Who Is Considered a Potential Victim, Perpetrator, or Bystander? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Research Evaluating Gender-Specific Campus Sexual Assault Prevention Programs Implemented in the United States

Abstract

Campus sexual assault is a problem that overwhelmingly affects cisgender women and transgender, genderqueer/questioning, and nonbinary (TGQN) students. Yet, students of any gender may be perpetrators or victims of assault. Thus, it is important that prevention programs incorporate a range of scenarios that depict different genders as both perpetrators and victims, while also acknowledging the differential risk between gender groups. Gender-specific programming is one way of achieving this goal. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we synthesized studies evaluating campus sexual assault prevention programs implemented with specified gender groups in the United States. Through a comprehensive literature search, we identified 38 studies that met eligibility criteria and were disseminated through 2021 ( N = 22 women’s studies; N = 16 men’s studies; N = 0 TGQN studies). Programs overwhelmingly portrayed women as victims and men as perpetrators or bystanders while largely ignoring experiences of TGQN students. A greater proportion of women’s programs included risk reduction content that relayed tactics participants may use to avoid victimization. A greater proportion of men’s programs included bystander content that emphasized ways participants may stop others from committing sexual assault. Women’s programs had a small but significant and favorable effect on victimization, but studies evaluating these programs did not measure perpetration outcomes. Men’s programs had a non-significant effect on perpetration but victimization outcomes were not measured. Gender-specific prevention programming should begin to reflect the differential risks of perpetration and victimization across gender identities, and the effects of this program content should be rigorously evaluated.