Belief in Just World and Rape Myth Acceptance: The Impact of Stressful Life Experiences on Attitudes Towards Sexual Violence Against Women

Abstract

In 2019, 30.1% of undergraduate women at the UF reported experiencing nonconsensual sexual contact due to force or inability to consent, highlighting the need to better understand the beliefs that shape responses to sexual violence. Prior literature has identified a positive correlation between rape myth acceptance (RMA), defined as attitudes that minimize or justify sexual assault, with just world beliefs (JWB), the belief that people get what they deserve. The present study aimed to extend existing literature by examining stressful life experiences as a potential moderator of the relationship between JWB and RMA toward women among college students at UF. Unexpectedly, the results indicated that there was no significant interaction between RMA and JWB. Stressful life experiences also did not significantly moderate this relationship; however, the association between JWB and RMA was found to be stronger at lower levels of stressful life experiences. Ambivalent sexism, gender role beliefs, and gender consistently emerged as the strongest predictors of RMA, suggesting the importance of gender, gender roles, and sexist ideology in shaping these attitudes. Continued research may benefit from further examining how attitudes and life experiences contribute to the justification of sexual violence or the minimization of survivors’ experiences.