Date of Award

January 2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Alan R. King

Abstract

This study attempted to replicate and expand the Confluence Model of Sexual Aggression (Malamuth et al., 1991) in an online survey of national (n = 512) and university (n = 100) men. Overall, 28.8% of men (national = 29.5%; university = 25%) reported perpetrating sexual aggression against a woman at least once. In the sexually aggressive group, 81.2% reported perpetrating sexual violence more than once, and 40.3% reported six or more acts. It was hypothesized the Confluence Model would be improved by adding everyday sadism, parental attachment, and the Personality Inventory for the DSM-5 (PID-5). In a structural equation model, hostile masculinity (β = .44), childhood sexual abuse (β = .26), juvenile delinquency (β = .28), and physical everyday sadism (β = .20) had significant direct effects on sexual aggression. Physical everyday sadism (β = .26), juvenile delinquency (β = .14), PID-5 callousness (β = .30), and anxious attachment (β = .26) had significant indirect effects on sexual aggression, mediated by hostile masculinity. These predictors accounted for 79% of the variance in the sexual aggression latent variable, which represented considerable model improvement. Unrestricted sociosexuality, misperception of women’s sexual intent, and heavy alcohol use were not significant predictors of sexual aggression in this model.

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