Characteristics of aggressors against women: Testing a model using a national sample of college students
Abstract
Structural equation modeling was used to study the characteristics of college men (N = 2,652) who aggressed against women either sexually, nonsexually, or both. According to the model, hostile childhood experiences affect involvement in delinquency, leading to aggression through 2 paths: (1) hostile attitudes and personality, which result in coerciveness both in sexual and nonsexual interactions and (2) sexual promiscuity, which, especially in interaction with hostility, produces sexual aggression. In addition, sexual and nonsexual coercion were hypothesized to share a common underlying factor. Although its development was guided by integrating previous theory and research, the initial model was refined in half of the sample and later replicated in the 2nd half. Overall, it fitted the data very well in both halves and in a separate replication with a sample for whom data were available about sexual but not about nonsexual aggression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)