ABSTRACT
Sexual aggression is a serious social problem. Over 260,000 attempted or completed rapes were reported in the United States in 1995, for an annu al incidence rate of 160 per 100,000 American females over the age of 12 (Greenfeld, 1997). Estimates of the prevalence of sexual coercion experi enced by females range from 14% to 25% in the majority of surveys (see Koss, 1993, for a review). A recent large-scale survey in the United States suggested that approximately 24% of females and 14% of males, retro spectively, reported being sexually abused (involving sexual touching or intercourse) as children (Finkelhor, Hotaling, Lewis, & Smith, 1990). Moreover, the psychological correlates of sexual victimization can be seri ous, including anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and other symptoms of posttrauma tic stress disorder (PTSD; reviewed by Beitchman et al., 1992; Hanson, 1990; but see Rind, Tromovitch, & Bauserman, 1998).
