Separation and/or divorce sexual assault in rural Ohio: preliminary results of an exploratory study

A rapidly growing social scientific literature shows that many women are at great risk of being killed, beaten, or psychologically abused when they exit or try to leave their marital and/or cohabiting partners. However, less than a handful of studies have examined male-to-female sexual assaults during and after separation or divorce. Furthermore, the bulk of the limited empirical work on this problem was done in urban areas. Thus, the main objective of this article is to help fill two major research gaps by presenting the preliminary results of an ongoing exploratory study of separation and/or divorce sexual assault in rural Ohio.