PREMARITAL SEXUAL AGGRESSORS - A MULTIVARIATE-ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL, RELATIONAL, AND INDIVIDUAL VARIABLES

Grounded in social learning theory, this study investigated sex differ ences in and correlates of premarital sexual aggression using two oper ational definitions of sexual aggression. Analyses of survey responses from 380 single males and 241 females revealed convergent validity fo r the two measures and consistency in findings across rests of the thr ee hypotheses. Sexual aggression was more common in men's than in wome n's daring relationships. Multivariate analyses revealed significant p ositive associations between premarital sexual aggression and past act s of sexual aggression for women only, between premarital sexual aggre ssion and accepting rape myths for men only, and between premarital se xual aggression and relationship conflict for both men and women.