College enrollment, on-campus residence, the campus anti-rape movement, and sexual violence risk among women aged 18 to 24 years

Abstract

Objectives: To estimate the risk of sexual violence against 18-to-24-year-old women with comparisons between college students and non-students, between residential and commuter college students, and between the years before and after the mainstreaming of the campus anti-rape movement in 2014. Participants and Methods: We analyzed data from 2007 through 2022 from 61,869 women surveyed for the nationally representative National Crime Victimization Survey. Results: Since the campus anti-rape movement became mainstream (2015–2022), the 6-month sexual violence victimization prevalence was 74% greater for college-enrolled women (0.46%; 95% CI = 0.37%, 0.56%) than for non-enrolled women (0.26%; 95% CI = 0.21%, 0.33%). Over that same period, among college-students, the 6-month rate for on-campus residents (1.05%; 95% CI = 0.78%, 1.42%) was triple that for commuter students (0.33%; 95% CI = 0.24%, 0.44%). Conclusions: The risk of sexual violence victimization for young women who attend college–especially for on-campus residents–now exceeds that for those who are not enrolled.