Development and Validation of the Acceptance of Sexualized Aggression Scale Among U.S. College Women

Sexualized aggression - common, everyday forms of contact and non-contact sexual violence - is commonly experienced by young women in social drinking settings, such as parties, bars, and clubs. Existing scales intended to assess permissive attitudes toward violence against women do not capture women's attitudes toward sexualized aggression at all, let alone in drinking environments. To address this gap in the literature, we developed the Acceptance of Sexualized Aggression (ASA) Scale. The scale incorporates behaviorally specific items and language familiar to young women to understand their normalization of men's sexualized aggression toward women in drinking settings. Initial items were based on focus group research with college women; these items were pilot-tested and underwent two rounds of expert review. The structure of the final scale was validated in a sample of college women from two large, public universities in the United States (N = 599). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported a one-factor, 13-item scale, and convergence and known-groups validity were established. The ASA is related to, but distinct from, attitudes regarding heteronormative gender roles, rape myths, and dating violence, indicating its potential usefulness for understanding young women's development of permissive attitudes about violence against women and its outcomes.