Utilization of Sexual Violence Resources on College Campuses Impacted by Religious Cultural Barriers

Sexual victimization and violence on college campuses is highly prevalent in the U.S.  Prior studies assessed the incidence of students who have been sexually victimized on campuses. In a national survey that sampled over 3,000 women, 54% indicated an experience with some form of sexual victimization, 12% reported an attempted rape, and 15% reported a completed rape (Koss et al, 1987). Other studies evaluated students awareness of on and off campus resources and found little success due to bias results and further questioning  However, very limited studies have focused on religious cultural barriers impacting the way victims of sexual abuse utilize their resources if they choose to report. The purpose of the present study was two fold: 1) to assess the utilization of sexual violence resources on and off campus at two colleges in Utah 2) to evaluate the impact of religious cultural barriers on such utilization. The data were collected using an online, self-administered survey tool. The authors surveyed a total of 298 undergraduate students from two academic intuitions in Utah. The results showed some statistical significance on the Westminster campus with victims and their comfortability with allowing members from their religion know about their victimization as compared to Utah Valley University’s sexual victimization victims (p = <0.05).  Statistical significance was also found in religious convictions being a barrier to seeking help between Westminster and Utah Valley University participants (p = <0.05). Future studies should be conducted to determine a higher correlation between religion and utilizing sexual victimization resources.