Date Rape/Acquaintance Rape

Date rape, or acquaintance rape, is both one of the most common types of sexual assault and one of the most controversial. Although legal definitions of rape differ by location in the United States, most researchers typically define this problem as the physical penetration (completed or attempted) by a perpetrator of the mouth, vagina, or anus of a victim who has not given consent and has thus been coerced to engage in unwanted sexual activity. Date or acquaintance rape occurs in the context of a social encounter between individuals who are known to each other prior to the rape incident. The nature of the relationship between individuals prior to this type of sexual assault is the primary reason it is seen as controversial. Even though dates or acquaintance relationships are among the most common contexts for rape, many still believe that most rapes are perpetrated by strangers. This misconception is thought to have depressed the rate at which such rapes were reported by victims, although research evidence appears to show that the difference in the rates of reporting date or acquaintance rape and stranger rape has narrowed. Victims of date or acquaintance rapes often choose not to report these incidents for a variety of reasons, although victim intoxication and not wanting to get the perpetrator in trouble are two of the most common ones. Rape experiences are traumatic by definition, and they are strongly associated with both short- and long-term, deleterious psychological and interpersonal consequences, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In what follows, we summarize what is known about demographic characteristics, prevalence rates, risk factors, psychological and social consequences, and treatments for victims and survivors.

Most of what is known about date rape and acquaintance rape is based on research examining the self-reported experiences of college and university students in the United States and Canada, although some recent research has been reported from European countries as well. Most of the research on this topic consists of a few nationally representative studies along with a somewhat larger number of single-campus investigations, often using convenience samples. Little is known about date or acquaintance rape outside of these demographics, about heterosexual male victims/survivors or about perpetrators or victims/survivors among gay, lesbian, or transgendered persons.

Research to date indicates that young women in their late teens and early twenties are at greatest risk and that approximately 20% to 25% of college women in the United States report having been raped. The majority of these rapes occur in the context of [Page 194]dates or acquaintance relationships. Recent studies of “hooking up” (i.e., a physically intimate encounter that may or may not entail further relational commitment between partners) among college students indicate that this phenomenon may also be a significant risk factor for sexual assault, including rape, although nationally representative information is lacking at present. Additional significant risk factors for victimization include alcohol intoxication and sorority membership.

Far fewer studies have been conducted on the characteristics of date or acquaintance rape perpetrators, but the available evidence seems to indicate that the vast majority are fellow college students of their victims. Perpetrators are also likely to report relatively high consumption of alcohol, and they are more likely to be members of college fraternities and varsity athletic teams. Some evidence suggests that male peer support networks among some male college students function to encourage the sexual victimization of female students. Although a relatively small minority of male students report perpetrating rape, the available evidence seems to show that most of those individuals are repeat offenders. This may help to explain why rates of reported victimization are significantly higher than rates of perpetration.

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