Risk perception for acquaintance sexual aggression: A social-cognitive perspective

Beliefs that people hold about sources of harm and their personal susceptib ility to harm have been shown to play an important role in their subsequent self-protection. With respect to acquaintance sexual aggression, women gen erally report low levels of perceived personal risk and, thus, low level pr eparedness to prevent or protect against this form of threat. In order to d evelop effective resistance efforts, a more complete understanding is neede d of factors that shape perception of risk and how these factors are likely to influence-both positively and negatively-women's risk reduction and sel f-protection This article addresses this need by reviewing recent literatur e on risk perception and identifying relevant applications of theory and fi ndings to women's perception of risk for acquaintance sexual aggression. (C ) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.