Background: Sexual violence (SV) is a serious public health concern, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQ+) youth report higher rates than their heterosexual and cisgender peers. This qualitative study aimed to understand LGBTQ+ students' perspectives on how middle and high school environments can better prevent…

Cyberbullying is a serious problem, and research on associations between different types of interpersonal violence and cyberbullying victimization is limited. The purpose of this study was to examine how the frequency of physical dating violence (PDV), sexual dating violence (SDV), and forced sexual intercourse (FSI) is associated with…

Sexual violence among adolescents is a major concern. This study examined the impact of the peer-led "Sources of Strength" program on gender-based violence and attitudes dismissive of sexual harassment. Twenty high schools in Colorado were randomized to intervention (n = 11) or waitlist control (n = 9); students (N = 6461; 9th-11th…

With sexual violence prevention programs gaining traction in secondary schools, students' attitudes toward sexual violence have begun to be measured more frequently. While these attitudes are measured as outcomes of prevention programs, students' preexisting attitudes toward sexual violence shape how prevention programs are received by the…

The education of Black male high school students is presently occurring in the context of the #MeToo movement. Recent reports of inappropriate sexual conduct by high profile men, including Black men, have generated heightened awareness, confusion, anxiety, and ambivalence among Black males regarding what behavior is acceptable toward girls and…

Many bystander programs to prevent violence have been developed and evaluated in college populations. An exception is the randomized controlled trial of Green Dot, found effective in reducing violence rates and violence acceptance in 26 high-schools (2010-2014). In 'Life's Snapshot', 10,727 seniors were recruited from these same schools with the…

Purpose: In the current study, we present data describing adolescents' perceptions and knowledge of educator sexual misconduct. Prior research has not investigated how adolescents understand these situations, and this information can help school leaders, educators, and researchers both understand how these situations begin and develop programs…

This study evaluates a gender-sensitive peer education program emphasizing male responsibility for decreasing rape developed through a long-standing agency and school collaborative. Sessions were led by trained male and female high school leaders. Repeated surveying revealed that at posttest and three-month follow-up, the program decreased…

This study investigated the effects of a Men as Allies--based intervention on high school students' rape-supportive attitudes and behaviors. As hypothesized at posttest, the male and female experimental groups demonstrated a significant decrease in rape-supportive attitudes, which was maintained at follow-up. Male participants viewed peers'…

Explored myths about rape and tendency to blame victim in high school (n=54) and college (n=46) students. High school males believed more strongly than did high school females and college males in rape myths and assigned greater blame to victims. For high school students, belief in myths about rape was associated with assigning more victim blame.…

High-school male and female students completed a survey on perceptions regarding nonconsensual sexual activity. Females, blacks, and students with low academic achievement were significantly more likely to perceive that all or most of their close friends were having sex. Females were more knowledgeable than males about nonconsensual sexual…

Attitudes of adolescents about the justifiability of sexual coercion under certain circumstances are examined for 118 suburban high school students (65 percent females) who heard a date rape lecture and completed pretest and posttest surveys. Gender is the most salient variable explaining attitude about sexual coercion and rape. (SLD)