THE EFFECTIVENESS OF 2 TYPES OF RAPE PREVENTION PROGRAMS IN CHANGING THE RAPE-SUPPORTIVE ATTITUDES OF COLLEGE-STUDENTS

The current study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of tw o rape prevention programs in changing college students' rape-supporti ve attitudes. Male and female undergraduates (N = 215) were assigned t o one of three conditions: an interactive mock talk show intervention, a structured video intervention, or a control group. Participants in this study were predominantly Caucasian and ranged in age from 18 to 4 2 years old, with a mean age of 20 years old. Participants' rape-suppo rtive attitudes were measured before the intervention, at an immediate posttest, and at a seven week follow-up using Burt's (1980) Rape Myth Acceptance Scale and a revised version of Field's (1978) Attitudes To ward Rape Scale, developed by Harrison, Downes, and Williams (1991). R esults indicate that both interventions were effective in reducing rap e-supportive attitudes at an immediate posttest, but that attitudes re bounded over time. Women endorsed fewer rape-supportive beliefs than m en, and participants who knew a victim of rape demonstrated less adher ence to rape-supportive attitudes at each assessment than did particip ants who did not know a victim of rape. Implications for future rape p revention programming are discussed.