The attitudes and perceptions of the University of Zululand students towards rape victims

Abstract
Recent studies in South Africa have shown alarming scores of crimes committed against women in all sectors of the society. Rape in particular, is among the highest forms of crime experienced by institutions of higher learning. Attitudes towards rape victims have been found to play a major role in influencing the high number of rape incidents. The present study seeks to investigate the attitudes of the University of Zululand students towards rape victims with an aim of designing programmes that would assist in improving their negative attitudes towards rape victims and reinforce positive attitudes. One hundred and fifty students participated in the study. There were Black, Coloured, Indian and White students who participated in the study. The age range of the participants was 18 and above. Thirty participants were randomly chosen from each of the five faculties namely: Arts, Commerce, Education, Law and Science and Agriculture. The Attitude Toward Rape Victim Scale (ARVS) designed and implemented by Ward (1988) was given to each student participant. More males than females displayed negative attitudes towards rape victims. Younger participants were to be more sensitive towards rape victims. Different faculties had no significant bearing to the attitudes of students towards the victims of sex crime, except with regard to their views concerning women who have had prior sexual relations and women who are raped while accepting rides from strangers. The overall results from the study indicated a positive attitude (i.e.. support) towards the rape victims.
Description
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Counselling Psychology in the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts University of Zululand, 2007.
Keywords
Rape victims.
Citation