Date of Award

Fall 2007

Document Type

Dissertation - Restricted

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology

First Advisor

Bardwell, Rebecca

Second Advisor

Burkard, Alan

Third Advisor

Melchert, Timothy

Abstract

This exploratory study examined the role that ethnicity and male peer support for the use of violent acts have on African American college men’s use of violent acts against women. One hundred and fifty African American college men from two Midwestern universities participated in the study. Results indicated that more than half of the participants reported using at least one persuasive, coercive, or violent act against a woman in order to obtain sexual activity in the past 12 months with more participants identifying with the use of verbal and psychological acts than the use of physical acts of violence. The majority of participants reported a strong understanding of and a sense of belonging to their ethnic identity. Results of the simultaneous multiple regression analyses indicated that Informational Support and, Peers’ Patriarchal Attitudes were related to the participants’ total use of violent acts, their use of verbal and psychological acts, and their use of physical acts of violence against women to obtain sexual activity. With a better understanding of the role that various sources of influence have on African American college men’s use of violent acts against women, additional research and effective programming can be developed to reduce the number of men who identify with the use of violent acts against women and to change the norms of the college culture so that the use of violent acts are no longer supported, but instead stigmatized

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