Volunteering Rationale and Rape Myth Acceptance

This study builds on previous research about the effects of prosocial behavior on emotional engagement (Schnall, Roper & Fessler, 2010). Findings demonstrated that an individual’s observation of others’ engagement in altruistic behaviors can positively influence their willingness to volunteer (Schnall, et al., 2010). The current study had two parts; this presentation will focus on results from part 1, which investigated participants’ volunteer experiences, reasons for volunteering, and various attitudes and beliefs about sexual violence. It was hypothesized that participants’ level of rape myth acceptance would be associated with their experiences and knowledge of sexual violence as well as their reasons for volunteering. Results from 100 participants from part 1 of the study will be presented (79% White; 86% Female; mean age: 19.74, SD=4.23). Acceptance of rape myth stereotypes was significantly correlated with one of the knowledge questions about sexual violence (r = -.37, p \u3c .001). More specifically, participants with greater acceptance of rape myths were more likely to mistakenly believe that victims tend to lie about their sexual assault experiences. However, there was no difference on knowledge about how common sexual assault is, or whether they or someone they knew had been a victim of sexual assault (ps \u3e .05). There were also no significant associations between participants’ reasons for volunteering and their levels of acceptance of rape myths. These findings suggest that reasons for volunteering (i.e. to give back, requirement) do not affect an individual’s acceptance of rape myth stereotypes, but perhaps the way victims are viewed does