Sexual Coercion Experiences among Canadian University Students with Disabilities

Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 2020

Undergraduate students with disabilities represent an important population on college campuses. Yet the incidence of sexual violence and disclosing/reporting of sexual violence among this population is understudied. This exploratory and largely descriptive study uses an intersectional framework to understand the sexual victimization of undergraduate students with disabilities at a large Mid-Atlantic academic institution. The sample consisted of students who completed a sexual violence module ( N = 2,929) as part of a larger campus climate survey. Students with disabilities comprised a smaller sample within this group ( n = 177) and descriptive and chi-square results from both groups of students are reported. Students with disabilities had a statistically significant higher likelihood of sexual violence victimization before coming to campus and while at the university, with much higher rates for precollege victimization than students with no disabilities. Disclosure rates were not di...

Brief presented to the Standing Committee on the Status of Women for its study on violence against young women and girls in Canada Enquête Sexualité, Sécurité et Interactions en Milieu Universitaire (ESSIMU) : Ce qu’en disent étudiant.es, enseignant.es et employé.es [Study on sexuality, security and interactions in a university setting (ESSIMU): What students and employees are saying]

Violence Against Women

Using a 60-day daily e-diary tool, 117 women undergraduate students reported sexual harassment on a Canadian university campus (4,283 diary surveys, collectively). Participants reported 181 incidents of both ambient sexual harassment ( witnessing 40 incidents , hearing 106 unwelcomed sexual jokes/remarks) and targeted personal experiences of non-physical sexual harassment (35 incidents). Qualitative data document students’ descriptions of these encounters and contextualize how these are part of everyday student life. Findings show that students experience this harassment almost daily—in an ongoing, persistent, and normalized way—and that university can be a hostile environment where the possibility of daily unwanted sexual experiences is a lived, endemic reality.

NCJ, 2000

Journal of Adolescent Health, 2018

Purpose: Sexual violence is a pervasive problem on university campuses. Although previous work has documented greater vulnerability for sexual violence among sexual and gender minority students , little is known about contextual variation in vulnerability to this kind of violence. The goals of the current study were (1) to identify vulnerability among sexual and gender minority students with regard to sexual violence, and (2) to explore if the context of this violence differs across sexual and gender minority status. Methods: Undergraduate students (ages 18–24) from six francophone universities in Quebec, Canada (N = 4,264) completed online questionnaires regarding their experience of sexual violence, as well as the context of these acts (e.g., the gender of the perpetrator, the status of the perpetrator, and the location of the violence). They also provided information regarding their sexual and gender minority status. Binary logistic regressions were conducted to assess for variation in experiencing sexual violence across sexual and gender minority status. Results: Transgender/nonbinary students generally reported higher levels of sexual violence than their cisgender peers, while variation occurred with regard to vulnerability across sexual identity subgroups. Few differences in context were observed across sexual minority identity. Transgender/ nonbinary students were significantly more likely to report sexual violence in athletic contexts and during volunteering activities compared to their cisgender peers. Conclusions: Findings highlight the higher levels of vulnerability for sexual violence among gender minority and some sexual minority university students. They also point to the contexts in which such violence occurs, suggesting specific strategies for prevention.

This Report is an examination of the police and institutional responses to sexual violence at Ontario university campuses. It is based on a comprehensive desk study of the extant literature as well as site studies at three Ontario universities: Carleton University, Lakehead University and the University of Waterloo. The study was conducted over a four-month period (March-June 2016) and includes approximately 120 hours of interview data. We interviewed three respondent groups: (1) campus administrators and service providers (n=50), (2) campus and local police (n=29), and (3) sexual violence survivors (n=18) and students (n=29).

Comparative and International Education/Éducation comparée et internationale, 2022

This article reports findings from a qualitative study exploring how international students and campus staff in urban universities in Canada perceive sexual violence and prevention initiatives enacted in their university. The study rests upon personal interviews and three focus groups involving a total of 95 participants (64 students from 25 countries and 31 campus support staff members who work directly with these learners). The analysis of these narratives focuses on three pivotal areas in sexual violence prevention: awareness, incident reporting patterns, and fostering a "culture of consent." It reveals important misalignment between the needs and knowledges of international students and the Western, ethnocentric cultural logic of campus approaches. Instead, international students seek peer-led discussions about gender inequality, sexuality, safe sex, and the role of religion, culture, and parents within their own communities and countries of origin. They also seek safe spaces to think through and debate the kind of politics or actions that could enable changes within their home countries and the world.

Journal of interpersonal violence, 2017

Unwanted sexual experiences are common among university students in the United States and pose a substantial public health concern. Campus policies and programs to prevent unwanted sexual incidents in university settings require research on prevalence and risk correlates of both victimization and perpetration. This study determined the prevalence of unwanted sexual victimization and perpetration experiences among students, both before and after joining the university, and examined risk correlates for both unwanted sexual victimization and perpetration experiences. Data were collected from 3,977 full-time graduate and undergraduate students using an online survey in a large private university. The findings revealed nearly one in eight students surveyed were victimized by unwanted sexual incidents at the university. Risk correlates of victimization by unwanted sexual incidents included female gender, undergraduate student status, and victimization experiences prior to joining the univ...

Journal of Womens Health, 2018

We address questions about (1) how college women with a disability experience sexual violence (SV) and intimate partner violence (IPV) across partners, including disability-specific abuse and (2) how SV/ IPV impacts psychological, behavioral, physical, and academic life domains. Methods/Design: Twenty-seven female college students (mean age, 21.2; 66.6% white; 66.6% heterosexual) were randomly sampled from university registrar records. To be eligible for the study, students had to have at least one experience of SV/IPV since age 18 and a disability (88.8% reported one or more mental health conditions; 11.1% reported other conditions, such as attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder; with the majority of women indicating their disability preceded SV/IPV victimization). Using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's definitions of SV/IPV as guides, clinically trained master's level interviewers conducted semistructured interviews to ascertain SV/IPV patterns across students' three most recent relationships and related life impacts. Results: SV/IPV was pervasive in college women with a disability, within hookup settings and/or recurring SV/ IPV with a long-term partner. For some women, SV spanned multiple abusive partners. For women in relationships marked by chronic abuse, in addition to SV, the relationship dynamic included disability-specific abuse, social isolation, threats/intimidation, and technology-related abuse. For women experiencing SV events within hookup settings, alcohol was a common facilitator, with some abusers using a disability to manipulate a sexual connection. All but one participant reported exacerbated adverse mental health consequences (e.g., depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, suicidal ideation/attempts, stress) after victimization. These adverse mental health consequences coincided with adverse behavioral (e.g., becoming less social, avoiding usual study lounge areas on campus), physical (e.g., problems sleeping, bruising, pregnancy concerns, and sexually transmitted disease), and academic outcomes (e.g., skipping and/or dropping class, grades suffering). Discussion: Our results underscore the need for continued investment in campus programs that improve response to SV/IPV, including prevention programs and support services tailored to the specific needs and vulnerabilities of women with underlying mental health conditions.

NCJ, 2000

Abstract: The National College Women Sexual Victimization (NCVS) study attempted to build on and surmount the limitations of existing research on the sexual victimization of college students. In addition to the study of sexual victimization, the study investigated how rape estimates that use the two-stage process of behaviorally specific questions and incident reports compared with estimates drawn from survey responses. The study results were based on a telephone survey of a randomly selected national sample of 4,446 ...