Assault Typologies of College Rape Victims: A Mixed Methods Investigation

Sexual assault remains an entrenched public health issue, with adolescent and emerging adult women at disproportionate risk for victimization. Identifying common typologies of sexual assault could be critical in developing effective prevention and intervention. However, prior work in this area has primarily utilized quantitative methodologies to classify sexual assaults into typologies, which may not capture important contextual factors and assault characteristics within typologies. The current study utilized a mixed methods approach, including analysis of survivors’ sexual assault narratives, to identify sexual assault typologies among a sample of college rape survivors (N = 106). Six typologies were identified, which were characterized by specific constellations of assault contexts, perpetration tactics, patterns of perpetrator and victim substance use, and type of relationship between survivor and perpetrator. Future research utilizing multiple methodologies (e.g., interviews, quantitative assessments) should attempt to characterize assault typologies more fully among survivors, as this work could lead to the identification of previously overlooked targets for comprehensive sexual assault prevention programs. Likewise, research focused on identifying risk and recovery-related factors among survivors of different types of assault could be used to tailor interventions to increase their uptake and effectiveness.