Date of Award

12-1992

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Dr. Michele Burnette

Second Advisor

Dr. Jack Michael

Third Advisor

Dr. Gwen Raaberg

Fourth Advisor

Dr. C. Richard Tsegaye-Spates

Abstract

Seventy-four nonaggressive and 78 sexually coercive college males, as determined by the Sexual Experiences Survey (Koss & Oros, 1982) and ranging in age from 18-25 years, participated in a study designed to assess their ability to detect specific behavioral cues of female partners’ unwillingness to engage in kissing, genital fondling, and sexual intercourse. Contrary to prediction, a 2 (nonaggression and sexual coercion) X 3 (kissing, fondling, and intercourse) analysis of variance revealed no statistically significant difference between the nonaggressive and sexually coercive males in their ability to detect cues of female unwillingness to engage in kissing, genital fondling, and sexual intercourse, F (1, 450) = .263, p. = 25. Significant differences did emerge with regard to cue detection among the three levels of sexual intimacy, F (2,450) = 17.818, p < .001, with significant differences occurring between the kissing and fondling scenarios, q(3) = 6.471, p < .01, and the kissing and intercourse scenarios, p(3) = 7.882, p < .01.

When coercive males were compared according to the number of coercive endorsements, coercive males with two or more acts of sexual coercion were slightly less able to detect cues of female unwillingness than were coercive males endorsing only one act of coercion, t(76) = 1.499, p<.10.

A 2 (nonaggression and sexual coercion) X 3 (kissing, fondling, and intercourse) analysis of variance revealed no significant differences between the two groups in ratings of female willingness, F(1, 447) = 3.084, p < .10, but the trend was in the predicted direction with nonaggressive males rating the females as slightly more unwilling than did coercive males.

Descriptive data revealed differences between what males reported they would do if they were the males in the vignettes and what they reported most males would do. Both nonaggressive and sexually coercive males tended to choose the more socially appropriate response for themselves, such as asking the female if she wished to kiss or be touched and talking with the female after the forced intercourse, but they chose more coercive statements when describing what most males would do.

Discussion of the results and implications for future research are provided.

Access Setting

Dissertation-Open Access

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