Factors that promote sexual aggression in young men

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Published: Oct 15, 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681/psy_hps.23700
Μαρία Παπαδακάκη
Αγγελος Τσαλκάνης
Αντωνία Αραβαντινού
Ρωξάνη Ευτυχίδη
Ιωάννης Ιωσηφίδης
Ιωάννης Χλιαουτάκης
Abstract

Objectives: The current study aimed at assessing the prevalence and risk factors for the perpetration of sexually aggressive behaviours, in men aged 18-30 years in the city of Heraklion, Crete. Methods: Stratified sampling was used to select the study sample. A total of 241 individuals accepted to participate in the study out of 335 initially found to meet the inclusion criteria (gender, age). For the needs of the current study a semi-structured questionnaire was used, including 4 sections and 43 items. The questionnaire examined the participants’ sociodemographic characteristics, their past sexual activity and experiences, their attitudes towards the rape myths, and the prevalence of perpetrating sexually aggressive behaviours. Results: Participants were men (n=241) with a mean age of 23.9 years (SD 3.4) and had their first sexual intercourse at the age of 17.2 years (SD 2.0). Out of a total of 241 participants, 8 (3.3%) reported a history of sexual victimization without intercourse before the age of 14 years and 2 (.8%) reported sexual victimization with intercourse at the same age. Based on the results of the multiple regression analysis, higher acceptance of rape myths was found to be associated with increased likelihood of perpetrating sexually aggressive behaviours (p<.001; CI=.721;1.471) after controlling for the participants’ sociodemographic characteristics and their past sexual activity and experiences. Conclusion: Future attempts to prevent or address the problem of sexual aggression could take into account the risk factors identified in the current study.

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