Acquaintance rape: Attribution of blame as a function of respondent's sex, attitudes toward women and heterosexual relationships, and acceptance of interpersonal violence

This study was designed to investigate individual characteristics of college students (i.e., attitudes toward women and heterosexual relationships and acceptance of interpersonal violence) and ascertain the relationship between individual characteristics, gender, and attitudes toward attribution of blame in acquaintance rape. Whereas no instruments had been developed to measure attitudes toward attribution of blame in acquaintance rape, this study sought to create such a measure. Students from a large Southwestern university were utilized as participants (N = 159). Four dependent measures were employed: the Attitudes Toward Women Scale: Short Form, the Heterosexual Relationships Scale, the Acceptance of Interpersonal Violence Scale, and the contrived Attitudes of Acquaintance Rape Blame Scale (AARBS). Analyses of variance found that gender, sexist attitudes toward male-female relationships, traditional attitudes toward women, and high acceptance of interpersonal violence led to more traditional assignment of blame in cases of acquaintance rape (i.e., blame the woman)