Abstract
Membership in college fraternities has been found to be associated with a higher risk of sexually coercive behavior (e.g., Boeringer, 1996; Frintner & Rubinson, 1993). Alcohol use, hostility toward women, and negative masculinity have been identified as key risk factors for sexually coercive behavior (e.g., Abbey & McAuslan, 2004; Lackie & de Man, 1997; Testa, 2002); they could potentially mediate the relation between fraternity membership and coercion (Kingree & Thompson, 2013). The current study empirically examined the potential mediating roles of Alcohol Use, Hostility toward Women, and Negative Masculinity. It was hypothesized that Fraternity Membership and Sexual Coercion would be related and that these risk factors would significantly mediate this relation for all levels of Sexual Coercion. We analyzed data on 607 undergraduate males at three universities of varying sizes in the United States using the Multidimensional Inventory of Development, Sex and Aggression (MIDSA). We found that fraternity membership did in fact predict sexual coercion. Unexpectedly, Alcohol Use only mediated this relation for the less severe levels of coercion. In contrast, Hostility toward Women mediated across all levels of coercion, whereas Negative Masculinity did not mediate any levels of coercion. Thus, consumption of alcohol and hostile attitudes toward women might play key roles in facilitating sexually coercive behavior, particularly in the fraternity setting. The results from this study can be helpful in designing appropriate sexual-assault prevention programs in university settings. Future replications and expansions of the present study may seek to examine the role of other potential mediators, and it may be worthwhile to break coercion down by strategy rather than severity.\r Keywords: fraternity, sexual coercion, alcohol, hostility toward women, masculinity