@article{ref1,
title="Study title-based framing effects on reports of sexual violence and associated risk factors in college students",
journal="Journal of interpersonal violence",
year="2021",
author="Anderson, RaeAnn E. and Namie, Emily M. Carstens and Michel, Paige K. and Delahanty, Douglas L.",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="OBJECTIVE: There are many methodological issues in studying sexual violence, including potential framing effects. Framing effects refer to how researchers communicate the purpose of a study to participants, such as, how the study is advertised or explained. The aim of this study was to investigate if framing effects were associated with differences in participants' self-reported experiences of sexual violence and related correlates. <br><br>METHODS: College students (N = 782) were recruited to participate in one of four identical studies that differed in the title: &quot;Questionnaires about Alcohol,&quot; &quot;Questionnaires about Crime,&quot; &quot;Questionnaires about Health,&quot; or &quot;Questionnaires about Sexual Assault.&quot; Participants chose one of the four studies and completed measures of sexual violence as well as attitudinal and behavioral measures in randomized order. <br><br>RESULTS: We found significantly more reports of childhood sexual abuse (33.6% vs. 18.5%), rape (33.9% vs. 21.1%), higher frequency of victimization (M = 11.35 vs. 5.44), and greater acknowledged rape for bisexual people (46.2% vs. 0.0%) in the sexual assault (SA) condition compared to other conditions. There were no differences in sexual violence perpetration or attitudinal or behavioral measures. <br><br>CONCLUSION: These results revealed that framing effects, based on the study title, affect outcomes in sexual victimization research. Rape was reported 1.6× more in the &quot;Sexual Assault&quot; condition than in the &quot;Health&quot; condition. It is unclear whether these framing effects reflect self-selection bias or framing related increased reports in the SA condition, suppression of reports in other conditions, or a combination thereof.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0886-2605",
doi="10.1177/08862605211016349",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/08862605211016349"
}