The Influence of Social Media Viewing on Sexual Assault Beliefs

The United States is experiencing an epidemic of sexual assault on college campuses, with 25% of college women reporting experiencing rape or attempted rape. Prior research has highlighted the role of rape myth acceptance and bystander beliefs in the prevention and perpetration of sexual assault. Additionally, prior research has revealed that consumption of certain forms of media (e.g., sports, or violent pornography) has been associated with sexual assault-related beliefs among college students. To date, however, no studies have examined the role of social media use on sexual assault-related beliefs. The goal of the present study was to examine the influence of social media consumption and adherence to gender roles on sexual assault-related beliefs. Participants were undergraduate psychology students who participated in the present study in exchange for course credit. We hypothesized that social media consumption would be positively associated with rape myth acceptance and adherence to traditional gender roles. We also expected to find a negative association between social media consumption and bystander self-efficacy. Lastly, we expect that the relationships between social media use and rape myth acceptance and bystander self-efficacy will be mediated by gender roles after controlling for social desirability. Data collection is ongoing; however, preliminary analyses reveal positive associations between social media consumption, levels of rape myth acceptance, and greater adherence to more traditional general roles. Bystander self-efficacy was negatively associated with rape myth acceptance, but not social media use or gender roles. Findings from the present study may have meaningful implications for sexual assault prevention programming