Correlates of rape myth acceptance, pornography use, and personality traits in undergraduate students

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the relationship between personality and pornography use in predicting rape myth acceptance. Rape myth acceptance was measured using The Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (1999); pornography use was measured the Pornography Use Measure (2014) as well as a direct question asking participants if they watch pornography (yes/no); personality was measured using Cattell’s 16PF, 5th Edition. A total of 67 participants (40 females, 27 males) were used in the analysis. Overall, rape myth acceptance was found higher in males than females overall, but was lower in males who knew a victim of sexual assault, particularly on the rape-myth subset “rape is a trivial event”. The global personality factors for Independence and Extraversion correlated negatively with rape myth acceptance in males; the global factor for Self Control correlated positively with rape myth acceptance for males. The global personality factor for Tough-Mindedness correlated positively in both males and females. No significant findings were found for pornography use.