@article{ref1,
title="Risk processing and college women's risk for sexual victimization",
journal="Psychology of violence",
year="2020",
author="Yeater, Elizabeth A. and Treat, Teresa A. and Viken, Richard J. and Bryan, Angela D.",
volume="10",
number="5",
pages="575-583",
abstract="OBJECTIVE: Sexual assault is a widespread problem among college women. Interventions effective in reducing college men's sexually aggressive behavior are scarce making research with at-risk women a necessary adjunct to work with men. This study examined whether individual differences in decoding risk information and making decisions about risky situations prospectively predicted sexual victimization 6 months later, as well as whether these cognitive processes mediated the association between baseline and follow-up victimization. <br><br>METHOD: Participants were 481 freshman undergraduate women aged between 18 and 24 years, who were heterosexual or bisexual, and unmarried. At baseline, participants completed tasks measuring decoding and decision-making about victimization risk in written vignettes describing risky social situations. They also completed the Sexual Experiences Survey to measure the severity of victimization experiences at baseline and follow-up. <br><br>RESULTS: Less effective decision-making at baseline prospectively predicted more severe follow-up victimization. Judging more situations as high risk at baseline, as well as relying more on risk cues when judging risk at baseline, indirectly predicted less severe follow-up victimization via more effective decision-making. Less effective decision-making at baseline partially accounted for the strong prospective link between victimization severity at baseline and follow-up. <br><br>CONCLUSION: Risk-related decoding and decision-making processes either directly or indirectly prospectively predicted the severity of future sexual victimization of college women. Cognitive-training methods designed to enhance college women's detection of and response to victimization risk should be explored as a potential preventative strategy for the reduction of women's risk for sexual violence. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="2152-0828",
doi="10.1037/vio0000270",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/vio0000270"
}