Pornography Use and Sexual Coercion: Examining the Mediation Effect of Sexual Arousal.

The increased accessibility and use of pornography in Western society highlights the emergent need to understand the relationship between its use and sexual coercion. Decades of research have demonstrated a consistent relationship between pornography use and engaging in sexually aggressive behavior, although what drives this relationship remains largely unexplained. Researchers have recently presented potential explanations for these relationships, such as the use of violent pornography types, the development of aberrant sexual scripts, and the frequency of pornography use. This study seeks to contribute to the explanation by examining the potential mediating effects of sexual arousal on the relationship between pornography use frequency and willingness to engage in verbal and illegal sexual coercive behaviors by examining a sample of male and female college adults. This population reports some of the highest rates of pornography use. The sample of 745 college students were exposed to either an exotic video presentation or a criminal justice lecture, and provided a dating scenario and sexual arousal assessments. Results indicated those young adults that consume pornography more frequently were more likely to experience higher levels of sexual arousal to the erotic video than those who reported little or no use. However, after controlling for several variables significantly related to sexual coercion, arousal did not mediate willingness to engage in verbal or illegal sexual coercive behaviors. Other significant results and implications are discussed.

Comparing Perception of Sexual Intent and the Use of Sexual Coercion in Men and Women College Students.

Despite research showing that many college men and women have experienced misperception of their friendliness as sexual intent, such research has focused on this type of misperception only as a correlate of men's sexual aggression. In fact, regardless of methodology used many researchers seem to suggest women do not misperceive men's sexual intent, and in some instances may actually under-perceive it. We used a hypothetical scenario to determine whether men (n = 324) and women (n = 689) college students perceived similar sexual intent from a character who is not the same gender as they are, as depicted in a story about a man and woman on a "date." Our results revealed that men and women in our sample reported similar levels of perceived sexual intent on the part of the character with a different gender as described in the scenario, even after that character clearly indicated to the partner that they "think they do not want to have sex." In addition, the perceived level of the character's sexual intent as solicited in response to this scenario design was related to sexual coercion intentions among both men and women (though it appears more strongly related among men), and these relationships remained even after controlling for other known correlates of sexual coercion (e.g., rape myth acceptance, level of sexual arousal). Implications for the study of misperception and its origins are discussed.

Mediators of the Link Between Psychopathy and Sexual Coercion: The Role of Rape Myth Acceptance, Arousal, and Misperception of Sexual Interest.

The current study explores the relationship between psychopathy, cognitive distortions that could promote sexual coercion, i.e., rape myth acceptance (RMA) and misperception of sexual intent (MPSI), and one's level of sexual arousal on the intentions to use sexual coercion. Using a sample of 218 college men (aged 18-69) and a hypothetical vignette design, we examine potential direct and indirect effects of psychopathy on coercion intentions. Psychopathy directly related to coercion intentions and also operated indirectly through RMA. Furthermore, RMA was related to coercion intentions through MPSI. Implications for understanding sexual coercion pathways and prevention efforts are discussed.

Crossing the Threshold From Porn Use to Porn Problem: Frequency and Modality of Porn Use as Predictors of Sexually Coercive Behaviors.

According to recent statistics, as many as one in five female college students are victims of sexual assault during their college career. To combat what has been called the "Campus Rape Crisis," researchers have attempted to understand what variables are associated with sexually coercive behaviors in college males. Although investigators have found support for the relationship between pornography consumption and sexually coercive behavior, researchers typically operationalize pornography use in terms of frequency of use. Furthermore, frequency of use has been assessed vaguely and inconsistently. The current study offered a more concrete assessment of frequency of use and an additional variable not yet included for pornography use: number of modalities. Beyond examining the relationship between pornography use and sexual coercion likelihood, the current study was the first to use pornography variables in a threshold analysis to test whether there is a cut point that is predictive of sexual coercion likelihood. Analyses were conducted with a sample of 463 college males. Results indicated that both pornography use variables were significantly related to a higher likelihood of sexually coercive behaviors. When both frequency of use and number of modalities were included in the model, modalities were significant and frequency was not. In addition, significant thresholds for both pornography variables that predicted sexual coercion likelihood were identified. These results imply that factors other than frequency of use, such as number of modalities, may be more important for the prediction of sexual coercive behaviors. Furthermore, threshold analyses revealed the most significant increase in risk occurred between one modality and two, indicating that it is not pornography use in general that is related to sexual coercion likelihood, but rather, specific aspects of pornography use.

Examining the Direct and Indirect Effects of Fear and Anger on Criminal Decision Making Among Known Offenders.

Deterrence represents the central theoretical core of the American criminal justice system, yet relatively little attention has been paid to how emotions like fear and anger may relate to deterrence. Psychological research has debated whether negative emotions each have similar impacts on decision making (valence approaches) or if distinct emotions have unique impacts (appraisal tendency approaches). This study explores the direct and indirect influences of fear and anger on hypothetical drunk driving likelihood, including their impact on cost perceptions. Surveys were administered to 1,013 male and female incarcerated felony offenders in the Southwestern United States. Using a multivariate path model and controlling for a number of other individual factors, current fear related to increased cost perceptions and anger to decreased costs. Anger also maintained a direct influence on drunk driving, whereas fear did not. Despite their shared negative valence, fear and anger appear to have dissimilar influences on cost perceptions and criminal decision making. A better understanding of these processes may lead to improved crime prevention approaches.