Relation between gender role beliefs, acculturation, and rape myth acceptance among a sample of Latino/a college students

The purpose of this study was to explore the relation between rape myth acceptance, gender role beliefs, and the level of acculturation among Latino/a college students. Women's safety on campuses received increased attention when it was found in previous research that those aged 16--24 years had experienced the most victimization. Researchers found comparable incidences of rape of men and women for the Latino/a population, which demonstrated the prevalence of rape among Latinos/as.; In this study, male and female Latino/a college students were recruited from history, bilingual education, and counseling psychology courses at a Southwestern university. A total of 324 Latino/a students were included in the study. The author assessed participants' beliefs by utilizing the Sex Role Ideology Scale, the Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans---II and the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale.; Multiple regression and simple regression statistics were utilized to identify the relation between level of acculturation, gender role beliefs, and rape myth. The gender differences for gender role beliefs, acculturation and rape myth acceptance were statistically analyzed with the inferential statistics t-test. A significance level of 0.05 was used for all statistical tests.; Results indicated that students less accepting of rape myths held less traditional gender role beliefs and traditional gender role beliefs were related to increased rape myth acceptance. Females were less accepting of rape myths and held less traditional gender role beliefs than males. There were no gender differences in students' level of acculturation. The results of the study provide information for clinicians to help Latino/a college students explore their feelings about rape. The results from this study will also provide psychologists with information that will encourage culturally appropriate practice when creating rape prevention programs and clinical interventions. The author also suggests ideas for further exploration of rape myth acceptance and its relation to the Latino/a culture.