The enjoyment of sexist humor, rape attitudes, and relationship aggression in college students

Sex Roles: A Journal of Research,  May, 1998  by Kathryn Ryan,  Jeanne Kanjorski

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Psychological Aggression. This was measured by 8 items in the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS2; Straus, Hamby, Boney-McCoy, & Sugarman, 1995). These items were: called partner fat or ugly, destroyed something of partners, shouted at partner, insulted or swore at partner, stomped out of room, accused partner of being a lousy lover, did something to spite partner, and threatened to hit or throw something at the partner. Each item was rated in frequency of occurrence (0 = this never happened, 1 = once in past year, 2 = twice in past year, 3 = 3-5 times in the past year, 4 = 6-10 times in the past year, 5 = 11-20 times in the past year, 6 = more than 20 times in the past year, 7 = not in the past year but it happened before). For the purpose of the current analyses, a response of 7 was recoded as 0. The Alpha Coefficient for Psychological Aggression in the current study was .76.

Physical Aggression. This was measured by 12 items in the CTS2. These items were: threw something at the partner that could hurt; twisted partner's arm or hair; pushed or shoved partner; used knife or gun on partner; punched or hit partner with something that could hurt; choked partner; slammed partner against wall; beat up partner; grabbed partner; slapped partner; burned or scalded partner on purpose; and kicked partner. Each item was rated on the same scale as that for psychological aggression. The Alpha Coefficient for Physical Aggression in the current study was .77.

Sexual Aggression. This was measured by 7 items in the CTS2. The 7 items were: made partner have sex without a condom; insisted on oral or anal sex; used force to make a partner have sex; used force to make a partner have oral or anal sex; insisted on sex; used threats to make a partner have anal sex; and used threats to make a partner have sex when partner didn't want to. Each item was rated on the same scale as that for psychological aggression. The Alpha Coefficient for Sexual Aggression in the current study was .47.

Injury. This was measured by 6 items in the CTS2. These 6 items were: partner felt physical pain that still hurt the next day; partner had sprain, bruise or small cut; partner passed out from being hit on the head; partner went to the doctor; partner should have seen a doctor but didn't; and partner had a broken bone. Each item was rated on the same scale as that for psychological aggression. The Alpha Coefficient for Injury in the current study was .76.

Procedure

Participants were run in groups of approximately 10 - 30. Some were run during class time, others were run outside of class. They were all assured [TABULAR DATA FOR TABLE II OMITTED] of anonymity and their ability to withdraw from the study at any time. They received extra credit for their participation.

RESULTS

Because responses to the measures in the current study were not normally distributed, non-parametric statistics were used. To explore gender differences in the attitude and behavior measures, Mann-Whitney U statistics were run. Spearman rank-order correlations were calculated as the measures of association. As predicted in the first hypothesis, women enjoyed the sexist jokes significantly less than men (see Table II). Moreover, they found the jokes to be significantly less acceptable and more offensive than men, although they were not significantly less likely to tell the joke. Consistent with past research, women also showed significantly lower scores on Rape Myth Acceptance, Adversarial Sexual Beliefs, and Acceptance of Interpersonal Violence than men. Women also showed significantly less likelihood of forcing sex on their partner and less sexual aggression. Finally, women showed greater physical aggression (p [less than] .05) and marginally more psychological aggression than men (p = .07).