Mental health articles

College students experience many types of sexual victimization, including
rape and sexual assault, child sexual abuse, sexual harassment, stalking, and
intimate partner violence. Th is chapter will provide a broad overview of conceptualizing
and treating these problems and will also briefl y address work
with perpetrators. To simplify the writing and as a refl ection of the prevalence
statistics, we usually refer to the victims as women and the perpetrators as
men; however, the intent is not to minimize the fact that male victimization
and same-gender perpetration also occur.
Prevalence
Determining the scope of the problem is complicated by several factors: Very
few incidents are reported to offi cials or law enforcement, defi nitions of sexual
victimization vary, and research methodology is inconsistent. Fisher, Cullen,
and Turner (2000) conducted a comprehensive national study of the sexual
victimization of 4,446 college women. Behaviors were categorized to encompass
completed, attempted, or threatened rape; completed or attempted sexual
coercion; completed or attempted sexual contact; stalking; and visual and verbal
harassment. Th is study found that nearly 5% of college women experience
completed or attempted rape in a calendar year, or between 20% and 25% over
the course of a 5-year college career. Th ere were even more incidents than
the rates for victimization imply, since 22.8% were multiple-rape victims.
When the other victimization categories in addition to rape are included, an
astounding 15.5% of college women are victimized in a year. Fisher et al. noted
that while most women fear assault by a stranger, most sexual victimizations
occur when women are alone with a man they know, at night, and in a residence.
Fewer than 5% of victims reported the incidents to law enforcement;
two thirds told a friend (not a family member or college offi cial).
Specifi c questioning about sexual victimization is important, since nearly
one half of women who have had incidents that meet the defi nition of rape
answer “No” when asked if they considered the incident rape (Fisher et al.,
2000); the same applies for sexual harassment. Students commonly will relate
disturbing behaviors but resist naming them sexual assault or harassment,
particularly if they know the perpetrator.

Factors associated with an increased risk of sexual victimization include
frequent and heavy drinking, being unmarried, and prior victimization
(Fisher et al., 2000). Several studies examining prevalence rates of sexual
assault among women of color found that rates experienced by black, Hispanic,
Asian, and white college women were relatively comparable (Abbey, 2002;
Koss, Gidycz, & Wisniewski, 1987).