Beliefs and attitudes about sexual aggression - Do parents and daughters share the same belief system?

This study investigated the correspondence between parents' and daughters' beliefs about sexual aggression and gender roles. The relationship between a woman's attitudes and her personal experiences with sexual victimization was also examined. The participants were 236 female undergraduates, 148 mot hers, and 110 fathers. One hundred-three matching triads were collected. Pa rticipants evaluated victim responsibility for written scenarios depicting a date-rape victim, information about gender-role attitudes, perceived fami ly communication, and previous sexual experiences was also collected. Resul ts indicated that daughter-mother, daughter-father, and mother-father dyads shared attitudes about gender roles and beliefs about victim responsibilit y. Parental attitudes also predicted daughters' attitudes, but family commu nication did not moderate the relationship between parental attitudes and d aughters' attitudes. Mothers' and daughters' experiences of coerced sex wer e not associated. A relationship between attitudes and beliefs and experien ces of coerced sex emerged only for mothers. Mothers with a history of coer ced sex adhered to more traditional gender-role attitudes and assigned more responsibility to the dale-rape victim. The need for further research in t he area of familial altitudes about rape is discussed.