VICTIM CHARACTERISTICS INFLUENCING ATTRIBUTIONS OF RESPONSIBILITY TO RAPE VICTIMS - A METAANALYSIS

Past research investigating victim blame has shown that there is a ten dency for people to hold female victims of rape partly responsible for the attack. The vast majority of the studies have involved college un dergraduates reading fictitious vignettes and then rating the victim's responsibility. The purpose of the present study was to use meta-anal ysis to determine the degree of responsibility third party observers a ssign to a female rape victim, and to determine which additional varia bles moderate the tendency to blame the victim. Specifically, the vict im's clothing revealingness, character; physical am-activeness, and ac quaintance with her attacker were analyzed Results showed that the vic tim's clothing revealingness and character significantly affect the te ndency to blame the victim Implications for future research investigat ing victim blame and theories of victim blame are discussed.