Normative Misperception of Sexual- and Alcohol-Related Predictors of Sexual Assault by College Men

Objective: Peer influences may play a maintaining or contributing role in alcohol-related sexually aggressive behavior (SAB) in undergraduates. Undergraduate men substantially overperceive their peers’ SAB-related attitudes and behaviors (i.e., show substantial misperception of SAB-related social norms). Moreover, men at high risk of perpetrating SAB often show greater overestimation than lower risk peers. The current work provides a comprehensive description of SAB-related social norms within a large sample of undergraduates, examining five novel normative misperceptions associated with alcohol-related SAB, and evaluating relations between social norms and self-reported histories of both contact and noncontact SAB. Method: Undergraduate men (n = 567) endorsing attraction to women from two large state universities in different regions of the United States responded to questions about sexual attitudes, behaviors, and proclivities. They completed these measures twice: once from their own perspective and then from the perspective of the typical college male (TCM). Results: Students showed large overestimation of peers’ general and alcohol-specific attitudes and behaviors. Many self and normative perceptions were also significantly related to a self-reported history of noncontact or contact SAB. Conclusions: Relative to self-ratings, TCM ratings were overestimated for all assessed constructs and thus represent targets of future prevention efforts. Men who reported an SAB history often showed more marked misperceptions, speaking to the potential utility of providing corrective normative feedback to these undergraduates in future work. Future prevention efforts may benefit from providing personalized normative feedback to undergraduates, and particularly high-risk students, about the accuracy of their peer perceptions.