Campus climate impacts on sexual violence: a Bayesian comparison of undergraduate and community colleges.

Abstract

Objective: Sexual violence is endemic on college campuses. Four-year campuses present high-risk environments for sexual violence and heavy episodic drinking is a robust risk factor for victimization. However, limited literature exists on sexual violence at two-year institutions, with most research focused on four-year campuses. We examined whether campus climates affect sexual violence prevalence rates.

Participants: Sexual misconduct campus climate data from two-year and four-year campus students.

Methods: We used Bayesian logistic regressions to compare sexual victimization odds between two- and four-year campuses.

Results: Four-year students were twice as likely to have experienced sexual victimization and 2.5 times more likely to engage in heavy episodic drinking compared to two-year students. The risk of sexual victimization associated with heavy episodic drinking was reliably similar across campus types.

Conclusions: Campus climates reliably impact student's risk of sexual victimization. Based on these findings, two- and four-year campuses may need to implement distinct prevention services.