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Measuring sexual aggression perpetration in college men: A comparison of two measures.

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Psychology of Violence

Published online on

Abstract

[Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported in Vol 5(3) of Psychology of Violence (see record 2015-20491-001). In the Advance online publication of this article, there are errors in the Results and Discussion sections. The corrected information is provided.] Objective: The present study was designed to provide a comparison of rates of self-reported sexual aggression perpetration obtained using 2 different measures—a version of the Sexual Experiences Survey (SES; Abbey, Parkhill, Clinton-Sherrod, & Zawacki, 2007; Koss, Gidycz, & Wisniewski, 1987) and the Sexual Strategies Scale (SSS, Strang, Peterson, Hill, & Heiman, 2013; Struckman-Johnson, Struckman-Johnson, & Anderson, 2003). We also examined the psychometric structure of each measure using Rasch model item analysis (Rasch, 1966). Method: Two equivalent cohorts of entering freshman males (n = 994 and n = 1043) from a large northeastern university completed online measures at the end of their first semester. Results: Identical proportions of men reported using intoxication strategies (3%) and physical force (1%) during the past semester on both measures. More men reported verbal strategies on the SSS (7.8%) compared with the SES (3.7%), even when restricting to equivalent items. Rasch analysis suggested that the SSS conformed better to a unidimensional continuum of perpetration severity than the SES; however, Rasch analysis did not provide definitive support for either a tactic-based (SSS) or a tactic-plus-outcome–based (SES) hierarchy. Conclusions: Both measures functioned adequately. However, the SSS may be preferred for its better Rasch properties, better assessment of the less severe tactics, and simpler wording. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved)