The Scope, Nature, and Impact of Sexual Violence Among Students From a Canadian University: A Random Sample Study

Public Significance Statement This study used best practices for studying a population's sexual violence experiences. It confirmed that Canadian women bear the brunt of sexual violence, usually at the hands of men they know. Like their American counterparts, Canadian women in university are sexually assaulted at much higher rates than men and report more trauma from these experiences than men. Random sample research is important for documenting the ubiquity and context of sexual violence (SV) on university campuses but has been scant in the Canadian context. We contribute one of the only Canadian university random sample studies since the 1990s. We examined the scope, nature, and impact of SV in a large (N = 977) and diverse random sample of students from one Canadian university. We found that 23.2% of women, 9.6% of men, and 16.7% of nonbinary students reported experiencing SV at least once in the past 12 months. Roughly 6% of both women and men reported perpetrating SV at least once in the past 12 months, and no nonbinary participants reported any perpetration. The findings did not support a fall "red zone" of increased risk of rape and attempted rape for first- and second-year students. Women's victimization did not vary by race, international student status, sexual identity, or disability, but second-year women were at increased risk. Overall, most victims of rape and attempted rape were victimized by a man who was not a student on their campus but was known to them (most often a friend, date, or intimate partner). Rapes and attempted rapes were commonly in someone's home. Women reported significantly greater trauma and academic impact of victimization compared to men. Our results are important for informing future research, prevention, policy, and service provision on Canadian university campuses.