Rape Definitions and Perceptions Among Korean Women: Application of a Sociocultural Framework

98 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006.Data gathered through survey instruments were analyzed to reveal similarities and differences in the ways Korean women of different sociocultural backgrounds define and perceive rape. In the rape definition study, the dimensions and the breadth of rape definitions emerged. Nine categories were identified: Five categories (i.e., Involves Sexual Acts or Acts, Involves Consent, Involves Force, Identifies Rape Types, and Identifies Gender of Victim/Perpetrator) were consistent with the previous findings and four categories (i.e., Identifies Emotional Reactions, Identifies the Impact of Rape, Identifies the Rationale for the Rape, and Is a Criminal Act) were new. The Identifies Rape Types category reflected the breadth of rape definitions and it was associated with sociocultural factors including rape myth acceptance and childhood residence. In the rape perception study, the proposed path model of Rape Perceptions was a good fit of the data and supported the associations among sociocultural factors and its relations to rape perceptions. Specifically, rape perceptions were associated with sociocultural factors including demographic variables (i.e., age and education), a personal variable (i.e., rape history), and cultural variables (i.e., rape myth acceptance and traditional sex role attitude). The proposed model also confirmed the mediating roles of cultural factors including rape myth acceptance and traditional sex role attitude. Further psychometric support for the Korean Rape Myth Acceptance Scale was also provided in a separate study. Implications and limitations of the findings are included.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD