Dissertation Defenses

Doctoral Dissertation Announcement

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Candidate: Robin M. Carter-Visscher

Degree of: Doctor of Philosophy

Department: Psychology

Title: Unwanted Sexual Experiences: Preliminary Development and Validation of a Behavioral Analog Measure for Risk Perception, Response Appraisal, and Response

Committee:
Dr. Amy E. Naugle, Chair
Dr. Richard Spates
Dr. Scott Gaynor
Dr. Mary Anderson

Date: Tuesday, June 10, 2008 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
3715 Wood Hall

Abstract:
Based on research findings indicating that sexual victimization is a prevalent problem on college campuses and has significant consequences for victims, researchers have examined the effectiveness of sexual assault education programs on reducing incidents of sexual victimization and have found programs to be unsuccessful. Other researchers have begun to investigate behavioral factors associated with risk for sexual victimization in order to better understand mechanisms of sexual victimization and revictimization before developing and implementing interventions. One hypothesis that has received increased attention in recent years is that women with a sexual victimization history may have deficient risk perception and effective responding skills. The proposed study is part of a program of research on the development, validation, and use of an innovative videotaped methodology for the assessment of potential behavioral risk factors of sexual victimization and revictimization. The purpose of this study is to examine construct validity, structural validity, and reliability of written vignettes designed to assess risk perception and effective behavioral responding to inform further development and validation of the videotaped assessment methodology.