Which Tactics of Sexual Violence Predict Leaving the Relationship? The Role of Dependence towards Partner

Abstract

Intimate partner sexual violence has countless consequences for women suffering it. This research analyse the effect of the type of sexual coercion tactic and partner dependence on both the attribution of responsibility and the probability of leaving a relationship. In Study 1, six scenarios for different sexual tactics were presented (coaxing, coercion, and aggression) to 5 experts in order to select those with better evidence of content validity regarding the construct evaluated. In Study 2, the three selected scenarios were presented to 304 Spanish participants from the general population, analysing the effect of the type of tactic and dependence on attributed responsibility and the probability of leaving a relationship. Results showed that in the sexual aggression scenario, participants assigned the highest responsibility to the aggressorand showed the strongest likelihood of leaving the relationship. Further, results revealed that in the coaxing scenario, dependence had an indirect effect on the probability of leaving the relationship through a lower responsibility attributed to the aggressor. As a conclusion, this study emphasises the importance of the sexual tactic used by aggressors in individuals’ perception about sexual coercion, contributing to increasing the visibility of this unacceptable action, especially in its more subtle and normalised form.