Exploring the differences in military attitudes toward rape myths and their relationship to demographic factors

Abstract: Military sexual assault crimes, including rape, attempted sexual assault, unwanted sexual contact, and sexual harassment, have continued to increase over the last few decades. The issue has become problematic enough for the Department of Defense to allocate a significant amount of money for sexual assault resources. Specifically, the Department of Defense gives millions of dollars each year for the prevention and training of sexual assault, yet the issue continues to persist. There is a lack of understanding of the posture of service members' attitudes toward sexual assault and if certain demographics differ in their attitudes toward rape myths. While sexual assault training aims to educate members on the resources available to them and who to report to, part of the solution is understanding why these incidents continue to occur. An analysis of the data found that gender was a significant predictor of rape myth scores. Males were found to have higher scores on the Acceptance of Modern Myths about Sexual Aggression than females, indicating more negative attitudes towards rape myths. There were no other significant results found with the other demographic variables.

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