This paper explores the reactions of college students to sexual violence scenarios. Scenarios depicted long-term, same-sex and opposite-sex dating couples. Eight scenarios were created, varying along the factors of: presentation medium (video, written) and sex(es) of assailant and victim (Male/Female (M/F), Male/Male (M/M), Female/Female (F/F), and Female/Male (F/M)). Each participant was presented with one of the eight scenarios, in a between-groups fashion. Participants’ conceptualizations of the scenarios were gathered via comprehension and interpretation questions. Participants were also asked questions to gather demographic information. Demographic analyses showed that over one-third of respondents had experienced sexual assault. Contrary to hypotheses, written scenarios were found to be more believable and emotionally evocative than were video scenarios. Students were also more likely to identify sexual assault as having happened in the written, as opposed to video, scenarios, but showed no significant differences in their determinations of sexual assault among the conditions based on the sex(es) of the assailant and victim. However, respondents did think that M/F scenarios were more believable than F/M scenarios, and clearer than M/M and F/F scenarios. On average, students agreed/strongly agreed that sexual assault and unwanted sexual behaviors had occurred in the scenarios.
","abstract_html":"<p>This paper explores the reactions of college students to sexual violence scenarios. Scenarios depicted long-term, same-sex and opposite-sex dating couples. Eight scenarios were created, varying along the factors of: presentation medium (video, written) and sex(es) of assailant and victim (Male/Female (M/F), Male/Male (M/M), Female/Female (F/F), and Female/Male (F/M)). Each participant was presented with one of the eight scenarios, in a between-groups fashion. Participants’ conceptualizations of the scenarios were gathered via comprehension and interpretation questions. Participants were also asked questions to gather demographic information. Demographic analyses showed that over one-third of respondents had experienced sexual assault. Contrary to hypotheses, written scenarios were found to be more believable and emotionally evocative than were video scenarios. Students were also more likely to identify sexual assault as having happened in the written, as opposed to video, scenarios, but showed no significant differences in their determinations of sexual assault among the conditions based on the sex(es) of the assailant and victim. However, respondents did think that M/F scenarios were more believable than F/M scenarios, and clearer than M/M and F/F scenarios. On average, students agreed/strongly agreed that sexual assault and unwanted sexual behaviors had occurred in the scenarios.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Plackowski, Emily F."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Psychological Science","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Jacob Daar"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2018,"date_issued":"2018-04-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2018-04-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:23:47Z","subjects":["sexual assault","sexual violence","video","written","scenario","media","Psychology","Social Psychology"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://commons.nmu.edu/theses/540","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Jacob Daar"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Plackowski, Emily F."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2019-03-14T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Psychological Science"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["sexual assault","sexual violence","video","written","scenario","media","Psychology","Social Psychology"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://commons.nmu.edu/theses/540"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This paper explores the reactions of college students to sexual violence scenarios. Scenarios depicted long-term, same-sex and opposite-sex dating couples. Eight scenarios were created, varying along the factors of: presentation medium (video, written) and sex(es) of assailant and victim (Male/Female (M/F), Male/Male (M/M), Female/Female (F/F), and Female/Male (F/M)). Each participant was presented with one of the eight scenarios, in a between-groups fashion. Participants’ conceptualizations of the scenarios were gathered via comprehension and interpretation questions. Participants were also asked questions to gather demographic information. Demographic analyses showed that over one-third of respondents had experienced sexual assault. Contrary to hypotheses, written scenarios were found to be more believable and emotionally evocative than were video scenarios. Students were also more likely to identify sexual assault as having happened in the written, as opposed to video, scenarios, but showed no significant differences in their determinations of sexual assault among the conditions based on the sex(es) of the assailant and victim. However, respondents did think that M/F scenarios were more believable than F/M scenarios, and clearer than M/M and F/F scenarios. On average, students agreed/strongly agreed that sexual assault and unwanted sexual behaviors had occurred in the scenarios.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Investigating Sexual Violence in College-Aged Dating Couples: Does the Medium Affect the Message?"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Jacob Daar"],"dc:creator":["Plackowski, Emily F."],"dc:date.available":["2019-03-14T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["This paper explores the reactions of college students to sexual violence scenarios. Scenarios depicted long-term, same-sex and opposite-sex dating couples. Eight scenarios were created, varying along the factors of: presentation medium (video, written) and sex(es) of assailant and victim (Male/Female (M/F), Male/Male (M/M), Female/Female (F/F), and Female/Male (F/M)). Each participant was presented with one of the eight scenarios, in a between-groups fashion. Participants’ conceptualizations of the scenarios were gathered via comprehension and interpretation questions. Participants were also asked questions to gather demographic information. Demographic analyses showed that over one-third of respondents had experienced sexual assault. Contrary to hypotheses, written scenarios were found to be more believable and emotionally evocative than were video scenarios. Students were also more likely to identify sexual assault as having happened in the written, as opposed to video, scenarios, but showed no significant differences in their determinations of sexual assault among the conditions based on the sex(es) of the assailant and victim. However, respondents did think that M/F scenarios were more believable than F/M scenarios, and clearer than M/M and F/F scenarios. On average, students agreed/strongly agreed that sexual assault and unwanted sexual behaviors had occurred in the scenarios.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://commons.nmu.edu/theses/540"],"dc:subject":["sexual assault","sexual violence","video","written","scenario","media","Psychology","Social Psychology"],"dc:title":["Investigating Sexual Violence in College-Aged Dating Couples: Does the Medium Affect the Message?"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Psychological Science"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:23:47Z"}