Routine Activities and Sexual Assault: An Analysis of Individual- and School-Level Factors

Abstract

The efficacy of routine activities theory is examined to explain sexual assault on the college campus. Although many research studies have utilized routine activities theory to predict sexual assault using individual-level factors, little is known about the effect of school-level factors on a student’s risk of sexual assault. Based on interviews from 3,036 randomly selected students and surveys from 11 randomly selected colleges in the United States, a hierarchical linear model was created to predict student victimizations by school characteristics. For the individual, results reveal that being female, drug use, and marital status are statistically significant for predicting the probability of a sexual assault. At the institutional level, however, none of the variables are significant in predicting sexual assault among college coeds. Policy implications for prevention measures on college campuses are discussed.