Variables Related to Sexual Coercion: A Path Model

Abstract

Using data gathered through a meta-analysis, this study tests a path model representing variables that relate to sexual coercion. Specifically, sex, attitudes toward women, past/current relationship, alcohol, coercion strategies, victim resistance, and rape justifiability were proposed and their effects examined. Results indicated that the level of actual or perceived coerciveness was a function of the level of coerciveness of the strategy, whether or not a prior relationship existed, whether alcohol was involved, if the victim resisted, if the rape was perceived as justifiable, and the attitude that person has toward women. The results suggest that determinations of whether a particular action is perceived as a rape or coerced depend on the attitudes of the person making the evaluation and the perception of the situation. Personal and social implications of these findings are discussed.