Extent, Nature, And Consequences Of Rape Victimization .

02-SpecialRprt Interior 20051/25/0611:39 AMPage 3What Is the National Violence AgainstWomen Survey?Many gaps in knowledge about rape vic timization remain.1 Estimates of the preva lence and incidence of rape vary widelyfrom study to study.2 Information aboutminority women’s experiences with rapevictimization is limited,3 as is informationabout men’s experiences as rape victims.Information on the social, physical, andpsychological consequences of rape vic timization also is insufficient.4To help deepen understanding of rape aswell as the broader issue of violenceagainst women, the National Institute ofJustice (NIJ) and the Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention (CDC) jointlysponsored—through a grant to the Centerfor Policy Research—a national telephonesurvey on violence against women con ducted in 1995–96. Respondents to theNational Violence Against Women Survey(NVAWS) were queried about their experi ences as victims of various forms of vio lence, including rape. (See “Definitionsand Survey Questions.”) To provide a con text for understanding women’s experi ences, the survey sampled both womenand men. Thus, the survey provides com parable data on women’s and men’s expe riences as rape victims (see “SurveyMethodology”).DEFINITIONS AND SURVEY QUESTIONSIn the National Violence Against Women Survey(NVAWS), rape was defined as an event thatoccurred without the victim’s consent thatinvolved the use or threat of force in vaginal, anal,or oral intercourse. This definition closely resem bles that used in the National Women’s Study(NWS).a However, unlike NWS, NVAWS includesboth attempted and completed rape. Thus, unlessotherwise noted in this report, “rape” refers toboth attempted and completed rape.The survey included five behaviorally specificquestions to screen for rape victimization. Thefirst four questions are identical to those used inNWS and respectively screen for forced vaginal,oral, or anal penetration.b To collect informationabout attempted rape, NVAWS included a fifthquestion that screened for attempted forced pen etration of the vagina, mouth, or anus. To mini mize doubt in the respondent’s mind about whatwas being measured, the questions incorporat ed explicit language. (See “Rape ScreeningQuestions,” page 10.)Respondents who replied “yes” to one or moreof the screening questions were asked whethertheir rapist was a spouse, ex-spouse, malecohabiting partner, female cohabiting partner,relative, someone else they knew, or a stranger.To further delineate the victim-perpetrator rela tionship, interviewers asked respondents whodisclosed rape victimization to specify whichspouse/partner raped them (e.g., first exhusband, current male cohabiting partner); orwhich relative raped them (e.g., father, brother,grandfather, mother, sister, aunt); or, in casesinvolving acquaintances, to specify the relation ship they had with the rapist (e.g., date,boyfriend, girlfriend, boss, coworker, teacher,neighbor).Continued on page 43

02-SpecialRprt Interior 20051/25/0611:39 AMPage 4SPECIAL REPORT / JAN. 06DEFINITIONS AND SURVEY QUESTIONS (cont.)Respondents who disclosed rape were askeddetailed questions about the characteristics andconsequences of their rape, including thefollowing: Where the rape occurred. Whether they or their rapist were using drugsor alcohol at the time of the incident. Whether their rapist used a gun, knife, or otherweapon. Whether their rapist verbally threatened them. Whether their rapist physically assaulted them. Whether they thought they or someone closeto them would be seriously harmed or killed bytheir rapist. Whether they were physically injured and, ifso, the types of injuries incurred. Whether they received medical services. Whether they received counseling from a mental health professional. Whether they lost time from routine activitiessuch as school, work, volunteer endeavors,recreational activities, and household chores. Whether they reported their rape to the police. Whether they obtained a restraining orderagainst their rapist and, if so, whether it wasviolated. NVAWS generated information on both theprevalence and incidence of rape. Prevalencerefers to the number of people within a demographic group (e.g., women or men) who are vic timized during a specific time period, such as theperson’s lifetime or the previous 12 months.Incidence refers to the number of separate victimizations, or incidents, perpetrated againstpeople within a demographic group during a spe cific time period. Incidence expressed as a victimization rate is obtained by dividing the numberof victimizations perpetrated against people inthe demographic group by the number of peoplein the group and setting the rate to a standardpopulation base, such as 1,000 people.cNotesa. National Victim Center and Crime Victims Research andTreatment Center, Rape in America: A Report to the Nation,Arlington, VA: National Victim Center and Charleston, SC:Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center, 1992.b. Ibid.c. Koss, M.P., and M.R. Harvey, The Rape Victim: Clinical andCommunity Interventions, 2d ed., Newbury Park, CA: SagePublications, 1991.This report summarizes findings fromNVAWS on the extent, nature, and consequences of rape victimization amongwomen and men in the United States.Information is presented on the followingtopics: Prevalence of rape victimization amongwomen and men in different age groups. Relationship between rape victimizationat an early age and subsequent rapevictimization. Prevalenceand incidence of rape victimization among women and men. Characteristics of rape victims, rapists,and rape incidents.Prevalence of rape victimization amongminority populations. Frequency of injuries and sex u a l l ytransmitted diseases incurred byadult victims. 4Whether their rapist was criminally prosecuted.These questions were posed for each type ofoffender (e.g., spouse, ex-spouse, boyfriend,grandfather) identified by the victim. Victims whowere raped more than once by the same type ofoffender were asked to use their most recentrape as a reference point.

02-SpecialRprt Interior 20051/25/0611:39 AMPage 5E X T E N T, NATURE, AND CONSEQUENCES OF RAPE VICTIMIZAT I O N Injured victims’ use of medical services. Frequencywith which adult victimsreceive counseling from a mental healthprofessional. Frequencywith which adult victims losetime from routine activities, such aswork and school.This report is one of a series on NVAWSpublished jointly by NIJ and CDC. Previousreports have focused on women’s andmen’s experiences as victims of stalking,intimate partner violence, and violence ingeneral. (See “Other Publications From theNational Violence Against Women Survey”at the end of this report.) Adultvictims’ involvement and satisfac tion with the justice system.SURVEY METHODOLOGYThe National Violence Against Women Survey(NVAWS) was conducted from November 1995 toMay 1996 by interviewers at Schulman, Ronca,Bucuvalas, Inc. (SRBI) under the direction ofJohn Boyle.a The authors of this Special Reportdesigned the survey questionnaire and conduct ed the analysis.bThe sample was drawn by random-digit dialing ofhouseholds with a telephone in the 50 States andthe District of Columbia. The sample was admin istered by U.S. Census region. Within eachregion, a simple random sample of working resi dential “hundreds banks” of phone numbers wasdrawn. (A hundreds bank is the first 8 digits ofany 10-digit telephone number.) A randomly gen erated 2-digit number was appended to eachrandomly sampled hundreds bank to produce thefull 10-digit, random-digit number. Separatebanks of numbers were generated for male andfemale respondents. These random-digit num bers were called by SRBI interviewers from theircentral telephone facility, where nonworking andnonresidential numbers were screened out.When a residential household was reached, eli gible adults were identified. In households withmore than one eligible adult, the adult with themost recent birthday was selected as the desig nated respondent.A total of 8,000 women and 8,005 men age 18and older were interviewed using a computerassisted telephone interviewing (CATI) system.(Five completed interviews with men were sub sequently eliminated from the sample duringdata editing because of an excessive amountof inconsistent and missing data.) Only femaleinterviewers surveyed female respondents. Totest for possible bias introduced by the genderof the interviewer, a split-sample approach wasused in the male sample whereby half of theinterviews were conducted by female interview ers and half by male interviewers. A Spanishlanguage translation was administered bybilingual interviewers to Spanish-speakingrespondents.Because of the large number of interviews to beconducted, the survey was fielded as a series ofreplicate samples, with each replicate sampleconsisting of approximately 500–3,000 complet ed interviews. Replicate samples were generat ed using the same sample frame and sampledesign and, unless otherwise noted, were ana lyzed as one sample.Two different sets of rape screening questionswere fielded respectively during the first twofemale replicate samples to ascertain whetherincreasing the number of screening questionsincreases disclosure of rape victimization.Respondents in the first female replicate sample(n 500) were asked two questions that respec tively screened for attempted and completedforced penetration of the vagina, anus, or mouthContinued on page 65

02-SpecialRprt Interior 20051/25/0611:39 AMPage 6SPECIAL REPORT / JAN. 06SURVEY METHODOLOGY (cont.)by penis, and attempted and completed forcedpenetration of the vagina or anus by fingers,tongue, or objects. Respondents in the secondfemale replicate sample (n 501) were askedfour questions that respectively screened forattempted and completed forced penetration ofthe vagina, anus, or mouth by penis; attemptedand completed forced penetration of the mouthby penis or the vagina or anus by tongue;attempted and completed forced penetration ofthe anus by penis; and attempted and completedforced penetration of the vagina or anus by fin gers, tongue, or objects.Survey records from the two replicate sampleswere analyzed immediately following completionof the interviews to determine whether one set ofquestions yielded higher disclosure rates.Results indicate that the two sets of questionsyield similar victimization rates: 21.6 percent ofthe women in the first replicate sample and 20.6percent of the women in t

The National Institute of Justice is a component of the Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice As s i s tance, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the Office of Juve n i l e Justice and Delinquency Pr evention, and the Office for Victims of Crime.