Alcohol-Related Victim Behavior and Rape Myth Acceptance as Predictors of Victim Blame in Sexual Assault Cases

Abstract

Two studies analyzed the influence of victim behavior, drink type, and observer rape myth acceptance (RMA) on attributions of blame to victims of sexual assault. In Study 1, people higher in RMA blamed the victim more when she accepted rather than rejected the aggressor’s invitation to buy her a drink. In Study 2, we analyzed if the effects depended on who offered the invitation for a drink (a friend or aggressor). RMA was more closely related to victim blame when she accepted (vs. rejected) the offer of a drink from the aggressor. In both studies, drink type (alcoholic vs. nonalcoholic) did not interact with the other variables.