Measurement Invariance of the Sexual Assault Script Scale (SASS): An Examination Among Hispanic and Non-Hispanic White College Women.

Rates of sexual victimization have remained steady over several decades, and preventative interventions to reduce men's sexually aggressive behavior have been largely ineffective. As such, research has endeavored to find novel approaches to identify women at increased risk for sexual victimization. Sexual assault scripts, or "cognitive models" that women adhere to that guide their beliefs about sexual assault are posited to influence their victimization risk. Prior studies on sexual assault scripts primarily have been qualitative in nature; however, recent work yielded a 27-item measure of putative risk for sexual victimization called the Sexual Assault Script Scale (SASS). The SASS has four subscales called Stereotypical Assault Scripts, Acquaintance Assault Scripts, Assault Resistance Scripts, and Date/Friend Assault Scripts, which were found in prior work to be internally consistent and associated with putative risk factors for sexual victimization. The focus of the current study was to test the measurement invariance of the SASS among Hispanic and non-Hispanic White college women who were recruited in the prior study. Four hundred sixty-nine (N = 469) Hispanic and 415 non-Hispanic White US undergraduate heterosexual or bisexual women from a Southwestern university in the United States completed the SASS. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) replicated the prior four-factor model with an acceptable fit to the data, and tests of measurement invariance revealed the SASS to be invariant across Hispanic and non-Hispanic White college women, suggesting that the SASS is measuring a similar construct in these groups.

Ethnicity and Sexual Attitudes Affect Women's Judgments of Sexual Victimization Risk.

This study evaluated the effects of ethnicity, sexual attitudes, and sexual victimization history on women's judgments of sexual victimization risk in a set of dating and social scenarios. An ethnically diverse sample of undergraduate women ( n = 408) were asked to rate how risky the situations were in terms of having an unwanted sexual experience. American Indian women rated the situations as more risky than did non-Hispanic White or Hispanic women. In addition, participants with more positive attitudes toward a range of sexual experiences rated the situations as less risky than did women with less positive attitudes. Possible implications are discussed.

A Qualitative Analysis of the Effects of Victimization History and Sexual Attitudes on Women's Hypothetical Sexual Assault Scripts.

This study examined qualitatively the effects of a sexual victimization history and sexual attitudes on 247 undergraduate women's written accounts of a hypothetical sexual assault. More severe victimization history was associated with script characteristics of greater alcohol use, knowing the man longer, and the context of a party. Greater endorsement of positive attitudes toward casual sex was related to script characteristics of greater alcohol use, acquiescing to the man, and not knowing the man as long. Finally, a more recent sexual assault was associated with script characteristics of having just met the man, the context of a party or date, and acquiescing to the man.

Effects of reinforcement on test-enhanced learning in a large, diverse introductory college psychology course.

A robust finding within laboratory research is that structuring information as a test confers benefit on long-term retention-referred to as the testing effect. Although well characterized in laboratory environments, the testing effect has been explored infrequently within ecologically valid contexts. We conducted a series of 3 experiments within a very large introductory college-level course. Experiment 1 examined the impact of required versus optional frequent low-stakes testing (quizzes) on student grades, revealing students were much more likely to take advantage of quizzing if it was a required course component. Experiment 2 implemented a method of evaluating pedagogical intervention within a single course (thereby controlling for instructor bias and student self-selection), which revealed a testing effect. Experiment 3 ruled out additional exposure to information as an explanation for the findings of Experiment 2 and suggested that students at the college level, enrolled in very large sections, accept frequent quizzing well. (PsycINFO Database Record