Reports of Rape Reperpetration by Newly Enlisted Male Navy Personnel

This study examined the frequency and characteristics of repeated attempted and completed rape (ACR) incidents reported by newly enlisted male navy personnel (n=1,146) who participated in a longitudinal study during the transition from civilian to military life. Overall, 13% (n=144) reported engaging in sexual behavior that approximates legal definitions of ACR since the age of 14. Among those men, most (71%) reperpetrated ACR incidents (M=6.36, SD=9.55). Demographic variables were unrelated to perpetration history. Regardless of time period, respondents reported perpetrating primarily completed rather than attempted rape, perpetrating multiple ACR incidents rather than a single incident, using substances to incapacitate victims more frequently than force, and knowing their victim rather than targeting a stranger in completed rape incidents. All recruits were processed through the Recruit Training Command (RTC) in Great Lakes, Illinois, between June 1996 and June 1997. They were initially surveyed during their first week at RTC. Follow-up surveys were mailed 6 months after basic training. Men who did not respond were mailed a second copy 5 weeks later. Follow-up surveys were again mailed to all participants 12 months after basic training and once again to nonresponders after 13 months. Although follow-up surveys also were mailed to participants after 2 years of service, the present report includes only information from baseline through the first year of service because of a low response rate to the final follow-up survey. We analyzed the first follow-up survey (i.e., either after 6 months or 12 months) returned by each participant with complete information regarding ACR events in the year following basic training. From the initial sample of 2,925 men, the 1,146 men who had complete sexual assault data for both the initial and a follow-up survey constituted the final sample. Published in Violence and Victims, v24 n2 p204-218, 2009. Prepared in collaboration with Northern Illinois University, De Kalb, IL. Sponsored in part by the Navy Medicine Support Command, Jacksonville, FL. The original document contains color images.