Associations of Rape-Supportive Attitudes with Fraternal and Athletic Participation

Abstract

Rape-supportive attitudes are examined among a sample of university athletes, fraternity members, and controls. A sample of 477 males were recruited on a large southeastern university campus. Comparison of mean scores indicates that fraternity men reported significantly greater agreement with five statements supportive of rape and adversarial gender beliefs than did controls. Athletes reported significantly greater agreement with 14 rape-supportive statements than did controls. The control group reported significantly greater agreement with two rape-supportive statements than did athletes. Results are examined in light of research connecting sexual violence and rape-supportive attitudes.