Chinese University Students’ Attitudes Toward Rape Myth Acceptance: The Role of Gender, Sexual Stereotypes, and Adversarial Sexual Beliefs

Abstract

The present study constructs and tests models that examine the relations between variables of “gender,” “sex role stereotyping,” and “adversarial sexual beliefs” on rape myth acceptance. The sample is 975 Chinese university students from seven universities in China. Measures include Chinese Rape Myth Acceptance (CRMA), Sex Role Stereotyping (SRS) Scale, and Adversarial Sexual Beliefs (ASB). We use structural equation modeling to investigate whether gender directly affects the acceptance of rape myth, or that these influences are mediated by SRS and ASB, after controlling for several demographic characteristics. Results suggest that SRS and ASB have a direct effect on rape myth acceptance. Gender has no direct effect on rape myth acceptance in three out of the four models, but it significantly (β = −.02, p < .05) predicts the acceptance of rape–violence myth. We also discuss the implications and limitations of the study.