Citation

Huntington C, Dejong W, Reidy DE, Orchowski LM. J. Child Sex. Abus. 2024; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2024, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/10538712.2024.2340631

PMID

38605491

Abstract

Often, perpetrators of sexual violence first aggress in their teens. Presently, very little is known about environmental factors that may influence adolescents' engagement in sexual aggression. Drawing upon data collected at 27 high schools in the Northeast United States, this study is the first to test the association between community-level factors and male adolescents' sexual aggression. A series of backward linear regressions determined that 10 of 19 community variables were associated with males' sexual aggression, which were then used to generate a ratio of positive to negative correlates of sexual aggression for each high school. In multilevel analyzes, as hypothesized, the ratio of positive to negative correlates was positively associated with schools' sexual aggression perpetration rates. We discuss the study's implications for future sexual assault research and prevention interventions.

Language: en

Keywords

adolescents; community variables; Sexual violence; socioecological model