Citation

Ehman AC, Gross AM. J. Am. Coll. Health 2022; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/07448481.2022.2081509

PMID

35658095

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: This work sought to assess relationships between sexually aggressive behavior occurring through the use of technology and social media, perceived social norms of sexually aggressive behavior, and face-to-face sexual aggression and coercion. Participants: Participants were 663 undergraduate students (73.1% Female).

METHODS: Participants completed measures assessing perceived social norms of sexually aggressive strategies, personal sexual strategies used, alcohol use, cyberbullying, sexual victimization, personal wellbeing, and socially desirable responding.

RESULTS: Thirty percent of participants reported engaging in some form of sexually aggressive behavior offline; 15.6% endorsed engaging in sexual cyberbullying. However, 100% of participants endorsed the belief that their peers were engaging in some form of sexually aggressive behavior either online or offline. Conditional process modeling revealed a significant indirect effect of perceived social norms of sexually aggressive behavior on face-to-face sexual aggression via sexual cyberbullying (b =.0015, p <.001, 95% CI [.0030,.0110]), indicating mediation.

CONCLUSIONS: The present work highlights the importance of further research in the domain of sexual cyberbullying.

Language: en

Keywords

College students; technology; psychosocial outcomes; relationships; sexual aggression