Hooking-Up and Sexual Victimization on Campus: Examining Moderators of Risk

Hooking-up among college students presents an increased risk of sexual victimization, perhaps due to increased contact with potential perpetrators in a risky context. However, little work has examined factors that might increase the risk of victimization associated with hooking-up, and few studies examine victimization among both men and women. To address this gap in the literature, we utilize data from 702 college women and 677 college men to explore childhood sexual abuse, family violence, sexual minority (SM) status, and problematic alcohol use as potential moderators of the association between hooking-up and three forms of sexual victimization: coerced, incapacitated, and forced. Results of regression analyses indicate several significant interactions and significant main effects. For example, SM men and women were each at an increased risk of forced and incapacitated victimization when hook-up frequency was high compared with non-SM students.