Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the Department of Psychology of Education of the University of Zululand, 2004. / In order to study adolescents perception of rape, relevant literature pertaining to rape and adolescence as a stage in the development of an individual was reviewed. The literature review pertaining to rape deals mainly with the following aspects: > Rape in terms of the law. > Conditions in society that promote rape. > Reasons for raping. > Recognition of sexual abuse. > Reactions to rape. > Needs of the rape victim. > Types of rape. > Coping with rape. > The responsibility of parents towards rape victims. Literature on the following aspects of adolescence is also reviewed: > Developmental tasks of the adolescent. > Relations of adolescents. > Characteristics of adolescent sex offenders. The descriptive method of research was used to collect data with regard to adolescents' perception of rape. Grade eleven learners at selected schools in the Bergville District, Ladysmith Region of KwaZulu-Natal, completed an empirical survey comprising a structured questionnaire. The data that was collected was analysed using inferential statistics. From the information gathered the following are the most important findings of the research regarding adolescents' perception of rape: > Adolescents are aware that rape is unlawful. > Adolescents believe that effective law enforcement can curb rape. > Adolescents do not believe that a culture of violence contributes to rape. > Women are reluctant to report being raped. > Adolescents' perception is that rape victims have difficulty in coping with relationships with other people. > The study reveals that it is vital for rape victims to talk about the rape. > Adolescents perceive rape as a crime of aggression. > Adolescents do not want parents to support a child that has been raped. > Rape is an action that decreases the self-esteem of women. > They do not believe that there is any relationship between rape and family violence. > They are uncertain if there is a relationship between women abuse and rape within marriage. The study also reveals that there is a significant difference statistically between the responses of males and females regarding responses to question that deal with rape whereas there is no significant difference between the responses of males and females regarding questions based on adolescence as a developmental stage. Based on the findings, the study makes the following recommendations: > Adolescents must lobby support to ensure more effective law enforcement, speak out against rape and must not be put under pressure by peers to engage in sex. > Parents need to communicate more effectively with adolescents. > Law enforcement must be stepped up to curb rape. > Programs must be put in place to educate adolescents regarding rape.

The relationship between blame attribution, characterological and behavioral blame, and rape and prostitution myth acceptance was investigated. After reviewing an incident report of a sexual assault in which the victim was portrayed as either a prostitute, bank teller, or nun, 291 college-aged participants rated their level of agreement with rape myths and prostitution myths. They also assigned blame to the victim and/or perpetrator of the sexual assault. Results indicated that as rape and prostitution myth acceptance increased, victim blame increased and perpetrator blame decreased. Participants tended to blame the victimized prostitute more for the assault than the victimized bank teller and nun; similarly, participants tended to blame the perpetrator of the nun and bank teller more than the perpetrator of the prostitute. Gender differences in rape and prostitution myth acceptance and blaming attributions were also investigated. The findings are congruent with previous research on rape myth acceptance and blame. / Department of Psychological Science

This study investigated the impact of victim provocativeness and rape history upon male and female subjects' perceptions of attribution of blame toward the rape victim. One hundred and forty-four subjects (a) read one of 12 fictional case reports of a rape incident from a sexual abuse center which systematically varied level of victim provocativeness and rape history and (b) completed a nine-item Rape Questionnaire (RQ). Data were analyzed by a 2 (subject's sex) x 3 (level of provocativeness) x 2 (rape history) analysis of variance on the Rape Questionnaire total score. An ancillary multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA) was also performed on the nine Rape Questionnaire items to check for potential masking of individual item differences from the Rape Questionnaire score. In addition, the data were reanalyzed in the 2 x 3 x 2 design by substituting high versus low scorers on the Attitudes Towards Women Scale (AWS) based upon median splits of the AWS for subject sex. The 2 (subject sex) x 3 (provocativeness) x 2 (rape history) MANOVA resulted in a sex by provocativeness interaction with males, relative to females, attributing more blame as the victim's level of provocativeness increased. In addition, significant differences emerged for provocativeness, rape history, and sex of subject. In general, subjects attributed more blame as the victim's provocativeness increased. Similarly, victims with rape histories were assigned more blame than victims without rape histories. The 2 (AWS) x 3 (provocativeness) x 2 (rape history) MANOVA resulted in a main effect for all three independent variables. In general subjects attributed more blame as the victim's provocativeness increased. Also victims with rape histories were assigned more blame than victims without rape histories. Finally, profeminist individuals attributed less blame to the victim than did traditional individuals. Implications for training of professional counselors and other service-providers are discussed. Future research directions are also noted.

Raters' response toward victim and perpetrators in the context of rape is examined. More blame is attributed to a female than a male victim by all raters, particularly if the female victim is described only as being raped. Detailed description of different forms of injury resulting from the rape tends to act as a mediating factor in the amount of blame assigned to victims. Whereas the delineation of injury tends to decrease the amount of blame assigned to the female victim, this pattern is reversed for the male. Raters also claim a physically injured rape victim would require a substantially longer recuperation time than one whose injuries are psychological or unspecified.

Women have recurrently faced the adaptive problem of rape over evolutionary history. Little research has investigated the potential evolved psychological mechanisms for rape avoidance that women may possess. Here I review evolutionary perspectives on rape avoidance. I follow this review with the results of two studies conducted to design a measure of women's rape avoidance, known as the Rape Avoidance Inventory (RAI). Study 1A included 99 women who self-reported acts they do or might do specifically to avoid being raped. Study 1B included 144 women who filled out a preliminary inventory of rape avoidance behaviors. I used their responses to construct the RAI. In Study 3, I develop and test a number of hypotheses derived from evolutionary psychological theory, using data derived from the sample of women in Study 1B. I conclude by discussing limitations and possible future directions for rape avoidance research. / by William F. McKibbin. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Evolutionary theory predicts that sexual coercion and rape are likely to occur in any species in which males are more aggressive, more eager to mate, more sexually assertive, and less discriminating in choosing a mate (Thornhill & Palmer, 2000). McKibbin and Shackelford (2011) state that males of many species have evolved strategies to sexually coerce and rape females. It is for this reason that researchers have speculated that several female traits or behaviors evolved to reduce the risks of being raped (McKibbin & Shackelford, 2011). The rationale behind the proposed experiment examined whether parents’ childrearing practices and women’s plasticity during childhood may have influenced the development of psychological mechanisms in response to the recurrent adaptive problem of rape. Analyses showed that maternal support during childhood predicted how frequently rape-avoidance behaviors were exhibited by women as adults. Analyses also showed that father absence was related to earlier sexual activity but age of menarche did not predict and was not associated with any rape-avoidance behaviors. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection