Date of Award
1991
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Janet M. Kulberg
Abstract
This study was designed to investigate whether a 50-minute workshop educating students in the areas of rape and rape myths would have an effect on attitudes and knowledge about responsible dating.
Great Expectations is a 50-minute workshop which incorporates both a lecture and an affective component in its approach to educating students. Its focus is on educating students around responsible dating as well as rape and rape myths.
The sample was made up of 150 high school seniors, 75 of whom participated in the workshop and 75 served as a control group. Three measures -- Rape Myth Acceptance, Knowledge of Rape and Rape Myths, and Scenarios which judged whether an incident is a rape – were administered both pretest and post-test. All students were administered these measures by their classroom teacher one week before and one week after the workshop.
Results showed that there were no significant differences between the treatment and control groups on post-test measures. All groups improved on knowledge whether they were involved in the workshop or not, suggesting that 1) the importance of looking into the sensitizing effects of the measures being used, and 2) the importance of exploring what impact the spread of effects may have played in these results. Women scored higher than men on knowledge-based questions both pretest and post-test. The information obtained continues to demonstrate gender differences between men and women in their knowledge of rape, and acceptance of rape myths.
Recommended Citation
Chrappa, Rita C., "Great Expectations: A Workshop on Responsible Dating" (1991). Open Access Dissertations. Paper 910.
https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/oa_diss/910
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