Viewpoint to Rape and Self-esteem in a Turkish Late-Adolescent Population

Egyptian Journal of Forensic Sciences

Background Rape myths are marked for being false beliefs about sexual assault. With the problem being quite prevalent around the world, research has shown that numerous factors such as rape proclivity and perpetuation of rape myths are critical. The present study assesses the role of rape myths acceptance, rape victim empathy, and causal attributions towards rape victims as significantly predicting attitudes towards rape victims among the general population of Pakistan. Rape myths acceptance and causal attributions would significantly and positively predict negative attitudes towards rape victims. Method A cross-sectional research design was used for the study. The online survey questionnaire was filled by 573 participants including 275 males and 298 females who were selected through purposive sampling from the general population of Pakistan. The sample size was estimated using G*Power analysis with 95% confidence intervals. Data collection was done using Illinois rape myths, attitu...

Egyptian Journal of Forensic Sciences, 2023

Background Rape myths may harm those who have been sexually assaulted, according to the past literature. This study looked at the associations between grandiose narcissism, psychopathic characteristics, and rape myth acceptance and attitudes towards rape victims in Pakistan. The issue of sexual violence against women and how specific personality characteristics, such as psychopathy, grandiose narcissism, and rape-supporting ideas, may lead to unfavourable views towards sexual assault victims are still being debated. In affluent nations, there has been substantial study on the psychological aspects that influence attitudes towards rape victims, but information on developing nations like Pakistan is lacking. Method The study used a cross-sectional methodology with a purposive sample of 430 individuals, ranging in age from 18 to 68. The appropriate sample size was determined using a G*Power analysis. In order to analyse the data, SPSS 21.0 was used. Stepwise regression, MANOVA, and moderated mediation analysis were all used. Results All variables showed acceptable levels of Cronbach's alpha reliability. Rape myth acceptance was significantly associated with attitudes towards rape, primary and secondary psychopathy, and grandiose narcissism. Rape myth acceptance, primary psychopathy, and grandiose narcissism significantly predicted attitudes towards rape victims. Moreover, grandiose narcissism showed a conditional indirect effect through primary psychopathy on the relationship between rape myth acceptance and attitudes towards rape victims, according to the results, which showed that rape myth acceptance, primary psychopathy, and those attitudes all had significant effects on attitudes towards rape victims. Conclusions In conclusion, it has been assessed that unfavourable views towards victims of sexual assault in Pakistan were substantially correlated with high levels of rape myth acceptance, primary psychopathy, and grandiose narcissism. Furthermore, the study discovered that these variables strongly impacted views towards rape victims. Additionally, rape myth acceptance, levels of primary psychopathy, and attitudes towards rape victims all showed significant gender differences. Moreover, grandiose narcissism had a significant conditional effect on the association between rape myth acceptance and attitudes towards rape victims via the mediation of primary psychopathy. Secondary psychopathy did not play a role in this predictive relationship.

1999

The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of Burt’s (1980) Rape Myth related scales. Rape myths are stereotypic but fallacious attitudes towards sex and sexuality that could increase the chances of an individual being either a victim or perpetrator of rape. For example, the prototypic rape myth is probably “no means yes.” That is to say, it may be fairly common for a male to interpret a female’s statement that she does not want sexual intercourse as “playing hard to get” and that, despite what she says, she really does want to have sex. There were two specific goals of this study. Given the fact that these scales were constructed within the context of “stranger rape,” the first goal was to v determine whether the scales’ psychometric properties were retained in situations of date rape. The second purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the thirty four items contained in the Rape Myth Acceptance (RMA), Adversarial Sexual Beliefs (ASB), and Acceptance of Interpersonal Violence (AIV) scales without any apriori assumptions of how the items related to each other. For example, Burt (1980) originally conceptualized these as three independent scales. Is that still the case or can the relationships between these items be better described by a different scale or set of scales? This study explores the concept of date rape within the context of sexual assault. Literature that attempts to explain the etiology of this behavior is reviewed. Theories are examined in both behavioral (i.e., how individuals behave or believe they would behave in a given situation) and attitudinal (i.e., underlying beliefs and assumptions) perspectives. Burt’s (1980) research is reviewed as one point at which behavioral and attitudinal variables overlap. The data for this study were gathered in the context of several research projects conducted at Northern Illinois University and were collected from 642 college students. Psychometric properties of Burt’s (1980) rape myth scales were consistent those originally reported as well as those reported by Briere, Malamuth, and Check (1985). When the 34 items from Burt’s scales were factor analyzed, two factors emerged representing a revised Rape Myth Scale (RMS) as well as an adversarial sexual beliefs scale. Implications for both past and future research are discussed.

Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 2004

This study assessed the role of rape myth acceptance (RMA) and situational factors in the perception of three different rape scenarios (date rape, marital rape, and stranger rape). One hundred and eighty-two psychology undergraduates were asked to emit four judgements about each rape situation: victim responsibility, perpetrator responsibility, intensity of trauma, and likelihood to report the crime to the police. It was hypothesized that neither RMA nor situational factors alone can explain how rape is perceived; it is the interaction between these two factors that best account for social reactions to sexual aggression. The results generally supported the authors' hypothesis: Victim blame, estimation of trauma, and the likelihood of reporting the crime to the police were best explained by the interaction between observer characteristics, such as RMA, and situational clues. That is, the less stereotypic the rape situation was, the greater was the influence of attitudes toward rape on attributions.

Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, 2012

The present study examined victims' attitudes to rape and rape-reporting behaviour. There were 36 Rape Victims, and approximately half reported their rape to the police (Rape Victim – Report) and half did not report their rape to the police (Rape Victim – Not Report). There were 42 Crime Victims, and approximately half reported the crime to the police (Crime Victim

Sex roles, 2005

Scandinavian journal of psychology, 2017

This paper reports on the development and the psychometric properties of short forms of Ambivalent Sexism Scales toward women (ASI; Glick & Fiske, 1996) and men (AMI; Glick & Fiske, 1999), and a scale measuring rape stereotypes (IRMA; McMahon & Farmer, 2011). The short form AMI/ASI were applied for examining gender and educational differences in university students (N = 512) and in high school students (N = 1381), and for predicting individual differences in rape stereotypes in the latter. The short forms demonstrated good to excellent psychometric properties across samples of emerging adults. Relative to female students, male students reported markedly more hostility toward women and more stereotypical beliefs about rape. Despite sampling from a highly gender egalitarian and secular culture, these gender differences are on a par with those reported internationally. Rape stereotypes were predicted by sexism in high school students. Additional predictors were educational program, rel...

Current Psychology

Sexual violence against women, particularly in the form of rape, is a serious issue that must be addressed in Indonesia. However, victims of sexual violence are not enveloped by a supportive atmosphere due to the pervasive acceptance of rape myths in society. This study examined the role of ambivalent sexism and sexual objectification of women in predicting the acceptance of rape myths among male college students in Greater Jakarta, Indonesia. A sample of 275 male college students completed the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale-Short Form, Ambivalent Sexism Inventory, and Women Are Sexual Objects subscale from the Attitude Toward Dating and Relationship Measure Revised. The results of multiple regression analysis showed that ambivalent sexism and sexual objectification of women significantly predicted rape myth acceptance, with sexual objectification of women tends to have more contribution. This finding explains that to develop and conduct prevention and treatment, both variables...

Nordic Psychology, 2014

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Social psychological bulletin, 2022

Public reactions to rape are often distorted by the acceptance of so-called rape myths. The goal of our research was to examine how rape myth acceptance (RMA) is connected to the evaluation of rape cases among survivors, unimpacted people, and those impacted by rape through a close relation, who can potentially be important allies of survivors in bringing about social change. We tested these connections in three online survey studies. In Study 1 (N = 758) we found that those impacted by rape personally or through a close relation accepted rape myths less. In Study 2, using a nationally representative sample in Hungary (N = 1007), we tested whether RMA predicted uncertain rape cases more strongly than certain (i.e., stereotypical) ones, considering that a stereotypical rape scenario is condemned by most members of society, but not all rape is labeled as such. We found that RMA predicted the evaluation of both rape scenarios, but the prediction was stronger when rape was uncertain. In Study 3 (N = 384), in a pre-registered study we examined how RMA predicted the evaluation of rape cases amongst people with different previous experiences (impacted/unimpacted). We found that unimpacted people accepted rape myths more, blamed the victim more and labeled the case less as rape when the case was uncertain. These findings suggest that rape myth acceptance functions as cognitive schema and that rape impacted people could have a key role not only in the life of survivors but as allies for social change as well.

journal of new results in science, 2010

Violence is a type of behavior that takes different forms and is also directed at different groups. This is one of the major societal problems. The main objective of the present study is to examine the relationship between the perception of violence and self-esteem levels in Turkish women. The Personal Information Form asked some questions concerning Turkish women’s perception of violence, the kinds of violence they are exposed to; the frequency of violence they are exposed to and their reactions to the violent behavior. This was administered to 212 Turkish women, using the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Scale. The findings revealed that most of the women (70%) perceive violence most intensely as physical violence. Another significant finding of this study revealed that when the self-esteem of women increases, the sensitivity to the kinds of violence also increases. The findings are also discussed in the light of similar research findings and finally some suggestions are made.

Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 2004

This study assessed the role of rape myth acceptance (RMA) and situational factors in the perception of three different rape scenarios (date rape, marital rape, and stranger rape). One hundred and eighty-two psychology undergraduates were asked to emit four judgements about each rape situation: victim responsibility, perpetrator responsibility, intensity of trauma, and likelihood to report the crime to the police. It was hypothesized that neither RMA nor situational factors alone can explain how rape is perceived; it is the interaction between these two factors that best account for social reactions to sexual aggression. The results generally supported the authors’ hypothesis: Victim blame, estimation of trauma, and the likelihood of reporting the crime to the police were best explained by the interaction between observer characteristics, such as RMA, and situational clues. That is, the less stereotypic the rape situation was, the greater was the influence of attitudes toward rape o...

International journal of scientific research, 2015

Rape seems to have taken a common form of violence and attitudes have been of central concern in relation to such violence. The aim of this study was to examine the current state of rape myth acceptance, attitude towards rape survivors among college students and the predictors for formation of attitude towards rape survivors. Findings based on the sample size of 275 college students showed that higher the rejection of rape myths, lower will be the unfavorable attitude towards survivors of rape. Regression analysis indicates that the variables ‘She asked for it’, ‘He didn’t mean to’ and ‘She lied’ inversely predicts unfavourable attitude towards the rape survivor. Chi-square analysis showed that males are less likely to reject rape myths and have high unfavourable attitude towards rape survivors than females.

Saudi Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

Victims of rape sometimes suffer from being blamed for their assault. The present study aimed to investigate whether hostile sexism, benevolent sexism influence acceptance of rape myths. The sample comprised of 240 university students recruited from Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan. Demographic information sheet, Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (IRMA) [24], Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI) [13] and scales were used for assessment. Results from Bivariate Correlation analysis showed that, Hostile sexism and subscales of benevolent sexist beliefs are positively correlated with rape myths. Subscales of Ambivalent Sexism (Hostile sexism, Paternalism, Heterosexuality and Gender differentiation) positively predicted subscales of Rape myths acceptance (she asked for it, it wasn't really rape, he didn't mean to and she lied). Results further showed that males had higher acceptance with Rape Myths and Ambivalent Sexism. Findings from the present study suggest that there is need to tackle negative stereotypes about rape victims and Interventions should focus more on the education on what rape and sexual assault are and what the health and legal consequences entail.