Vulnerability to Sexual Victimization in Female and Male College Students in Brazil: Cross-Sectional and Prospective Evidence

Abstract

© 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York. Using both cross-sectional and prospective analyses, this study examined vulnerability factors for sexual victimization in 541 female and male Brazilian college students, of whom a subgroup of 250 took part in two measurements 6 months apart. Risk factors for sexual victimization (alcohol consumption, casual sex, and ambiguous communication) in participants’ cognitive scripts for consensual sex were linked to sexual victimization via their translation into risky sexual behavior. Pornography use was indirectly linked to sexual victimization through its influence on risky sexual scripts and sexual behavior. Child sexual abuse predicted sexual victimization in the cross-sectional analysis, and victimization since age 14 predicted revictimization in the six months covered by the prospective period. Few gender differences were found. This study is the first prospective investigation of vulnerability factors for sexual victimization in Brazil, and similarities to evidence from North America are discussed.