had only one year of possible exposure (p < .05). However, one-fifth (21.0%) of women who took the survey as freshman had experienced unwanted sexual contact, compared to 36.4% over 3+ years (seniors), suggesting that as others have found, the risk of assault is highest in freshman year.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0186471.t002

Among men, one in eight indicated that they had been sexually assaulted since starting CU. Similar to women, the risk for sexual assault among men accumulated over the four years of college, with 15.6% of seniors vs 9.9% of freshman reporting a sexual assault since entering CU, although this difference was not statistically significant.

Although the numbers were small, GNC students reported the highest prevalence of sexual assault since starting CU/BC (38.5%; 10/26). Numbers were too small (n<3) to present stratified by year in school (see Table 2 ).

Types of sexual assault by gender ( Table 2 ).

The most prevalent form of sexual assault was sexualized touching; rates for women (23.6%) and GNC students (38.5%) were significantly higher than rates for men (11.0%; p < .05). Prevalence of attempted penetrative assault and penetrative assault were about half that of sexualized touching. Compared to men, women were three times as likely to report attempted penetrative assault (11.1% vs 3.8%) and over twice as likely to experience penetrative assault (13.6% vs 5.2%). Among GNC students, the majority reporting sexualized touching, with rates of the other two types too small to report.

Experiencing multiple sexual assaults ( Fig 2 ; S1 Table ).

Students could report multiple types of sexual assault incidents (i.e. sexualized touching, attempted penetrative, and penetrative assault) as well as multiple incidents experienced of each type. Overall, students reported a total of 1,007 incidents of sexual assault experienced since starting CU/BC. For the 350 students who indicated any sexual assault, the median number of incidents experienced was 3.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0186471.g002

Among the 350 students reporting any sexual assault, Fig 2 presents different combinations of sexual assault experienced by students since CU/BC. Most prevalent, 38.0% reported experiencing only sexualized touching; 19.0% reported both sexualized touching and penetrative assault incidents; 17.0% experienced all three types of assault; and 12.0% sexualized touching and attempted penetrative assault.

Aim 2: Methods of perpetration (lying/threats, criticism, incapacitation, physical force, threats of harm, and other) by gender ( Table 3 )

Across types of assault, incapacitation was the method of perpetration reported most frequently (> 50%) in both men and women. For both women and men, approximately two-thirds of all penetrative assaults and about half of sexualized touching and attempted penetrative assaults involved incapacitation.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0186471.t003

Physical force was reported significantly more frequently by women than men (34.6% vs 12.7%) for any sexual assault. More specifically, compared to men, women were three times more likely to experience sexualized touching via physical force (32.1% vs. 10.0%), and six times more likely to experience penetrative assaults via physical force (33.3% vs 6.1%).

Lastly, a sizeable number of respondents reported verbal coercion (ranging from 21.0% to over 40.0% depending on type of assault). Criticism was cited by women at rates similar to physical force for both sexualized touching and penetrative assaults. Among men, both verbal coercion methods were cited most frequently after incapacitation for all three types of assault.

For GNC students, we examined rates of each perpetration method for only the composite variable any sexual assault (due to small numbers in any specific type of assault). Among those who experienced an assault, incapacitation was the most frequently mentioned method (50.0%), followed by criticism (40.0%).

Aim 3: Identify factors associated with sexual assault experiences

We examined the association between sexual assault (both any sexual assault [ Table 4 ] and each type of sexual assault [ Table 5 ]) and key demographic, sexual history and social activity factors. Results are stratified by gender (women/men).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0186471.t004

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0186471.t005

Race/Ethnicity.

For both women and men, the prevalence of any sexual assault was similar for all race/ethnicity groups compared to non-Hispanic White students with one exception. Asian students (women and men) were less likely to experience any sexual assault than non-Hispanic White students. For women only, differences emerged by type of assault. Asian women compared to non-Hispanic White women were less likely to experience penetrative assault (OR = 0.35, CI: 0.19–0.62), but not attempted penetrative assault (OR = 0.56, CI: 0.25–1.26), nor sexualized touching only (OR = 1.00, CI: 0.59–1.69). Black women were found to have increased odds of touching only incidents compared to non-Hispanic White women (OR = 1.99, CI: 1.05–3.74). There were no other significant racial or ethnic differences.

Economic precarity.

Women who often or always had difficulty paying for basic necessities had increased odds of any sexual assault; for men the trend was similar but it did not reach statistical significance. Considering penetrative assault specifically, both men and women who often or always had difficulty paying for basic necessities had increased risk (women OR = 2.24, CI: 1.23–4.09; men OR = 3.07, CI: 1.04–9.07) compared to those who never had difficulty.

Transfer student.

Women transfer students were less likely to experience any sexual assault than non-transfer students. Closer inspection of type of assault revealed that this protective effect was seen for sexualized touching only (OR = 0.34, CI: 0.15–0.80), but not for penetrative (OR = 0.60, CI: 0.34–1.08), nor attempted penetrative (OR = 1.03, CI: 0.48–2.21) assault. There were no significant differences between men who were transfer students and those who were not.

For women, those who identified as bisexual and those who identified as some other sexual identity besides heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual (includes people endorsing exclusively one or a combination of: Asexual, Pansexual, Queer, or a sexual orientation not listed), were more likely to experience any sexual assault than heterosexual students. For penetrative assault specifically, this increased risk was only present for individuals with some other sexual identity (OR = 2.11, CI: 1.20–3.73). For men, those who identified as homosexual were more likely to experience any sexual assault than heterosexual male students. For penetrative assault specifically, those who identified as homosexual, bisexual, or some other sexual identity all had substantially increased risk compared to those with a heterosexual identity (OR = 4.74, CI: 2.10–10.71; OR = 3.39, CI: 1.03–11.16; OR = 4.74, CI:1.10–20.48, respectively).

Information about the gender of the perpetrator for different gender and sexual orientation groups was available for a subset of incidents (336/997). Among these events, 98.4% (3/184) of the heterosexual women indicated the perpetrator was a man, while 97.1% (33/34) of the bisexual women, 75% (3/4) of the homosexual women, and 88.9% (24/27) of the other sexual identity women indicated it was a man. For men who were assaulted, 84.9% (45/53) of the heterosexual men reported the perpetrator was a woman, while 0 of the homosexual men said the perpetrator was a woman. Numbers for bisexual men and other sexual identity men were too small to report separately, but combined showed that 5/8 (63.0%) of bisexual and other sexual identity men said the perpetrator was a woman. Of the GNC students reporting on a most-significant event, 77.8% (7/9) reported that they were assaulted by a male perpetrator (the numbers are too small to further examine by sexual orientation).

Lived in US less than 5 years.

There was no association found between living in the US for less than 5 years and any sexual assault, nor any specific type of sexual assault.

Relationship status.

Among both women and men, students who had at least one hook-up were more likely to have experienced any sexual assault than students who were in only steady/exclusive relationships since starting college. Among women who had engaged in at least one hook-up, this increased risk held for each type of sexual assault (penetrative: OR = 5.03, CI = 2.91–8.68, attempted penetrative: OR = 4.43, CI = 1.83–10.8, sexualized touching only: OR = 3.26, CI = 1.74–6.09), while among men the increased risk was found for sexualized touching only (OR = 13.33, CI = 2.09–85.08), but could not be estimated (due to small numbers) for completed penetrative assault. Women who did not have any romantic or sexual relationship since CU/BC were found to be less likely to experience penetrative assault than women who had a steady/exclusive relationships only (OR = 0.05, CI: 0.01–0.31).

Fraternity/Sorority membership.

Although a relative minority of students participated in fraternities (24.1%) or sororities (18.2%), for both men and women, those who participated were more likely to experience any sexual assault than those who did not. Examination of type of assault revealed that the effect is driven primarily by sexualized touching only which is significant in both women (OR = 1.63, CI: 1.00–2.67) and men (OR = 2.40, CI: 1.25–4.63) and not significantly increased for penetrative nor attempted penetrative assault.

Risky or hazardous drinking.

For both men and women, individuals who met criteria on the AUDIT for risky or hazardous drinking were more likely to experience any sexual assault than those who did not. When examining each type of assault separately, for men this increased risk was only significant for penetrative assault (OR = 4.07, CI: 2.01–8.21). For women, the increased risk of assault held for each type of assault—penetrative (OR = 6.04, CI: 4.10–8.90), attempted (OR = 3.38, CI: 1.84–6.19) and touching (OR = 2.33, CI: 1.42–3.81). We also looked at one AUDIT item specifically on binge drinking (6 or more drinks on a single occasion). Individuals who reported binge drinking at least monthly were more likely to experience any sexual assault than those who did not. When examining each type of assault separately, for men this increased risk was only significant for penetrative assault (OR = 2.15, CI: 1.12–4.15). For women, this increased risk was significant for penetrative assault (OR = 3.12, CI: 2.09–4.65), attempted assault (OR = 2.28, CI: 1.20–4.33), and touching (OR = 2.42, CI:1.50–3.91).

Pre-college assault ( Table 5 ).

Among both women and men, those who experienced pre-college assault were more likely to experience any sexual assault while at CU/BC. The increased risk held for penetrative assault in both women (OR = 3.01, CI: 2.07–4.37) and men (OR = 2.44, CI: 1.03–5.76). In women, the increased risk also held for attempted penetrative, but not touching only, whereas in men, the increased risk held for touching only, but not attempted penetrative sex.

The SHIFT survey, with a population-representative sample, good response rate and behaviorally-specific questions, found that 22.0% of students reported a sexual assault since starting college, which confirms previous studies of 1 in 4 or 1 in 5 prevalence estimates with national samples and a range of types of schools [ 23 , 24 ]. However, a key finding is that focusing only on the “1 in 4/ 1 in 5” rate of any sexual assault obscures much of the nuance concerning types of sexual assault as well as the differential group risk, as prevalence rates were unevenly distributed across gender and several other social and demographic factors.

Similar to other studies [ 4 , 24 ], women had much higher rates of experiencing any type of sexual assault compared to men (28.0% vs 12.0%). Moreover, our data suggest a cumulative risk for sexual assault experiences over four years of college with over one in three women experiencing an assault by senior year. However, our data also suggest that freshman year, particularly for women, is when the greatest percentage experience an assault. This supports other work on freshman year as a particularly critical time for prevention efforts, otherwise known as the “red zone” effect for women [ 32 ].

Importantly, our study confirms that GNC students are at heightened risk for sexual assault [ 23 ]. They had the highest proportion of sexual assaults, with 38.0% reporting at least one incident, the majority of which involved unwanted/non-consensual sexualized touching. These data should be interpreted very cautiously given the small number of GNC students. However, increasingly studies suggest that transgender and other GNC students have sexual health needs that may not be targeted by traditional programming [ 57 ]; thus, a better understanding of pathways to vulnerability among these students is of high importance.

Similarly, students who identified as a sexual orientation other than heterosexual were at increased risk for experiencing any sexual assault, with bisexual women or women who identified as “other” and men who identified as any non-heterosexual category at increased risk. Similar to GNC students, understanding the specific social and sexual health needs of LGB students, particularly as it relates to reducing sexual assault risk is critical to prevention efforts [ 58 ]. Factors such as stigma and discrimination, lack of communication, substance use, as well as a potential lack of tailored prevention programs may play a role. To our knowledge, there are no evidence-based college sexual assault prevention programs targeting LGB and GNC students. Our data suggest that the LGB and GNC experiences are not uniform; more research should be done within each of these groups to understand the mechanisms behind their potentially unique risk factors.

Our data also suggest that the 20–25% rate of any sexual assault obscures variation in assault experiences. Sexualized touching accounted for the highest percentage of acts across gender groups, with over one-third of participants reporting only sexualized touching incidents. Rates of attempted and completed penetrative sexual assault were about half the rate of sexualized touching. This finding does not minimize the importance of addressing unacceptably high rates of attempted penetrative and penetrative assault (14%-15%), but it does suggest the importance of specificity in prevention efforts. For GNC students, for example, the risk of assault was primarily for sexualized touching with very few reporting attempted penetrative assault or penetrative assault during their time at CU/BC. These elevated rates of unwanted sexual touching may be a combination of GNC students’ focus on their gendered sexual boundaries–and thus potentially greater awareness of when advances are unwanted–at a developmental moment when they are building non-traditional gender identities, as well as these students’ social vulnerability. Further investigation is warranted.

Moreover, there was variation in methods of perpetration reported by survivors of sexual assault. Incapacitation was the most common method reported across all gender groups for each type of assault, and female and male students who reported risky or hazardous drinking were at increased risk for experiencing any sexual assault, particularly penetrative assault. Across campuses in the US, hazardous drinking is a national problem with substantive negative health outcomes, risk for sexual assault being one of them [ 2 , 39 , 59 ]. Our data underline the potential of programs and policies to reduce substance use and limit its harms as one element of comprehensive sexual assault prevention; we found few evidence-based interventions that address both binge drinking and sexual assault prevention. Of course, any work addressing substance use as a driver of vulnerability must do so in a way that does not replicate victim-blaming.

However, similar to other studies with broad foci, incapacitation was not the only method of perpetration reported. For women, physical force, particularly for penetrative sex, was the second most frequently endorsed method. Verbal coercion, including criticism, lying and threats to end the relationship or spread rumors, was also employed at rates similar to physical force for women, and was the second most frequently endorsed category for men and GNC students. Prevention programs, such as the bystander interventions which are the focus of efforts on many campuses [ 60 ], often focus on incapacitation or physical force. These interventions tend to highlight situations where survivors (typically women) are vulnerable because they are under the influence of substances. In SHIFT, verbal coercion is also shown to be a powerful driver of assault; however, it typically does not receive as much attention as rape, which is legally defined as penetration due to physical force or incapacitation. If a survivor is verbally coerced into providing affirmative consent, the incident could be considered within consent guidelines of “yes means yes” but it may have been unwanted by the survivor [ 61 , 62 ]. Assertiveness interventions and those that focus on verbal consent practices may be useful for addressing this form of assault.

We also found high rates of re-victimization. As others have found, pre-college sexual assault was a key predictor for experiencing assault at CU/BC [ 33 , 36 ]. However, we also found high rates of repeat victimization since starting at CU/BC with a median of 3 incidents per person reporting any sexual assault since starting CU/BC, and the highest risk of repeat victimization in women and GNC students. These data underline the importance of prevention efforts that include care for survivors to reduce the enhanced vulnerability that has been shown in other populations of assault survivors [ 36 ]. Future studies should also seek to disaggregate the relationship between type of victimization (sexualized touching, attempted penetrative assault, penetrative assault) and repeat victimization.

This study also identified a number of variables associated with sexual assault, some similar to previous studies and others different. As noted, gender was a key correlate. While prevention efforts should respond to the population-level burden by focusing on the needs of women and GNC students, it is important to note that men were also at risk of sexual assault. In our study, nearly 1 in 8 men reported a sexual assault experience, a rate also found in the Online College Social Life survey [ 56 ], but higher than other studies [ 63 , 64 ]. Few programs target men, and issues around masculinity and gender roles may make it difficult for men to consider or report what has happened to them as sexual assault. Importantly, this study found that men who were members of fraternities were at higher risk for experiencing assault (specifically unwanted/nonconsensual sexualized touching) than those who were not members. This is consistent with previous findings, including the Online College Social Life survey [ 56 ], but is of particular note because research has identified men in fraternities as more likely to be perpetrators [ 64 ], but few, if any, studies have looked at fraternity members’ vulnerability to sexual assault. Our data suggest a need for further examination of the cultural and organizational dimensions of Greek life that produce this heightened risk of being assaulted for both men and women. However, it is important to note that we did not examine a range of other social and extracurricular groups which may have produced risk as well and thus a more full examination of student undergraduate life is needed.

One other key factor associated with assault was participation in “hook ups”. Both male and female students who reported hooking up were more likely to report experiencing sexual assault, compared to students who only had exclusive or monogamous relationships and those who had no sexual relationships. The role of hooking up on college campuses has received much attention in the popular press and in a number of books [ 65 , 66 ], but little has been written about its connection to sexual assault, although several recent studies are in line with ours about its role as a risk factor for experiencing sexual assault on college campuses [ 40 , 41 ]. Multiple mechanisms may be at work: students who participate in hookups may be having sex with more people, and thus face greater risk of assault due to greater exposure to sex with a potential perpetrator, but students who participate in hookups may also face increased vulnerability because many hookups involve “drunk” sex, or because hookups by definition involve sexual interactions between people who are not in a long-term intimate relationship, and thus whose bodies and social cues maybe unfamiliar to each other. Alternatively some aspects of hook-ups may be more or less risky than others and therefore continued study of different dimensions of these more casual relationships that can refer to a wide-range of behaviors is necessary.

Several demographic characteristics were not for the most part associated with sexual assault. We did not find racial or ethnic differences in sexual assault risk with primarily one exception, Asian male and female students were at less risk overall compared to white students. We also did not find transfer students to be at greater risk; female transfer students were actually at lower risk, potentially due to less exposure time, particularly during freshman year. International student status as indicated by having been in the US<5 years was also not associated with increased risk. However, this study highlights the role of economic factors that have received limited attention in the literature. Little is known about how economic insecurity may drive vulnerability, but issues of power, privilege, and control of alcohol and space all require further examination.

There are several limitations to this study. Participants came from only two private schools that are interconnected in one city, and thus findings may not generalize to the rest of the US. There is a continued need for more national studies with different types of colleges and universities in urban and rural environments with more varied economic backgrounds in order to fully understand institutional and contextual differences. Although we had a response rate that was higher than many prior studies and our rates of sexual assault are consistent with prior studies [ 4 ], we cannot assess the extent to which selection bias may have occurred and therefore, our rates could be an underrepresentation or overrepresentation depending on who chose to participate. Although this concern is somewhat mitigated by findings that basic demographic data between respondents and the total population of students at two colleges suggest no significant differences, there may be some bias in factors we did not consider. Our present analysis has focused only on bivariate associations between risk factors and assault. While this analysis provides a valuable description of which groups are at elevated risk or not, future work will consider how combinations of risk factors at different levels may interact to increase risk. Critically, the analysis presented here reflects a focus on those who experience being assaulted, but in other work we look at the characteristics of perpetrators, both from those who reported perpetrating and from a subset of incidents that survey respondents described in depth, which provided more information about the perpetrator. A greater understanding of the characteristics and contexts of perpetration is without question vital for effective prevention. Finally, our data are cross sectional. Longitudinal studies with a comprehensive range of predictors are critical for identifying pathways of causality and targets for interventions.

Despite these limitations, this study confirms the unacceptably high rates of sexual assault and suggests diversity in experiences and methods of perpetration. A key conclusion is that a”one size fits all” approach that characterizes the extant literature on evidence-based prevention programs [ 67 ] may need to be altered to more effectively prevent sexual assault in college. Clearly different groups had differential risk for assault and may require much more targeted prevention efforts. Bystander interventions have shown promise in addressing risk in social situations, including fraternity parties and other settings with high alcohol use [ 68 , 69 ]. However, bystander interventions may not be sufficient for incidents occurring in non-party contexts where verbal coercion methods or physical force may be used without others around.

Creating effective and sustainable changes to campus culture requires engaging with a broad range of institutional stakeholders. SHIFT investigators are in the process of sharing selected findings with both student and institutional advisory boards, and an intensive collaborative process allows us to explore the implications of our results for a broad range of policies and programs, including both elements commonly considered as sexual assault prevention (consent education, bystander trainings), more general topics related to sexual orientation and verbal discussions of sex, and aspects of the institutional context across diverse domains including alcohol policy, mental health services, residential life policies, orientation planning, and the allocation of space across campus.

Overall, our findings argue for the potential of a systems-based [ 70 ] public health approach–one that recognizes the multiple interrelated factors that produce adverse outcomes, and perhaps particularly emphasizes gender and economic disparities and resulting power dynamics, widespread use of alcohol, attitudes about sexuality, and conversations about sex–to make inroads on an issue that stubbornly persists.

Supporting information

S1 table. number of incidents of sexual assault since enrolling at cu/bc, among individuals with at least one incident..

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0186471.s001

Acknowledgments

The authors thank our research participants; the Undergraduate Advisory Board; Columbia University’s Office of the President and Office of University Life, and the entire SHIFT team who contributed to the development and implementation of this ambitious effort.

• 1. Fisher BS, Cullen FT, Turner MG. The Sexual Victimization of College Women. Research Report. 2000; Available: http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED449712
• 2. Krebs CP, Lindquist CH, Warner TD. The Campus Sexual Assault Study (CSA) Final Report: Performance Period: January 2005 Through December 2007. 2007.
• 3. Kilpatrick D, Resnick H, Ruggiero KJ, Conoscenti LM, McCauley J. Drug-facilitated, Incapacitated, and Forcible Rape: A National Study [Internet]. 2007 Jul. Report No.: 219181. Available: http://www.antoniocasella.eu/archila/Kilpatrick_drug_forcible_rape_2007.pdf
• View Article
• Google Scholar
• 5. Black MC, Basile KC, Breiding MJ, Smith SG, Walters ML, Merrick MT, et al. The national intimate partner and sexual violence survey (NISVS): 2010 summary report. 2011 Nov.
• 6. Catalano S, Harmon M, Beck A, Cantor D. BJS Activities on Measuring Rape and Sexual Assault [Internet]. Poster presented at; 2005. Available: https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/bjs_amrsa_poster.pdf
• 7. Calhoun K, Mouilso E, Edwards K. Sexual assault among college students. Sex in College. Richard D. McAnulty. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Publishing Group; 2012. pp. 263–288.
• PubMed/NCBI
• 9. Baum K, Klaus P. National Crime Victimization Survey: Violent Victimization of College Students, 1995–2002 [Internet]. 2005 pp. 1–7. Report No.: NCJ 206836. Available: https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/vvcs02.pdf
• 23. Cantor D, Fisher B, Chibnall S, Bruce C, Townsend R, Thomas G, et al. Report on the AAU Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Sexual Misconduct. Rockville, MD: Westat; 2015 Sep.
• 24. Krebs C, Lindquist C, Berzofsky M, Shook-Sa B, Peterson K. Campus Climate Survey Validation Study Final Technical Report [Internet]. Bureau of Justice Statistics Research and Development Series; 2016. Report No.: NCJ 249545. Available: https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/ccsvsftr.pdf
• 25. Breiding M, Smith S. Prevalence and Characteristics of Sexual Violence, Stalking, and Intimate Partner Violence Victimization—National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, United States, 2011. Morb Mortal Wkly Rep Surveill Summ Wash DC 2002. 2014;63: 1–18.
• 29. Cantor D, Fisher B, Chibnall S, Townsend R, Lee H, Bruce C, et al. Report on the AAU Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Sexual Misconduct. Rockville, MD: Westat; 2015 Sep.
• 43. Dillman DA. Internet, Phone, Mail, and Mixed-Mode Surveys: The Tailored Design Method. 4th ed. Wiley; 2014.
• 44. Statistical Policy Working Paper 22 (Second version, 2005): Report on Statistical Disclosure Limitation Methodology. Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology, Statistical and Science Policy; Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs; Office of Management and Budget; 2005 Dec.
• 48. The GenIUSS Group. Best Practices for Asking Questions to Identify Transgender and Other Gender Minority Respondents on Population-Based Surveys. [Internet]. Los Angeles, CA: The Williams Institute.; 2014. Available: https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/geniuss-report-sep-2014.pdf
• 53. Redford J, Van Wagenen A. Measuring Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in a Self-Administered Survey: Results from Cognitive Research with Older Adults [Internet]. San Francisco, CA: American Institutes for Research; 2012. Available: http://paa2012.princeton.edu/papers/122975
• 54. Sell R. Measures. In: LGBTData.com [Internet]. Available: http://www.lgbtdata.com/measures.html
• 55. Cohen J. Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. 2nd ed. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates; 1988.
• 57. Rankin S, Weber G, Blumenfeld W, Frazer M. 2010 State of Higher Education For Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender People [Internet]. Charlotte, NC; 2010. Report No.: 978-0-9830176-0–8. Available: https://www.campuspride.org/wp-content/uploads/campuspride2010lgbtreportssummary.pdf
• 65. Wade L. American Hookup: The new culture of sex on campus. 1st ed. W. W. Norton & Company; 2017.
• 66. Cohen R, Klahr R, Vedantam S, Penman M, Boyle T, Schmidt J, et al. Hookup Culture: The Unspoken Rules Of Sex On College Campuses [Internet]. Available: http://www.npr.org/2017/02/14/514578429/hookup-culture-the-unspoken-rules-of-sex-on-college-campuses

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

• View all journals
• My Account Login
• Explore content
• About the journal
• Publish with us
• Sign up for alerts
• Open access
• Published: 03 January 2023

Implications of the POCSO Act and determinants of child sexual abuse in India: insights at the state level

• Shrabanti Maity   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5791-3140 1 &
• Pronobesh Ranjan Chakraborty 2  

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications volume  10 , Article number:  6 ( 2023 ) Cite this article

18k Accesses

1 Altmetric

Metrics details

• Social policy

Child sexual abuse is a worldwide phenomenon, and India is not an exception. The magnitude of this grave crime is underrated because of under-reporting. The reality is that the incidence of child sexual abuse has reached epidemic proportions in India. In 2021 only there were 53,874 cases registered under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act of 2012. To enable the all-around protection of children, the Indian government administrated the “Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO)” Act of 2012. The act is a comprehensive piece of legislation designed to protect children from crimes including sexual assault, sexual harassment, and pornography. The degree to which this act has improved child protection is therefore an important issue for interrogation. Here, we consider the implications of the POCSO Act (2012) in enhancing children’s protection from sexual abuse and pin-point the role of quality of life together with other social, economic, and demographic determinants in foreshortening POCSO incidences. The empirical analysis of the paper is conducted based on secondary data compiled from National Crime Records Bureau. Our empirical results reveal that the POCSO Act has reduced the Growth rate of incidents of sexual offences against children in India from 4.681% to −4.611. Moreover, our empirical results also reveal that by enhancing the quality of life it is possible to restrict the POCSO incidences across Indian states. In addition, favourable sex-ratio, the increased gross enrolment ratio at the elementary level, the improvement in the judiciary and Public Safety Score of the state also enables the state to restrict the POCSO incidences. Based on our empirical result we recommend that future policies could include, for instance, aiming to improve the quality of life as well as the law and order conditions of the state, and increasing the enrolment of the girl children in higher education.

Similar content being viewed by others

Impact of artificial intelligence on human loss in decision making, laziness and safety in education

Investigating child sexual abuse material availability, searches, and users on the anonymous Tor network for a public health intervention strategy

Age at onset of mental disorders worldwide: large-scale meta-analysis of 192 epidemiological studies

Introduction.

Around the globe, millions of children irrespective of gender face exploitation and sexual abuse every year. According to UNICEF ( 2022 ), “ About 1 in 10 girls under the age of 20 have been forced to engage in sex or perform other sexual acts ”. In 90% of cases, the accused is known to the victim (UNICEF, 2022 ). Globally, the highest prevalence of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) is observed in Africa and the corresponding figure is 34.4% (Wihbey, 2011 ; Behere and Mulmule, 2013 ). The reported CSA cases in Europe and America are 9.2% and 10.1%, respectively (Wihbey, 2011 ). The lowest figure may not reflect controlling such horrendous crime but rather may be the consequence of under-reporting (Wihbey, 2011 ). The lowest prevalence of CSA should not be ignored as its scar on the victim should never be ignored (Wihbey, 2011 ). The National Child Abuse and Neglect Data reported in 2006 in the U.S.A., 8.8% of children were victims of child sexual abuse (Miller et al., 2007 ). The reported sexual abuse cases recognised that in 60% of cases victims are within the age of 12 years (Collin-Vézina et al., 2013 ). Barth et al. ( 2013 ) reported every year globally 4% of girls and 2% of boys are victims of CSA and the consequences become extremely severe for about 15% of girls and 6% of boys. The prevalence of CSA in urban China is 4.2% (Chiu et al., 2013 ). The identification of actual global figures concerning CSA is a challenging task because of under-reporting of such crimes (Miller, et al., 2007 ).

India is the home of 472 million children (Chandramouli and General, 2011 ). Children constitute more than one-third of the Indian population (39%). In India, we celebrate “ Children’s Day ” on 14th November, the birthday of the first prime minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, who is popularly known as “ Chacha Nehru ”. He dreamt of making India a “ Children’s paradise ”. However, the reality is something else. On 17th November 2020, a 6-year-old girl was raped and then murdered brutally to perform black magic and the accused were arrested under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act (Kanpur (UP), November 17, The Tribune). On 26 th August 2020, a 17-year-old girl was found dead near her house in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri district (August 26, 2020, The Indian Express). Before that, another horrendous incident was reported in the same state for a forlorn 13-year-old Dalit girl. Because of the societal status, this case was less talked about. In India, “ child sexual abuse ” is an understated transgression. Only a handful of cases get media attention and the people of India sought justice. Most of the cases remain unexplored. The most talked about “ POCSO ” incident in India was the “ Kathua rape case ”. The case was about “Asifa Bano”, an 8-year-old girl from Rasana village near Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir, India, who was gang-raped and then killed in January 2018 Footnote 1 . By closing our eyes, we cannot deny the reality and the reality is that “ child sexual abuse ” in India has reached an epidemic proportion (Moirangthem, et al., 2015 ; Kshirsagar, 2020 ; Tamilarasi et al., 2020 ; Pallathadka et al., 2021 ; Maity, 2022 ). According to the “ National Crime Record Bureau ” in 2019 the highest “ rate of POCSO ” was reported for Sikkim (44.8%).In that list, Uttar Pradesh(8.6%) was ranked 16th among the twenty-eight Indian states (Crime in Indian, 2019 ). This simply evidences the under and/or un-reporting of “ child sexual abuse ” (Crime in Indian, 2021 ), the report shows that in 2021 only 36.5% of crimes against children are registered under POCSO Act (The Indian Express, September 23, 2022).

The Indian government has administrated the “Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO)” Act, 2012 (Ministry of Women and Child Development, 2013 ; https://wcd.nic.in ), a specified law, to ensure children’s protection from mal treatment. “ The Act has come into force with effect from 14 th November 2012 along with the rules framed there under. The POCSO Act, 2012 is a comprehensive law to provide for the protection of children from the offences of sexual assault, sexual harassment, and pornography while safeguarding the interests of the child at every stage of the judicial process by incorporating child-friendly mechanisms for reporting, recording of evidence, investigation and speedy trial of offences through designated Special Courts ” (Ministry of Women and Child Development, 2013 ; https://wcd.nic.in ). This act includes “Special Courts”, where the victim child is allowed to record his/her statement on camera in a child-friendly circumstance and simultaneously the child’s identity also remains un revealed. However, this special act is not infallible to protect children from sexual abuse. In 2019, 1510 rape cases in specific and 2091 reported POCSO cases, in general, were filed in Kerala (Kartik. The New Indian Express, 31/01/2020).In fact, in Kerala, children—both boys and girls, have had such horrid experiences at least once in life and the corresponding figure, in this case, are 36% and 35%, respectively (Krishnakumar et al., 2014 ; Moirangthem et al., 2015 ). However, it is not the exceptional one. Between January to June 2019, the total number of registered POCSO cases all over India was 24,212 (Ali, 2019 ).

Child sexual abuse is a global phenomena and a matter of concern for comprehensive existing literature. Researchers observe that CSA health professionals play a crucial role in the identification and protection of children (Fraser et al., 2010 ). Sometimes even a genuine allegation made by a child against a powerful person is reported casually based on the accuser’s disownment. Such reporting reduces the credibility of the incidence (Rubin & Thelen, 1996 ). Researchers also recognise that in most cases assailants are known to the victims (Haque et al., 2019 ; Maity, 2022 ). Concerning the Indian scenario we can say that 90% accused are known to the child (The Times of India, March 1, 2018 ; Maity, 2022 ). Economically weaker and vulnerable are always found to be the soft target for any crime, particularly in developing countries (Bower, 2003 ; Bywaters, et al., 2016 ; Sexton and Sobelson, 2018 ). In India, aged 40 and above, alcoholic, addicted to pornography, illiterate or minor literate, are the common characteristics of the accused of the POCSO Act (2012) (Chowdhuri & Mukhopadhayay, 2016 ).

On the contrary, quality of life indicates the well-being of a state or nation. The “Physical Quality of Life Index (PQLI)” helps in quantify the qualitative aspect of life (Morris, 1978 ). The variables utilised for index calculation are well defined (for details see Table 9 in appendices) in Morris’s ( 1978 ) article. To avoid the limitations of GDP as a measure of well-being this measure was developed by Morris ( 1978 ). An improvement in PQLI is supposed to be transmitted to minimise the ethnocentricity of culture and development. Accordingly, a favourable PQLI may indicate an environment for equal opportunities for all, and equal safety for all. Thus, it will be interesting to explore the implication of PQLI in protecting children from sexual offences. Childhood experiences of sexual exploitation adversely affect adulthood’s psychological, physical, and socio-economic well-being and thus deteriorate the adult’s physical quality of life (Downing et al., 2021 ). Childhood experiences of sexual abuse may result in permanent scars on a child’s well-being and quality of life (Chahine, 2014 ). It is noteworthy that earlier studies were concentrated on exploring the consequences of CSA on the physical quality of life. However, the present study unlike the earlier involves in self exploring the consequences of the improvement of PQLI on CSA. It is not worthy that the relation between CSA and PQLI is rare in literature and almost absent in empirical studies where improvement of PQLI’s effect on CSA is explored.

This back drop motivates us to explore the research questions, viz., does the POCSO Act, 2012 has any implication in creating India as a children’s paradise? Simultaneously, we also want to explore, does amplification of the quality of life of Indian citizens and Judiciary and Public Safety Scores help in reducing POCSO incidences? These research questions when unfold, result in twin objectives. Initially, the study explores the aftermaths of the “ Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act ” (POCSO) (2012), on protecting children from sexual offences. Then the paper tries to unfold different socio-economic factors, including “ Quality of Life ” that helps in revamping children’s safety across Indian states. The novelty of the study is that it is the first attempt to explore the role of the POCSO Act (2012), on child sexual abuse. The earlier studies, such as Kshirsagar ( 2020 ), Tamilarasi et al. ( 2020 ), are non-empirical documentation of the POCSO Act (2012).The study by Pallathadka et al. ( 2021 ), is an experimental study investigating the effectiveness of the inclusion of the knowledge of the POCSO Act (2012).

In a teaching programme in reducing CSA the only empirical study we find is Maity ( 2022 ). However, this study mainly focuses on the efficacy of the enhancement of police efficiency in reducing POCSO incidences across Indian states. In this sense, it is the first attempt of such type. Moreover, this study also explores the implication of the improvement of quality of life and improvement of Judiciary and Public Safety (JPS) in the foreshortening of child sexual abuse. This study perhaps is the first attempt of such kind. The present study explores the role of PQLI and JPS scores in foreshortening the CSA and this establishes the novelty of the study. Thus, our contribution to the existing literature is this study tries to test empirically the inevitability of the act in foreshortening CSA in India. Beyond that, this study tries to explore with other factors the role of quality of life in reducing CSA in India.

The study follows the aforementioned sequence: Section “Methods” deals with the materials and methods required for exploring the above-mentioned objectives. Section “Results and Discussion” presents the empirical results with a discussion concerning the implication of POCSO on children’s protection and the identification of the influencing factors of recorded POCSO incidences. Finally, Section “Conclusion and policy implications” concludes and presents policy implications.

The theoretical foundation of the economics of crime is discussed in this section. In conjunction with that, the major data sources and the concerned variables are described in this section. The econometric models, which are utilised to investigate the said objectives are also presented in this section.

Conceptual framework

According to Becker ( 1968 ), criminals possess different attitudes concerning costs and benefits and this difference in viewpoint is the principal imputes for them to commit a crime. These attitudinal differences motivate a person to commit a crime despite the likelihood of being arrested by police, convicted and to be imprisoned by the legal system. In this regard, the “Economic Theory of Crime” is based on the assumption that a person will devote his/her time and other resources to commit a crime/offence if the person believes that his/her expected utility by committing the crime exceeds the expected utility from other activity utilising the same time and resources. The theory can be formulated mathematically by using vonNeumann and Morgenstern ( 2007 ), expected utility function.

Ehrlich ( 1996 ) defines that a person may decide to divide his/her total working time between criminal activities ( \(b_{{\mathrm{crime}}}\) ) under uncertain conditions and legitimate activities ( \(b_{{\mathrm{legal}}}\) ) under certain conditions. The income generated from devoting specific time to legal activities is denoted by \(W\left( {b_{{\mathrm{legal}}}} \right)\) . On the contrary, the income generated from devoting specific time to illegal activities is denoted by \(W\left( {b_{{\mathrm{crime}}}} \right)\) depending on the probability of being arrested p and not arrested ( 1–p ). If the person involves in both legal and illegal activities simultaneously and he/she has an initial wealth \(W_{{\mathrm{Initial}}}\) , then the income obtained from both legal and illegal activities and not being apprehended is given by:

On the contrary, if the person is convicted and arrested he/she has to pay a penalty \(Y_2\) depending on whether he/she is devoted to the criminal activities \(Z_{{\mathrm{crime}}}\left( {b_{{\mathrm{crime}}}} \right)\) . Under such circumstances the income generated is:

The objective of the individual is to maximise his/her expected utility by dividing his/her entire time into legal and illegal activities. Thus, the expected utility can be presented by the following equation:

To determine the optimal time to be devoted for criminal activities ( \(b_{{\mathrm{crime}}}\) ) we determine the first-order-condition as follows:

where \(w_{{\mathrm{legal}}} = \frac{{dW_{{\mathrm{legal}}}}}{{db_{{\mathrm{crime}}}}}\) , \(w_{{\mathrm{crime}}} = \frac{{dW_{{\mathrm{crime}}}}}{{db_{{\mathrm{crime}}}}}\) , \(z_{{\mathrm{crime}}} = \frac{{dZ_{{\mathrm{crime}}}}}{{db_{{\mathrm{crime}}}}}\) and \(U^\prime (Y_i) = \frac{{dU\left( {Y_i} \right)}}{{db_{{\mathrm{crime}}}}}\forall i = {\mathrm{crime}},{\mathrm{legal}}\)

We assume that the concerned person is a risk averter and thus the person copes with both legal and illegal activities simultaneously. This implies equilibrium is ensured by the condition \(U^\prime \left( {Y_1} \right) = U^\prime \left( {Y_2} \right)\) given that equal wealth is generated from legal and illegal activities, that is, \(Y_1 = Y_2\) . Therefore the necessary condition to devote time to illegal activities is given by the equation:

Díez-Ticio and Brande´s ( 2001 ), mentioned the propensity of criminality can only be reduced in society through a reduction in economic inequality. The economic paradigm discloses two types of incentives for crime, viz., positive and negative (Domínguez et al., 2015 ). The negative incentives will demoralise and prevent criminals to commit a crime. On the contrary, positive incentives will encourage delinquents to choose legitimate alternatives (Ehrlich, 1973 ; Domínguez et al., 2015 ).

Stationarity checking

The stochastic process must be stationary for the reliability and validity of the result. The prediction and policy prescription based on the non-stationary stochastic process is not reliable. The checking of “ stationarity ” of the time series variable is the primal concern for the time series analysis. This is particularly because stationarity of the time series variable ensures universality of the estimated result as well as applicability of the variable for prediction and policy prescription. Two non-parametric tests, viz., “ Augmented Dicky Fuller Test (ADF)” and “ Phillips Perron Test (PP)” are available for this purpose. However, we will conclude about “ stationarity ” of the stochastic process based on the “ Phillips-Perron (PP)” test. As the test is more robust for testing heteroscedasticity in error variance (Phillips and Perron, 1988 ) and has greater powers than the “Augmented Dickey and Fuller (ADF)” test (Banerjee et al., 1993 ). Moreover, the test is free from the specification of the lag length, which is mandatory in the case of the ADF technique (Debnath and Roy, 2012 ).

Test equations in two cases are presented below.

Augmented Dicky Fuller Test:

Phillips Perron Test:

In both cases the hypothesis to be tested is \(H_0:\delta = 0\) and the corresponding test statistic is

Structural break and growth rate

The implication of the “ Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act ” (POCSO) (2012), for revamping children’s security in India can only be explored by considering structural breaks together with analysing the growth of POCSO incidences. The study period for the empirical analysis is from 2001 to 2019. As the natures of crimes against children have changed over time we have included only those crime heads, which are common during the entire study period as well as in POCSO Act (2012). This practice enables us to ensure uniformity of the data and allows us to conduct time series analysis. The selection of the study period is guided by the availability of data. The study period is susceptible to various policy changes for the “ Protection of Women and Child Rights ”. The “Ministry of Women and Child Development” has been administrating various special laws focusing on women and child protection. It is noteworthy that India is a signatory to the “ United Nations Convention on Right of Child (UNCRC) ” since 1992. In adherence to its commitment to ensuring child rights, the Government of India has framed different national policies to protect child rights from time to time, viz., “The Commissions for Protection of Child Right (CPCR) Act, 2005”, “The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006”, “The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012”, “Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 2015”. The Government of India has also framed the National Policy for Children, 2013 and the National Plan of Action, 2016 (Ministry of Women and Child Development, Press Information Bureau, 2019). Naturally one can expect to have structural breaks during this period. The existence of the structural break makes the normal time series analysis and growth rate calculation inapplicable. Consequently, the identification of the switching point is essential and an appropriate growth rate can only be obtained by calculating the same for different regimes as depicted by the switching points. The identification of the break or switching point should be facilitated by some statistical criterion, viz., “ Chow Test ” (Chow, 1960 ), “ CUSUM ” and “ CUSUMQ ” tests. As “ Chow Test ” is criticised for the arbitrariness problem, we have utilised the “CUSUMQ” test. Brown et al. ( 1975 ), introduces the CUSUM and CUSUMSQ tests for stability checking in parameter. Based on the scaled recursive residuals the break points are identified by the CUSUM and CUSUMSQ tests. The identification of the break points is also facilitated by the Chow ( 1960 ) tests. However, the greatest advantage of the CUSUM and CUSUMSQ tests is that these tests do not require prior knowledge of the point where the hypothesised structural switching points are expected to occur. The mathematical underpinning of the CUSUMQ test is as follows:

We consider a generalised linear regression model as

where x is a ( k  ×  1 ) vector with unit first element and ( k–1 ) are the observed value of the independent variables at time t . \(\beta _t\) is the ( k  ×  1 ) vectors of parameters. \(u_t\) is IID and \(u_t \sim N(0,\sigma ^2)\) . The recursive residuals are defined as:

where \(X_r = \left[ {x_1,x_2,....\,,x_r} \right]\) and \(y_r^\prime = \left[ {y_1,y_2,....\,,y_r} \right]\) and \(\hat \beta _{r - 1}\) is the vector of OLS estimates of the regression Eq. ( 9 )

The test statistic corresponding to CUSUMQ test is developed based on the recursive residuals are defined in (10). The corresponding test statistic is given as follows:

where \(\hat \sigma ^2 = \frac{{\mathop {\sum}\limits_{t = 1}^T {(y_t - x_t^\prime \hat \beta _r)^2} }}{{T - k}}\)

Under the null hypothesis that the parameters are constant, that is,

\(H_0:\beta _t = \beta\) with \(\sigma _t^2 = \sigma _t^2\) \(\forall t = 1,2,....\,,T\) Eq. ( 11 ) follows a distribution with parameters r   –   k and T   –   k . In the conventional CUSUMQ test we use symmetric error bands and the corresponding pairs of lines are given by \(\left[ { \pm critical\,value + \frac{{(r - k)}}{{(T - k)}}} \right]\) . The critical value is obtained from the Durbin ( 1969 ), table.

After the identification of the switching points, the growth rate will be calculated following the “ Poirier’s Spline function approach (Poirier & Garber, 1974 )”. Poirier’s Spline function approach (Poirier & Garber, 1974 ), helps us to determine the trend in the growth of the variable of interest in different regimes.

Assuming a linear time trend, the postulated model is presented as follows:

where, \(t_1\) is the switching point.

We next define following variables:

By reparameterisize we rewrite the function as follows:

For the i th (i  =  1, 2) regime the growth rate in percentages will be obtained by using the following formula:

where \(\beta _1 = \gamma _1\) and \(\beta _2 = \gamma _1 + \gamma _2\) . The Eq. ( 15 ) helps in computing the growth rate for different regimes. Based on the change in economic policy or structure we may obtain more than one structural break point and accordingly, the corresponding model for analysing the growth rate will be modified. The growth rate for the entire study period will be computed by utilising the following equations:

Regression analysis

One of the objectives of the study is to explore the implications of the improvement in the “ quality of life ” and “ Judiciary and Public Safety Score (JPSS) ” in revamping children’s safety and security. This objective is explored based on the cross-sectional information of bigger Indian states’ on a list of relevant variables, including “PQLI” as one of the regressors. Another interesting regressor is the JPSS , which is used to portray the law and order condition of a state. This score is calculated using a number of indicators that reflect a state’s law and order situation (for more information, see Table 1 ). The selection of the sample period and the Indian states is strictly guided by data availability. The list of the regressors along with their definitions and data sources are presented in Table 1 . It is noteworthy that the regresand here is the rate of recorded POCSO cases. We didn’t pursue panel regression here because of the non-availability and decadal nature of data. The specified regression equation is:

where, x is a ( 1XK ) vector of regressor and \(\beta = (\beta _1,\beta _2,.....\,,\beta _K)^\prime\) is a ( KX1 ) vector. To incorporate an intercept term we will simply assume that \(x_1 \equiv 1\) , as this assumption makes interpreting the conditions easier (Wooldridge, 2016 ). y is a scalar. The equation-(17) can be estimated by using OLS method. The OLS estimators will be Best Linear Unbiased Estimators (BLUE) iff all the “ Gauss-Markov ” assumptions are satisfied.

It is noteworthy that “ quality of life ” here is proxied by the “ Physical Quality of Life Index (PQLI) ”. The index was developed based on Morris ( 1980 ) (see Tables 9 and 10 in the appendices for details). Thus, PQLI is calculated by using the following formula:

The regression analysis is conducted based on the latest available information of all concerned regressors as well as regressand (Bhaumik, 2015 ).

However, the regression analysis to explore the determining factors of POCSO incidences across Indian states will be meaningful if there is variation in the reported POCSO incidences. Thus, before conducting regression analysis, the appropriateness of such analysis is tested by performing non-parametric ANOVA.

The present study is entirely based on published secondary data. The major data sources are “ National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) ”, “ Census of India (2011) ”, “ Sample Registration System (SRS) ”, “ Central Statistics Office (CSO)” , “ Ministry of Human Resource Development ”, “ Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Government of India ” and “ National Sample Survey Office (NSSO).” The crime statistics in the present paper have mainly been compiled from NCRB for different years. It is noteworthy that concerning the “Incidents of sexual offences against children”, we have considered statistics related to the crime heads, which are common in the entire study period. As such, we have considered only those statistics related to child sexual abuse that are included later in the POCSO Act (2012). We did not include all crimes committed against children in this paper. By summing some specific crime heads, we have calculated “Incidents of sexual offences against children” for this paper to ensure uniformity in the data to facilitate the time series analysis. On the contrary, the empirical analysis of the second objective is facilitated by various regressors, including a composite index, the “Physical Quality of Life Index (PQLI”),” which is compiled from various published sources. The composite scores of “ Judiciary and Public Safety Score ( JPSS )” reflecting the law and order condition of any state are obtained from the “ Good Governance Index, Assessment of State of Governance 2020–21 ” report. The detailed descriptions of the variables together with their sources are presented in Table 1 .

The variables utilised for delineating the PQLI are narrated in Table 9 in the appendices. It is noteworthy that the exploration of the first objective is executed by considering the “ total number of reported cases of sexual offences against children, viz., Rape (Section 376 IPC), Unnatural Offence (Section 377 IPC), Assault on Women (Girl Child) with Intent to Outrage her Modesty (section 354 IPC), Sexual Harassment (Section 354A IPC), etc .,” during the time period 2001 to 2019. To ensure uniformity of data we have considered selected crime heads, which are common to entire study period and also included in the POCSO Act (2012). The uniformity of crime heads authorises us to conduct time series analysis over the study period. Moreover, we have considered here “Incidents of sexual offences against children” for the time series analysis and not the rate to avoid further normalisation. The “Incidents of sexual offences against children” are calculated by summing different crime heads committed against children. These crime heads are common for the entire study period as well as also included in the POCSO Act (2012) (see Table 1 for more information). The choice of the sample period is dictated by data availability. On the contrary, pin-pointing the socio-economic determinants of the “ Rate of cases reported under POCSO ” is accomplished by considering the cross-sectional data across Indian states. Because of the cross-sectional data we have considered the “ Rate of cases reported under POCSO ” as regressor and not the actual incidences to facilitate cross-sectional analysis. The empirical analysis of the second objective is facilitated by the latest available information for the twenty bigger states in India (Bhaumik, 2015 ). The selection of the states and the sample period is purely based on the availability of relevant information on the concerned variables.

Results and Discussion

In this section, we will present the empirical results related to the objectives obtained by applying the said methodology and the possible reasons behind such empirical results.

Summary statistics Sexual Offences Against Children

Sexual offences against children (SOAC) have been a hidden problem in India and are largely ignored both in social discourse as well as by the criminal justice system. Table 2 presents the summary statistics of the sexual offences committed against children over the time period from 2001 to 2019.

The table reveals that the mean incidence of SOAC is 13097.42 while the mean rate of the same is ~3%. Considering the huge population of India, this 3% figure is amounted to more than 13,000 incidences. The minimum incidence is a petrified figure (2113), and the corresponding maximum incidences are more than 47,000. As we are considering only the Indian scenario concerning SOAC, the impact of the POCSO act is analysed considering the “ Incidences of Sexual Offences against Children ”.

The incidences of sexual offences against children over the time period are also presented graphically in Fig. 1 .

Authors’ own presentation based on NCRB data.

The figure discloses a sharp increase up to 2013 and then, in 2014, it decreased marginally. In the next 2 years, India witnessed a sharp escalation of the incidences of sexual offences against children. In 2017, India witnessed a marginal decline in incidences. However, this decrease only lasts a year before the incidences rise again until 2019. The extreme fluctuations of the “ Incidences of Sexual Offences against Children ” indicating that there may be switching points in the study period and further investigation is required to understand the influence of different act legislated by the Indian government time-to-time for the protection of children.

Unit-root test

The stationarity of the time series is tested by using both the “Augmented Dickey and Fuller (ADF)” and the “Phillips-Perron (PP)” tests. However, to conclude about the stationarity of the stochastic process, we emphasise the “Phillips-Perron” test as it has greater power than the ADF test (Banerjee et al., 1993 ). The test result of the “ Incidents of sexual offences against children ” is presented in Table 3 .

The table reveals that we must accept the null hypothesis of unit root at the level. This means the variable is non-stationary and to make it stationary we consider the first difference of the variable. Further application of both tests on the first difference ensures the stationarity of the concerned variable. Therefore, for the analysis of the implication of the POCSO Act (2012), we must precede with a first difference as the differencing makes the stochastic process stationary. However, because of differencing, we lost one observation. Thus, the empirical investigation of the first objective will be executed by considering the “ Incidents of sexual offences against children ” for the time period 2002 to 2019. The apriori conditions for time series analysis, such as uniformity of statistical information and stationarity, are ensured, and thus we can proceed to structural break analysis.

Structural breaker switching points

Figure 1 discloses that there are fluctuations in the incidences of sexual offences against children in India. Moreover, the results related to PP and ADF tests suggest that the stochastic process is non-stationary at the level. Figure 1 and Table 3 together provide evidence to suspect that there may be structural breaks in the series. The structural break appears when there is an unexpected shift in the series. The possible reasons for that may be a change in the policy or structure of the economy, etc. In the present paper, the identification of the switching point of the time series variable is facilitated by the application of the “CUSUM squares test (CUSUMQ)” because of its superiority over the “Chow test”. When the switching points are unknown, the “CUSUM squares test (CUSUMQ)” is thought to be the most suitable method for determining the same. Figure 2 presents the test result of the CUSUMQ test.

Authors’ own calculation based on NCRB data.

The CUSUMQ test result reveals that the series has two break points, viz., in 2008 and 2015 and the result is significant at a 5% level. These two switching points divide our entire study period into three regimes viz., Regime-I (2002 to 2008), Regime-II (2009 to 2015), and Regime-III (2016 to 2019). Therefore, based on the switching point as dictated by the CUSUMQ test, we have divided our study period into three regimes. The critical question is, why do such unexpected changes occur with SOAC cases? In search of this question, we came across that the “Ministry of Women and Child Development” has been administering various special laws relating to women and children, such as “The Commissions for Protection of Child Right (CPCR) Act, 2005”, “The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006”, and “The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012”. Any policy change to protect children from any form of sexual abuse will take time to become effective. Consequently, if any policy change materialises in some period of time, say, 2005–2006, its implications will be felt after 1 or 2 years. Therefore, the first break point we obtain may be because of the influence of “The Commissions for Protection of Child Right (CPCR) Act, 2005”, “The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006”, and because of “The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012”, the second switching point appears. This is because although the act was passed in the Indian parliament in 2012, the implementation of the act takes time and was executed fully from 2016 onwards. NCRB also provides POCSO statistics from 2016 only. Consequently, the implications of these acts on children’s protection can be analysed by calculating the growth rate of SOAC for different time regimes by satiating the switching points.

Growth rate of incidents of sexual offences against children in India

We now consider the exploration of our first objective—the implication of the POCSO act in controlling the incidences of sexual offences against children in India. Based on the CUSUMQ test, we have divided our entire study period into three regimes, viz., Regime-I (2002 to 2008), Regime-II (2009 to 2015), and Regime-III (2016 to 2019). The third regime will enable us to analyse the implication of the POCSO act in revamping children’s paradise in India. To investigate the objective, we separately estimate the growth rate of SOAC incidences during these three different regimes, and the empirical result is shown in Table 4 . The estimations of the growth rates for different regimes are derived from Poirier’s Spline function approach (Poirier & Garber, 1974 ).

The growth rate of SOAC in Regime-I (2002 to 2008) was 1.219, a positive but controlled figure. As mentioned earlier, the Regime-II (2009–2015) may be expected to reflect the impact of two laws, viz., “ The Commissions for Protection of Child Right (CPCR) Act, 2005 ” and “ The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 ”, that have been administrated by “The Ministry of Women and Child Development” in 2005 and 2006, respectively. Unfortunately, our empirical findings indicate that these two laws do not protect children from “sexual offences.” The growth rate of SOAC during Regime-II escalated to 4.681. This may be because perhaps these laws are not focused on giving protection to children from sexual abuse. The former one was addressing the protection of children’s rights and the focus of the latter one was to forbid child marriage. None of these acts focus on terminating the sexual abuse of a child . Consequently, none of the act becomes king pin for minimising the sexual abuse of a child. On the contrary, on May 22, 2012, the Parliament of India passed the “ Protection of Children against Sexual Offence Bill, 2011 ” concerning the sexual abuse of a child (Bajpai, 2018 ) and, based on that, the “ Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 ” was enacted. The act is centred on ensuring a strong legal framework for protecting children from sexual offences of any kind, including rape, sexual harassment, and pornography (Ministry of Women and Child Development, 2013 ). Consequently, the “ POCSO Act, 2012 ”, becomes the first safeguard law for protecting children from sexual offences. The act was enacted in 2012, so we can expect the implication of this policy change to materialise from 2015 onwards. The NCRB provides recorded POCSO incidences, victims, and rates from 2016 onward. Therefore, we can expect the implication of the “ POCSO Act, 2012 ” to materialise in the Regime-III . Legitimately, the empirical result suggests that the “ POCSO Act, 2012 ” helps in reducing the sexual abuse of children . The growth rate of “ sexual offences against children ” in Regime-III declined to −4.611. Therefore, we can conclude that the “ POCSO Act, 2012 ” helps to reduce the sexual abuse of children and revamp children’s safety and security.

After exploring the implication of the “ POCSO Act, 2012 ”, in revamping children’s paradise, we next explore if there is any variation in reported POCSO incidences across Indian states or not. If variation exists, then only there organisation of the factors responsible for the successful implementation of the “ POCSO Act, 2012 ” across Indian states will be meaningful.

Variation in POCSO incidences across Indian states

To understand the variation in the “ Rate of cases reported under POCSO ” across Indian states, we performed a non-parametric ANOVA test considering 20 bigger Indian states for the time period 2016 to 2019. Table 5 presents the test result.

The table shows that the 1% threshold of statistical significance rejects the null hypothesis, H 0 : no inter-state variation , in the “Rate of instances reported under POCSO” across Indian states. The high F -statistic’s value of 19.417 demonstrates that there is considerable inter-state variation in the “Rate of instances reported under POCSO”. This result elucidates that there must be some determining factors for the inter-state variations. This test then authorised us to perform regression analysis in an attempt to identify the factors influencing the “ Rate of cases reported under POCSO ”.

Factors influencing the rate of reported POCSO cases

We next consider the pin-pointing of the role of PQLI along with other regressors in reducing reported POCSO cases for Indian states. The “ Ordinary Least Squares ” is our estimation technique, and thus the post-estimation of the validation of the OLS is also verified in this paper. The apriori condition for cross-sectional analysis, representative data, is primarily scrutinised by the descriptive statistics of the regression variables, which confirms the appropriateness of the regression analysis (see Table 11 in appendices). Table 6 presents the regression result.

A close perusal of the table divulges that the percentage of SC population, 0–19 Sex-ratio, Urbanisation, POCSO Percentage Share of Known Persons Cases to Total Cases, Secondary Gross Enrolment Ratio, PQLI, Judiciary and Public Safety Score (JPSS), and Employment relate male migration (Male migration) have a Significant footprint on the rate of reported POCSO cases . The regressors SC and ST are both positively related to POCSO . Historically, it is patently true that the lower castes, vis-à-vis weaker sections of society, are always as of target for any form of crime (Bower, 2003 ; Bywaters, et al., 2016 ; Sexton and Sobelson, 2018 ).

Here, we are also getting the reverberation of the paten fact. It is noteworthy that the estimated coefficient for ST is not statistically significant. The negative role of the JPSS demonstrates that enhancement in the law and order condition in the state results in the reduction of POCSO incidences. The result is pronounced. The improved law and order condition reflects the state’s efficacy in protecting its citizens. The state can provide a safe environment for normal daily life activities. Consequently, improvement in the JPSS fore shortens POCSO incidences in particular and crime as a whole. The absence of the implication of such an independent variable on POCSO cases in earlier studies prevents us from presenting any earlier study in support of our findings. The negative and significant value of the estimated coefficient 0–19 Sex-ratio enables us to pin-point that a favourable sex-ratio at any age will help to minimise any form of sexual offence.The favourable sex-ratio may give the voice less a voice and make it possible to recognise sexual offences, including sexual abuse of children (Kansal, 2016 ; Maity & Sinha, 2018 ; Maity, 2019 ). Based on our research, it is clear that most often it is a close family who abuses a child, the corresponding estimated coefficient, 0.438 is significant at 1% level. The well-established truth is confirmed by this finding. According to a research, the victims are familiar with 90% of the perpetrators (The Times of India, March 1, 2018 ; Maity, 2022 ). We draw two paradoxical results from our regression analysis, viz., an increase in both urbanisation and secondary gross enrolment ratio (elementary GER turns out statistically insignificant), and increase in the reported POCSO incidences. This may be because lower-class residents in urban regions frequently work in low-wage, ad hoc occupations. Even the primary female members need to work to pay the bills. Children become an easy target for any type of sexual assault when their parents are not present. Additionally, young kids are sometimes hired as domestic an assistant, which renders them more susceptible to this kind of crime. Education improves view points and gives the voice less a platform. The positive correlation between SGER and POCSO occurrences may be due to this. Here, we solely take into account recorded POCSO incidents. Because of their increased knowledge and awareness, the parents were eventually able to report the crime to the police after overcoming a variety of social stigmas, prejudices, and beliefs. The most interesting result is the relationship between POCSO-reported cases and PQLI. The estimated coefficient is not only statistically significant but also the sign of the coefficient is desirable. The estimated coefficient envisages a juxta position of the “ quality of life ” and “ reported POCSO cases ”. Consequently, the estimated coefficient allows us to conclude that by enhancing the “ quality of life ”, it is possible to deplete “ reported POCSO cases ” and revamp children’s paradise on earth. Finally, employment-related male migration is found to influence the reported POCSO cases positively. The result reflects the Indian societal structure where in the male is the undisputed leader of the family (Maity & Sinha, 2018 ; Maity, 2019 ). When the family’s main bread winner moves to another location, state, or country, the female members of the family become easy prey for others. Under such a scenario, the little one becomes more exposed to crime reported under POCSO. Only by speaking out against such crimes by other family members, including females, can such incidents be avoided. The absence of earlier literature concerning this prevents us from presenting any earlier study in support of our study. The table also presents the “ beta coefficient ”. A perusal of “ standardised coefficients ” discloses the paramount factor for reducing “ reported POCSO cases” Is the “quality of life” , followed by “ JPSS ” and a favourable “0 – 19 Sex-ratio ”. On the contrary, the “ standardised coefficients “reveal that “ POCSO known person ” and “ urbanisation ” is the most important factor in enhancing “ reported POCSO cases ”. The possible reasons for such results are explained earlier.

The testaments of the five basic assumptions which are necessary for the OLS estimators to be BLUE are examined thereafter.

The “ Adjusted Coefficient of Determination ”, \(\bar R^2\) is a measure of “ goodness of fit ” in a multiple regression model. The rule of thumb is higher the value better the fit. In the present model, \(\bar R^2\) is 0.8664, means best fit. The model is also well-specified, with a high F -statistic of 6.67 and a Prob >  F of 0.0062.

The normality of the error term is the primary condition for the OLS estimators to be BLUE. Graphical and statistical verification of the normality of the error term is performed here. For statistical verification of normality, we have used the “Shapiro–Wilk W -test for normal data.” The results are depicted graphically in Figure 3 and statistically in Table 7 .

Authors’ own calculation.

The null hypothesis of the test is that the corresponding distribution is normal. As disclosed in Table 7 , the large p -value (0.11) indicates the acceptance of \(\hat u_i\) is normally distributed. Thus, the normality of the residuals is established.

Heteroskedasticity

Based on the cross-sectional information, an empirical inspection of the determinants of the rate of reported POCSO cases across Indian states is performed. Accordingly, non-constancy of the error variance is a common phenomenon. To ensure homoscedasticity of the error variance, we conduct the Breusch-Pagan/Cook-Weisberg test for heteroskedasticity and Cameron and Trivedi’s decomposition of the IM-test. Here,

\(H_0\) : Constant Variance ,

The test results are presented in Table 7 ensures constancy of error variance or homoscedaticity .

Multicollinearity

Only in the absence of multicollinearity can independent effects of the regressors on the regressand be obtained. The Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) of the regression helps us to confirm the absence of multicollinearity. The corresponding result is presented in Table 8 .

Both VIF and the tolerance (1/VIF) are to be checked for the confirmation of the absence of multicollinearity. The table shows that for all regressors, the VIF and the tolerance (1/VIF) are within the prescribed level and thus corroborates the absence of multicollinearity .

Consequently, the OLS estimators presented in Table 6 are BLUE, and the conclusions drawn from these estimators are universal.

Conclusion and policy implications

The present study pivot around two research questions, viz., firstly, does the “ Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act” (PCSO) (2012), contribute to reducing “ sexual abuse of children ” in India? Secondly, does the escalation of “ Quality of life ” also entail a reduction of “sexual abuse of children”? Our empirical findings authorise us to conclude affirmatively in both cases. Based on our empirical findings we can suggest the following policy prescriptions to fore shorten “ child sexual abuse ” in India.

Firstly , improvement of “ quality of life ” will benefit everyone in society and that is the rudimentary reason for the negative sign. Improvement of the “ quality of life ” also ensures child protection together with the up-gradation of human capital. This yields in the enhancement of socio-economic conditions and that results in enhancing the safety and security of all. Therefore, both the state and the central governments must focus to improve the “ quality of life ” of their citizens. Secondly , the positive sign of the estimated coefficient of the “ secondary gross enrolment ratio ” encourages us to prescribe that emphasis should be placed on the enrolment of children in schools and encourage them for continuing education. Education will empower them, equip them to recognise “ good and bad touch ”, give them to voice against any “kind of sexual offence” without fear, and ultimately empower them to break “ irrational social stigma ”. In fact, only education empowers them to recognise and protest when they are the victims of “ sexual abuse ” by the “ known person ” Hence, only by encouraging parents to enrolment and continue of education of their children, including girl children, it is possible to fore shorten “ reported POCSO cases ” one day. Thirdly , recognising that lower cast people are soft targets of crime including “ child sexual abuse ”, a special provision in the law is demanded to protect these people. In fact, the “Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989”,is there to protect SC and ST people. However, the mere existence of such acts does not guarantee the protection of SC and ST people. Only detecting and punishing such offences on a fast-track basis can foreshorten such crimes. The concentration of power among the high-caste people is one of the sources of such crimes. The distribution of powers, especially political power may furnish some solution. Identifying this, the Government of India reserved certain numbers of political positions for specific groups of the population including “ Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes ”. However, without changing the mentality of people, it is not possible to stop these cast-based crimes. Fourthly , the scenario of law and order condition of any state is proxied by the “Judiciary and Public Safety Score”. A higher value of JPSS indicates improved law and order conditions in any state. This means greater protection for all. By improving law and order conditions the concerned state will be able to provide an appropriate environment for social and economic activities. Accordingly, irrespective of the JPSS status Indian states are recommended to improve their law-and-order conditions. Finally , recognising the positive correlation between “ reported POCSO cases ” and “ urbanisation ” it is patently true that “child protection” is an emergent issue in urban India. In this respect, the local-state-central governments need to work in one line appropriately.

In the present study the pin-pointing of the determinants of the “reported POCSO act” is conducted by considering cross-sectional data. However, such a study can be better understood by considering panel data. Unfortunately, because of the unavailability of such statistics, we cannot pursue this. This can be considered a limitation of the study. However, based on the availability of the data, this extension is a future plan.

Data availability

The present study is based on secondary data. All relevant data are available at free of cost. The data sources are mentioned in the text.

TimesofIndia,15/04/2018

Ali S (2019) Death penalty in POCSO Act imperils child victims of sexual offences. Retrieve from: https://www.indiaspend.com/death-penalty-in-pocso-act-may-imperil-child-victims-of-sexual-offences/ . Accessed 14 May 2020

Bajpai A (2018) Child rights in India: Law, policy, and practice. Oxford University Press

Banerjee A, Dolado J, Galbraith JH, Hendry DF (1993). Co-integration, error-correction, and the econometric analysis of non-stationary data: advanced texts in econometrics. Oxford University Press, Oxford

Barth J, Bermetz L, Heim E, Trelle S, Tonia T (2013) The current prevalence of child sexual abuse worldwide: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Pub Health 58(3):469–483

Article   CAS   Google Scholar  

Becker GS (1968) Crime and punishment: an economic approach. J Polit Econ 76(2):169–217

Article   Google Scholar  

Behere PB, Mulmule AN (2013) Sexual abuse in 8-year-old child: Where do we stand legally? Indian J Psychol Med 35(2):203–205

Bhaumik SK (2015) Principles of econometrics: a modern approach using eviews. OUP Catalogue

Books SW (2016) Regression with Stata. Chapter 2-Regression Diagnostics. UCLA: Academic Technology Services, Statistical Consulting Group. Retrieve from: https://www.coursehero.com Accessed 11 Aug 2016

Bower C (2003) The relationship between child abuse and poverty. Agenda 17(56):84–87

Google Scholar  

Brown RL, Durbin J, Evans JM (1975) Techniques for testing the constancy of regression relationships over time. J Royal Stat Soc: Series B (Methodological) 37(2):149–163

MathSciNet   MATH   Google Scholar  

Bywaters P, Bunting L, Davidson G, Hanratty J, Mason W, McCartan C, Steils N (2016) The relationship between poverty, child abuse and neglect: an evidence review. Joseph Rowntree Foundation, York

Chahine EF (2014) Child abuse and its relation to quality of life of male and female children. Procedia Soc Behav Sci 159:161–168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.12.350

Chandramouli C, General R (2011) Census of India. Rural urban distribution of population, provisional population total. Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, New Delhi, India

Children in India-Statistical Information (2022) Retrieve from: https://toybank.in/children-in-india-statistical-information . Accessed 05 Jul 2022

Chiu GR, Lutfey KE, Litman HJ, Link CL, Hall SA, McKinlay JB (2013) Prevalence and overlap of childhood and adult physical, sexual, and emotional abuse: a descriptive analysis of results from the Boston Area Community Health (BACH) survey. Violence Vict 28(3):381–402

Chow GC (1960) Tests of equality between sets of coefficients in two linear regressions. Econ: J Econ Soc 28(3):591–605

Chowdhuri S, Mukhopadhayay P (2016) A study of the socio-demographic profile of the persons accused under POCSO act 2012. Int J Health Res Med Leg Pract 2:50–55

Collin-Vézina D, Daigneault I, Hébert M (2013) Lessons learned from child sexual abuse research: Prevalence, outcomes, and preventive strategies. Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health 7(1):1–9

Crime in Indian (2018) Statistics, Volume-I. National Crime Record Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs. Government of India, New Delhi. Retrieve from: https://ncrb.gov.in/

Crime in Indian (2019) National Crime Record Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs. Government of India, New Delhi. Retrieve from: https://ncrb.gov.in/

Crime in Indian (2021) National Crime Record Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs. Government of India, New Delhi. Retrieve from: https://ncrb.gov.in/

Debnath A, Roy N (2012) Structural Change and Inter-sectoral Linkages. Econ Polit Week 47(6):73

Díez-Ticio A, Brande´s E (2001) Delincuencia y accio´n policial. Un enfoque econo´mico. Revista Economı´a Aplicada 9(27):5–33

Domínguez JP, Sánchez IMG, Domínguez LR (2015) Relationship between police efficiency and crime rate: a worldwide approach. Eur J Law Econ 39(1):203–223

Downing NR, Akinlotan M, Thornhill CW (2021) The impact of childhood sexual abuse and adverse childhood experiences on adult health related quality of life. Child Abuse Neglect 120:105181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105181

Durbin J (1969) Tests for serial correlation in regression analysis based on the periodogram of least-squares residuals. Biometrika 56(1):1–15

Article   MathSciNet   MATH   Google Scholar  

Ehrlich I (1996) Crime, punishment, and the market for offenses. J Econ Perspect 10(1):43–67

Ehrlich I (1973) Participation in illegitimate activities: A theoretical and empirical investigation. J Pol Econ 81(3):521–565

Fraser JA, Mathews B, Walsh K, Chen L, Dunne M (2010) Factors influencing child abuse and neglect recognition and reporting by nurses: a multivariate analysis. Int J Nurs Stud 47(2):146–153. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2009.05.015

Haque MA, Janson S, Moniruzzaman S, Rahman AKM, Islam SS, Mashreky SR, Eriksson UB (2019) Child maltreatment portrayed in Bangladeshi newspapers. Child Abuse Rev. https://doi.org/10.1002/car.2606 . https://indianexpress.com/article/india/crime-against-kids-a-third-still-under-pocso-8119689/ https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/7-pocso-cases-every-month-90-of-accused-known-to-child/articleshow/63118909.cms

Kanpur UP (2020) The Tribune, November 17. 6-year-old girl found dead in Kanpur was gang-raped; heart, lungs taken out to perform black magic

Kansal I (2016) Child sexual abuse in india: socio-legal issues. Int J Sci Res Sci Technol 2(2):1–4

Kartik KK (2020) The New Indian Express, January, 31. Number of POCSO cases in Karnataka moved up in 2019

Krishnakumar P, Satheesan K, Geeta MG, Sureshkumar K (2014) Prevalence and spectrum of sexual abuse among adolescents in Kerala, South India. Indian J Pediatr 81(8):770–774

Kshirsagar J (2020) POSCO-an effective act of the era. Supremo Amicus 18:428

Maity S (2019) Performance of controlling rape in India: efficiency estimates across states. J Int Women’s Stud 20(7):180–204

Maity S (2022) Escalation of police efficiency diminishes POCSO incidences—myth or reality? Evidence from Indian states. Int J Child Maltreat Res Policy Pract 5(1):155–180

Maity S, Sinha A (2018) Interstate disparity in the performance of controlling crime against women in India: efficiency estimate across states. Int J Educ Econ Dev 9(1):57–79

Miller KL, Dove MK, Miller SM (2007) A counselor’s guide to child sexual abuse: Prevention, reporting and treatment strategies. In: Paper based on a program presented at the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision Conference, Columbus, OH

Ministry of Women and Child Development (2013) Model Guidelines under Section 39 of The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. Retrieve from: https://wcd.nic.in/sites/default/files/POCSO-ModelGuidelines.pdf . Accessed 12 Feb 2020

Moirangthem S, Kumar NC, Math SB (2015) Child sexual abuse: Issues & concerns. Indian J Med Res 142(1):1

Morris MD (1978) A physical quality of life index. Urban Ecol 3(3):225–240. https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-4009(78)90015-3

Morris MD (1980) The Physical Quality of Life Index (PQLI). Dev Digest 18(1):95

CAS   Google Scholar  

Pallathadka H, Kumar S, Kumar V (2021) A socio-legal analysis of child sexual abuse in India. Des Eng 2021(9):1768–1775

Phillips PC, Perron P (1988) Testing for a unit root in time series regression. Biometrika 75(2):335–346

Poirier DJ, Garber SG (1974) The determinants of aerospace profit rates 1951–1971. South Econ J 41:228–238

Rubin ML, Thelen MH (1996) Factors influencing believing and blaming in reports of child sexual abuse: Survey of a community sample. J Child Sex Abuse 5(2):81–100. https://doi.org/10.1300/J070v05n02_05

Scroll Staff (2020) The Indian Express, August 26. Uttar Pradesh: 17-year-old girl raped, murdered in Lakhimpur Kheri; no arrests so far

Sexton DL Jr., Sobelson B (2018) Examining the connection between poverty and child maltreatment and neglect. September 10, 2018. Retrieve from: https://militaryfamilieslearningnetwork.org . Accessed 18 Dec 2019

Soondas A (2018) The Times of India, April, 15. Kathua rape case: ‘Not just me, the nation lost a daughter’. Retrieve from: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com . Accessed 25 Jun 2018

Staff Reporter, New Delhi (2018) 7 POCSO cases every month, 90% of accused known to child Retrieve from: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/63118909.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst . Accessed 18 Dec 2019

Tamilarasi B, Kanimozhi M, Kumari J (2020) Effectiveness of planned teaching programme on knowledge regarding pocso act among school teachers. TNNMC J Med Surg Nurs 8(1):36–39

UNICEF (2022) Retrieve from: https://www.unicef.org/protection/sexual-violence-against-children . Accessed 28 Jun 2022

vonNeumann J, Morgenstern O (2007) Theory of games and economic behavior. Princeton University Press

Wihbey J (2011) Global prevalence of child sexual abuse. Journal Resour 15(4):25–30

Wooldridge JM (2016) Introductory econometrics: a modern approach. Nelson Education

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research did not receive any specific grant from any funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Department of Economics, Vidyasagar University, Midnapore, West Bengal, India

Shrabanti Maity

Department of French, Assam University, Silchar, Assam, India

Pronobesh Ranjan Chakraborty

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Contributions

SM, conceived of the study, participated in its design and coordination, performed the statistical analyses, and drafted the manuscript; PRC, helped to draft and revised the manuscript. Both the authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shrabanti Maity .

Ethics declarations

Competing interests.

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethical approval

This study does not involve human participants.

Informed consent

Additional information.

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Tables 9 , 10 , 11

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ .

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article.

Maity, S., Chakraborty, P.R. Implications of the POCSO Act and determinants of child sexual abuse in India: insights at the state level. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 10 , 6 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01469-x

Download citation

Received : 30 March 2022

Accepted : 29 November 2022

Published : 03 January 2023

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01469-x

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

Quick links

• Explore articles by subject
• Guide to authors
• Editorial policies

• Follow us on Facebook
• Follow us on Twitter
• Criminal Justice
• Environment
• Politics & Government
• Race & Gender

Expert Commentary

Sexual assault and rape on U.S. college campuses: Research roundup

2014 review of government reports and scholarship on the issue of sexual assault and rape on campus, as well as prevention, risks and related cultural dynamics.

Republish this article

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License .

by Kristina Mastropasqua, The Journalist's Resource September 22, 2015

This <a target="_blank" href="https://journalistsresource.org/education/sexual-assault-rape-us-college-campuses-research-roundup/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://journalistsresource.org">The Journalist's Resource</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://journalistsresource.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/cropped-jr-favicon-150x150.png" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;">

Institutions of higher learning across the United States have been rocked by reports of rape and sexual assault . Federal, state and local officials have become involved , as schools work to revise their policies and procedures to prevent further incidents. A survey commissioned by the Association of American Universities, the results of which were released in September 2015 , found that more than 27% of female college seniors reported having experienced some form of unwanted sexual contact since entering college. Meanwhile, two high-profile lawsuits have kept the topic of college sexual assault in the national spotlight. In 2015, a former Florida State University student filed a lawsuit against the school for its handling of her sexual assault report and another against former Florida State football star  Jameis Winston, who she has accused of raping her in 2012 .

The research on many facets of these problems is incomplete, but new reports and data-rich studies can help deepen perspective. In December 2014, the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics released a report focusing on nearly 20 years of data related to rape and sexual assault among women ages 18 to 24. In 2014, President Obama appointed the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assaults. During the research phase, the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) provided the White House with an extensive list of recommendations urging “the task force to remain focused on the true cause of the problem,” pointing out that rape is “not caused by cultural factors but by the conscious decisions of a small percentage of the community to commit a violent crime.” In fact, RAINN points out that research suggests 90% of rapes at colleges are perpetrated by 3% of college men — indicating a real issue of repeat offenders.

Part of RAINN’s recommendations includes a three-tiered approach to prevention: (1) Bystander intervention education: empowering community members to act in response to acts of sexual violence; (2) Risk-reduction messaging: empowering members of the community to take steps to increase their personal safety; and (3), General education to promote understanding of the law, particularly as it relates to the ability to consent.

Similarly, researchers with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Justice prepared a report, “ Preventing Sexual Violence on College Campuses: Lessons from Research and Practice ,” for use by the White House Task Force. The report cites the proven effectiveness of high-school sexual violence prevention programs, which might be effectively translated into college campaigns. One of the report’s authors, Sarah DeGue, cites a 2013 study — a systematic qualitative review of risk and protective factors for sexual violence perpetration — that finds a high correlation between sexual assault and alcohol use. Therefore, college campuses that can curb the number of nearby liquor stores and instances of binge drinking could potentially reduce the number of assaults.

Although there are thousands of colleges and universities in the United States, the CDC reports that just “over 125 college and university campuses across the U.S. have affiliations with CDC’s Rape Prevention and Education program to facilitate the implementation of sexual violence prevention strategies and activities.” While much more research is needed in order to determine meaningful methodologies in preventing rape and sexual assault on campuses, the report suggests, some significant first steps would be for universities to work to build trust between administrators and the student body and to implement routine anonymous surveys for students to safely express their experiences with sexual (mis)conduct on campus.

After conducting thousands of interviews with various stakeholders, the White House released its final report in April 2014: “ Not Alone: The First Report of the White House Task Force to Protect Students From Sexual Assault .” By increasing awareness and researching new methods for prevention, the project’s goal is to dramatically reduce the number of students — primarily female — who are sexually assaulted on campus, which stands at one in five, according to the federal Campus Sexual Assault (CSA) Study of 2006. A 2014 report from the National Crime Victimization Survey suggests a lower rate among college students, and journalists have noted that there is now a “dueling data” quality to these conflicting reports. (The 2006 CSA Study found that 6.1% of college males were victims of either attempted or completed sexual assault.)

The “Not Alone” report makes a series of key recommendations that begin with gauging the scope of the crisis through routine, anonymous, campus-wide surveys. From there, the Task Force encourages universities to engage their male students and encourage them to step in when someone is in trouble and become part of the solution. In addition the government has created a new website, NotAlone.gov , which provides more transparency on the issue by providing information and pathways for reporting problems.

The report also encourages universities to work to clarify what is — and what is not — consent. This is a major debate that both Time magazine and Philadelphia Magazine have covered recently. A 2013 study explores variables, such as violence, intoxication, and prior romantic relationships, that can impact acknowledged versus unacknowledged sexual assault among college women. Research has found that incoming first-year college students subscribe to a wide variety of “myths” about rape.

Below is a selection of further studies that explore the general issue of sexual assault and rape on campus, as well as prevention, risks and related cultural dynamics:

“Sexual Assault on the College Campus: Fraternity Affiliation, Male Peer Support, and Low Self-Control” Franklin, Courtney A.; Bouffard, Leana Allen; Pratt, Travis C. Criminal Justice and Behavior , 2012, Vol. 39, 1457, doi: 10.1177/0093854812456527.

Abstract: “Research on college sexual assault has focused on offender behavior to understand why men perpetrate sexual violence. Dominant theories have incorporated forms of male peer support paying particular attention to the impact of rape-supportive social relationships on woman abuse. In contrast, Gottfredson and Hirschi’s general theory of crime proposes that low self-control predicts crime and other related life outcomes – including the kinds of antisocial peer relationships that the male peer support model contends causes sexual violence. The exclusion of measures of self-control on sexual assault may result in a misspecified peer support model. Accordingly, the current research empirically tests Schwartz and DeKeseredy’s male peer support model and examines the role of self-control in the larger male peer support model of sexual assault. Implications for theory and research are discussed.”

“A Randomized Controlled Trial Targeting Alcohol Use and Sexual Assault Risk among College Women at High Risk for Victimization” Gilmore, Amanda K.; Lewis, Melissa A.; George, William. Behaviour Research and Therapy , August 2015. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2015.08.007.

Abstract: “Current sexual assault risk reduction programs do not target alcohol use despite the widespread knowledge that alcohol use is a risk factor for being victimized. The current study assessed the effectiveness of a web-based combined sexual assault risk and alcohol use reduction program using a randomized control trial. A total of 207 college women between the ages of 18 and 20 who engaged in heavy episodic drinking were randomized to one of five conditions: full assessment only control condition, sexual assault risk reduction condition, alcohol use reduction condition, combined sexual assault risk and alcohol use reduction condition, and a minimal assessment only condition. Participants completed a 3-month follow-up survey on alcohol-related sexual assault outcomes, sexual assault outcomes, and alcohol use outcomes. Significant interactions revealed that women with higher incidence and severity of sexual assault at baseline experienced less incapacitated attempted or completed rapes, less incidence/severity of sexual assaults, and engaged in less heavy episodic drinking compared to the control condition at the 3-month follow-up. Web-based risk reduction programs targeting both sexual assault and alcohol use may be the most effective way to target the highest risk sample of college students for sexual assault: those with a sexual assault history and those who engage in heavy episodic drinking.”

“Correlates of Rape while Intoxicated in a National Sample of College Women” Mohler, Meichun; Dowdall, George W.; Koss, Mary P.; Wechsler, Henry. Journal of Studies on Alcohol , January 2004, Vol. 65, 37-45.

Abstract: “ Objective: Heavy alcohol use is widespread among college students, particularly in those social situations where the risk of rape rises. Few studies have provided information on rapes of college women that occur when they are intoxicated. The purpose of the present study was to present prevalence data for rape under the condition of intoxication when the victim is unable to consent and to identify college and individual-level risk factors associated with that condition. Method: The study utilizes data from 119 schools participating in three Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study surveys. The analytic sample of randomly selected students includes 8,567 women in the 1997 survey, 8,425 in the 1999 survey, and 6,988 in the 2001 survey. Results : Roughly one in 20 (4.7%) women reported being raped. Nearly three quarters (72%) of the victims experienced rape while intoxicated. Women who were under 21, were white, resided in a sorority house, used illicit drugs, drank heavily in high school and attended colleges with high rates of heavy episodic drinking were at higher risk of rape while intoxicated. Conclusions : The high proportion of rapes found to occur when women were intoxicated indicates the need for alcohol prevention programs on campuses that address sexual assault, both to educate men about what constitutes rape and to advise women of risky situations. The findings that some campus environments are associated with higher levels of both drinking and rape will help target rape prevention programs at colleges.”

“ Women’s Risk Perception and Sexual Victimization: A Review of the Literature ” Gidycz, Christine A.; McNamara, John R.; Edwards, Katie M. Aggression and Violent Behavior, September-October 2012, Vol. 11, Issue 5, 441-456, doi: 10.1016/j.avb.2006.01.004.

Abstract: “This article reviews empirical and theoretical studies that examined the relationship between risk perception and sexual victimization in women. Studies examining women’s general perceptions of risk for sexual assault as well as their ability to identify and respond to threat in specific situations are reviewed. Theoretical discussions of the optimistic bias and cognitive–ecological models of risk recognition are discussed in order to account for findings in the literature. Implications for interventions with women as well as recommendations for future research are provided.”

“Bystander Education Training for Campus Sexual Assault Prevention: An Initial Meta-analysis” Katz, J.; Moore, J. Violence and Victims , 2013, Vol. 28, Issue 6, 1054-1067.

Abstract: “The present meta-analysis evaluated the effectiveness of bystander education programs for preventing sexual assault in college communities. Undergraduates trained in bystander education for sexual assault were expected to report more favorable attitudes, behavioral proclivities, and actual behaviors relative to untrained controls. Data from 12 studies of college students (N = 2,926) were used to calculate 32 effect sizes. Results suggested moderate effects of bystander education on both bystander efficacy and intentions to help others at risk. Smaller but significant effects were observed regarding self-reported bystander helping behaviors, (lower) rape-supportive attitudes, and (lower) rape proclivity, but not perpetration. These results provide initial support for the effectiveness of in-person bystander education training. Nonetheless, future longitudinal research evaluating behavioral outcomes and sexual assault incidence is needed.”

“Fear of Rape among College Women: A Social Psychological Analysis” Pryor, D.W.; Hughes, M.R. Violence Vict. , 2013, Vol. 28, Issue 3, 443-465.

Abstract: “This article examines social psychological underpinnings of fear of rape among college women. We analyze data from a survey of 1,905 female undergraduates to test the influence of 5 subjective perceptions about vulnerability and harm: unique invulnerability, gender risk, defensibility, anticipatory shame, and attribution of injury. We include 3 sources of crime exposure in our models: past sexual victimization, past noncontact violent victimization, and structural risk measured by age, parent’s income, and race. Separate measures of fear of stranger and acquaintance rape are modeled, including variables tapping current versus anticipatory fear, fear on campus versus everywhere, and fear anytime versus at night. The data show that fear of rape among college women appears more grounded in constructed perceptions of harm and danger than in past violent experiences.”

“Necessary But Not Sufficient: Sexual Assault Information on College and University Websites” Lund, Emily M.; Thomas, Katie B. Psychology of Women Quarterly , August 2015. doi: 10.1177/0361684315598286.

Abstract: “The objective of our study was to investigate the availability, location, and content of sexual assault information presented on college and university websites. A random sample of 102 accredited, non-profit, bachelors-granting U.S. colleges and universities was selected for webcoding. Websites were coded for the availability and location of sexual assault information, including what resources and information were provided and whether topics such as date rape, consent, and victim blaming were addressed. Ninety (88.2%) of the 102 colleges and universities in our sample had sexual assault information available in their domains. University policy (83.3%) and contact information for law enforcement (72.2%) and other resources (56.7–82.2%) were often included, but most websites failed to provide information on issues related to sexual assault, such as discouraging victim blaming (35.6%) and encouraging affirmative consent (30.0%). Colleges and universities should consider updating the sexual assault information on their websites with the assistance of local, expert practitioners in order to provide more comprehensive, organized, useful, and user-friendly information on sexual assault prevention and intervention.”

“The Role of University Health Centers in Intervention and Prevention of Campus Sexual Assault” Buchholz, Laura. Journal of the American Medical Association , August 2015, Vol. 314. doi: 10.1001/jama.2015.8213.

Summary: This article offers insight into the role that university health centers play in preventing campus sexual assault and providing support to assault victims through programs in areas such as counseling, medical care and survivor advocacy.

“To Whom Do College Women Confide Following Sexual Assault? A Prospective Study of Predictors of Sexual Assault Disclosure and Social Reactions” Orchowski, Lindsay M., Gidycz, Christine A. Violence Against Women, March 2012, Vol. 18, No. 3, 264-288, doi: 10.1177/1077801212442917.

Abstract: “A prospective methodology was used to explore predictors of sexual assault disclosure among college women, identify who women tell about sexual victimization, and examine the responses of informal support providers (N = 374). Women most often confided in a female peer. Increased coping via seeking emotional support, strong attachments, and high tendency to disclose stressful information predicted adolescent sexual assault disclosure and disclosure over the 7-month interim. Less acquaintance with the perpetrator predicted disclosure over the follow-up, including experiences of revictimization. Victim and perpetrator alcohol use at the time of the assault also predicted disclosure over the follow-up. Implications are presented.”

“Community Responsibility for Preventing Sexual Violence: A Pilot Study with Campus Greeks and Intercollegiate Athletes” Moynihan, Mary M., Banyard, Victoria L. Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community, October 2008, Vol. 36, Issue 1-2, 23-38, doi:10.1080/10852350802022274.

Summary: “Previous research has noted higher incidences of sexual violence on campus among members of campus Greeks and athletes and the need to do prevention programs with them. This article presents the results of an exploratory pilot study of a sexual violence prevention program with members of one fraternity, sorority, men’s and women’s intercollegiate athletic team. The program, experimentally evaluated and found to be effective with a general sample of undergraduates, was used to determine its efficacy specifically with Greeks and athletes. The model on which the program is based calls for prevention efforts that take a wider community approach rather than simply targeting individuals as potential perpetrators or victims. Results from repeated-measures analysis of variance indicate that the program worked overall. Future directions are discussed.”

Keywords: crime, higher education, sex crimes

About The Author

Kristina Mastropasqua

  Create an account to save and access your bookmarked materials anytime, anywhere.

  create account   |     login

An Online Resource Library on Gender-Based Violence.

Discussion Guide: The Effectiveness of Sexual Assault Services in Multiservice Agencies

This discussion guide offers questions to consider after reading the Applied Research paper titled The Effectiveness of Sexual Assault Services in Multiservice Agencies , by Debra Patterson with contributions from Sally Laskey (September, 2009). After reading the paper, discuss key topics and brainstorm next steps. These discussions may assist in cultivating services for people healing from sexual violence. Questions are listed by topic and additional resources to promote further learning are shown at the end.

Survivor-centered efforts: According to Patterson’s paper, organizations that offer a variety of services can make pointed efforts to provide services for sexual violence survivors that are accessible and meaningful. Consider the following questions:

• What services do you think are most valuable in supporting the needs of a sexual violence survivor in the short term? In the long term?
• What does safety look or feel like for a person healing from sexual violence? How might this be different from a person who experienced intimate partner violence or other crimes?
• Are there populations, communities, or individuals who may not have access to services? Why is this? What can be done to change it?
• What can agencies do to provide both domestic violence crisis services/shelter and ongoing support for healing from sexual violence? Brainstorm some ideas and approaches.
• Why do you think it can be challenging for center staff to ask about or discuss experiences of sexual violence?

Brainstorm some of the ways that your organization can help to meet the unique needs of the following groups:

• Teen sexual violence survivors
• Adult survivors of child sexual abuse
• Communities of Color
• Rural communities
• Men and boys
• People who identify as LGBTQ
• Survivors of Intimate Partner Sexual Violence (IPSV)
• People with disabilities
• People who choose not to report to the police
• People who speak languages other than English

Are there others you can think of?

Movement building Early efforts by grassroots activists in the feminist movement led to the creation of free-standing centers that provided counseling, support and advocacy for women who experienced sexual violence. Over time changes in funding, legislation, and in research on sexual violence affected the types of services offered and the make-up of the organizations that provided them. The research shows that sexual violence impacts people of all identities and that some groups of people are disproportionately affected (NISVS, 2011). Expanding, broadening, and rethinking sexual violence services are critical to movement sustainability. Patterson’s paper raised several issues related to the services provided by organizations in the anti-sexual violence movement. The following questions may help in thinking through some of the changes and directions ahead.  

• Why do you think early anti-violence activists believed free-standing sexual violence services were valuable?
• How are social change and community mobilization related to violence prevention?
• Why should prevention through social change be a priority in your organization or community?

Organizational Capacity Organizations face specific tasks and challenges related to keeping the organization running, setting priorities, and planning strategic efforts and initiatives. Thinking through some of the ways that your organization can assess personal capacity and make meeting the needs of sexual violence survivors a priority may be helpful in expanding services. 

• What qualities or approaches can promote balanced organizational decision-making that supports the needs of all survivors?
• What role can a counselor play in bringing sexual violence-specific services and needs to the table in an organization?
• What role can a prevention educator play?
• An administrator or leader?
• A volunteer?
• A staff member from a state coalition?
• How might funding influence the decision to combine services? What are the possible positive outcomes? Negative outcomes?
• How do funding concerns create tension within an anti-violence organization?
• How can multi-service agencies benefit people who have experienced multiple forms of victimization? Identify several topics for cross-training.

Personal Reflections

• How do your experiences relate to the information presented here?
• What can you take away from the article that will help you to rethink your services or response to sexual violence survivors?

Additional Resources

Marital Rape : This 30-minute course guides participants to learn the definition, risk factors, and effects of marital rape and will be able to identify potential intervention strategies. Confronting the Sexual Abuse of Women with Disabilities : This paper covers unique factors and pointed advocacy efforts that may be helpful in serving survivors with disabilities. Sexual Violence in the Lives of African American Women: Risk, Response, and Resilience : This paper addresses historical context, survivor traits, risk factors, health consequences, culturally sensitive responses, and resilience of survivors. Screening for Sexual Violence: Gaps in Research and Recommendations for Change : This paper provides a review of research on screening women for sexual violence in health care facilities, and discusses the reasoning and rationale behind screening women for sexual violence. Culturally Competent Service Provision to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Survivors of Sexual Violence : This paper reviews research focusing on LGBT survivors of sexual trauma and offers recommendations for culturally competent service provision to LGBT clients. Changing Perceptions of Sexual Violence Over Time : The author reviews available research on perceptions held by the general public about sexual violence and how they have changed over time. She also makes recommendations for future practice, which include discussing the root causes of sexual violence and addressing subtle victim blaming. Men and Boys: Preventing Sexual and Intimate Partner Violence : This Special Collection provides resources for anti-violence programs to increase their capacity to engage men and boys in their work to end violence against women. The collection explores the social construction of masculinity and the impact that pro-feminist men can have on advancing the anti-violence movement. Self-Care and Trauma Work : This document provides a brief overview of vicarious trauma and how to take care of yourself when working to address sexual violence. Action, Engagement, Remembering: Services for Adult Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse : This paper explores the practices of rape crisis centers and coalitions as they act, engage, and remember with adult survivors of child sexual abuse with strategies in crisis intervention, counseling, holistic healing, and advocacy for adult survivors of child sexual abuse.

Featured Information

Upcoming Webinar

Join us on 6/6 for a FREE virtual training on spiritual health and healing for survivors. Register now!

NEW Blog Post for SAAM 2024

This April, we’re excited to uplift the NSVRC’s theme for Sexual Assault Awareness Month 2024, "Building Connected Communities." Learn more here!

NEW TA Guidance Series

This new TAG series offers practical strategies to identify, reach, and effectively serve Black women-identified survivors. Check it out!

Prevention Tool of the Month

This white paper from VALOR outlines tangible steps that communities can take to work towards the shared vision of a future free from gender-based violence.

VAWnet Event Calendar

Understanding harm reduction approaches to address intimate partner violence, human trafficking, exploitation and homelessness in health centers, q&a office hours: record keeping & data retention.

• Content Topics
• Coalition Building
• Collaboration / Bridge Building
• Community Organizing / Mobilization / Engagement
• Coordinated Community Response
• Media Advocacy / Literacy
• Movement Building
• Raising Awareness
• Accessibility
• Core Competencies
• Counseling & Crisis Intervention
• Cultural Competence
• Financial Literacy / Asset Building
• Nontraditional Programming
• Prevention Programming
• Program Evaluation
• Residential / Shelter Services
• Screening & Assessment
• Self Care / Vicarious Trauma
• Trauma Informed Approach
• Fiscal Management
• Fund Development
• Funding Opportunities
• Leadership Development
• Nonprofit Management
• Proposal Writing
• Staff Development
• Child Welfare
• Civil Legal Rights & Protections
• Criminal Justice
• Disability Rights
• Economic Justice
• Employment Rights
• Immigration / Resettlement
• LGBTQ Rights
• Privacy & Confidentiality
• Public Benefits
• Racial Justice
• Reproductive Justice
• Animal Abuse
• Attitudes / Perception / Awareness
• Bystander / Upstander
• Campus / School
• Domestic Violence
• FGM / Honor Killings / Forced Marriage / Acid Attacks
• Health / Public Health
• Healthy Relationships
• Homicide / Lethality
• Housing & Homelessness
• Human Trafficking
• Immigrant / Refugee
• Incarceration
• Language & Literacy
• Mental Health
• Offenders / Perpetrators
• Older Adults
• Religion / Spirituality / Faith
• Resilience / Healing
• Self Defense
• Sex Work / Industry / Trade
• Sexual Health / Literacy
• Sexual Orientation / Gender Identity
• Sexual Violence
• Socioeconomic Class
• Substance Abuse
• Survivors in Contact
• War / Conflict
• Young People
• Material Types
• Special Collections
• NRCDV Publications
• Training Tools

Resource Topics

Colleges and Universities

Community Organizing

Faith-Based Responses

Forensic Exams

Healing from Sexual Violence

Health and Medicine

Intersections of Sexual Violence

Intimate Partners

Laws and Policies

Offenders and Offending

Primary and Secondary (K-12) Education

Relevant videos

Risk Reduction

Services for Survivors

Sexual and Gender Minorities

Sexual Assault Awareness Month

Sexual Assault Response Teams

Sexual Violence

Trafficking and Exploitation

Transparency

The NSVRC has gathered a large collection of online resources for the purpose of assisting survivor advocates and prevention educators in their work. These resources are organized by the topics listed above. You may also use the search bar to help you find the resources you are looking for. Click here to see our definitions for each resource topic.