THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COURTSHIP VIOLENCE AND SEXUAL AGGRESSION IN COLLEGE-STUDENTS

The relationship between physical and sexual aggression in college stu dents was explored in the current study. Participants were 245 males a nd 411 females recruited from a 2-year or 4-year college. The vast maj ority were white. All of them responded to a measure of physical aggre ssion (The Conflict Tactics Scale; Straus, 1979) and sexual aggression (the Sexual Experiences Survey; Koss et at, 1987). A subset of partic ipants also responded to a questionnaire assessing ''Signs to Look for in a Battering Personality'' (Ryan, 1995). Results showed a significa nt association between physical and sexual aggression in men and women . In addition, the combination of physical and sexual aggression produ ced nonsignificantly higher levels of aggression than when they occurr ed alone. Discriminant analyses showed verbal abuse and threats predic ted both physical and sexual aggression in men and women; however gend er differences emerged on other characteristics. Finally, effect size analyses showed larger effect sizes for sexual than for physical aggre ssion on many of the ''Signs to Look for in a Battering Personality.''