Problematic Beliefs About Sexual Assault, Hazing Exist Before College

Carrie Smith, associate professor of psychology, sought to understand how young men think about two forms of violence common on university campuses. She and Caitlin Shaw, a 2025 graduate of the Ole Miss doctoral program in experimental psychology, published the results in the American Psychological Association's multidisciplinary research journal devoted to violence and extreme aggression.

"This is a problem that all of higher education is facing," Smith said. "We see high rates of sexual violence and hazing on campuses every year. We thought maybe we should look at when those beliefs begin."

More than half of college students involved in campus organizations have experienced hazing, and according to the nation's first free, comprehensive database of hazing incidents, HazingInfo, 105 U.S. students have died since 2000 as a result. In response, 44 states – including Mississippi – have passed anti-hazing laws, according to North Carolina State University.

Some 73% of students in both fraternities and sororities report experiencing hazing, according to the same report.

Sexual violence is also pervasive across college campuses. One in five women and one in 16 men experience sexual assault of some form during college, and almost two-thirds of college students experience sexual harassment, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.

A study published in the Journal of Child Sexual Abuse reports that women in sororities are four times more likely to experience rape than other college women, and a study in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence found that men in fraternities have a 62% higher likelihood of sexual aggression in their first two years of college.

Smith and Shaw surveyed 124 college-bound men from 29 states and asked about their perceptions of sexual violence, hazing and whether they intended to join a fraternity. They found that students who planned to join the organizations were more likely to:

• Have positive views of hazing, such as viewing it as harmless bonding or a necessary tradition
• Believe hazing is an indicator of manhood or a rite of passage
• Endorse false narratives about rape, such as blaming survivors of rape for the way they were dressed
• Believe that when a sexual partner says no, they often mean yes.

The study also found that students faced hazing long before college. Some 87% of fraternity-bound men in the study reported that they had already been hazed.

These findings challenge the idea that harmful beliefs starting in college, Smith said. Instead, it suggests that some students arrive on campus already holding them.

The question – are harmful attitudes shaped by college life, or do students bring them to campus? – is still largely unanswered, said Shaw, from Redlands, California, who is an assistant professor at Austin Peay State University.

"I do think that our research does support that selection is likely a process that could be happening," she said. "Knowing that these attitudes can come online for some people before they get to college is important for understanding when intervention strategies might make the most impact.

"If we start an intervention sooner, is that going to potentially stave off some of the development of these attitudes?"

Beliefs about sexual violence and hazing are correlated, the study found.

Respondents who approved of hazing were much more likely to minimize or excuse sexual violence. The reason for the link could be straightforward – those who accept one kind of harmful belief may be more inclined to accept others, Shaw said.

"But I think another perhaps more interesting reason could be that both of these attitudes have connections to masculine ideals and masculine norms like dominance," she said. "I do wonder if endorsing these masculine norms more is possibly another reason why these men, in particular, were also more supportive of things like hazing and sexual violence."

Colleges and student groups looking to curb these kinds of behaviors need to be aware where attitudes toward hazing and sexual violence originate if they hope to intervene, Smith said.

"I was in a sorority," Smith said. "I have been a chapter adviser to a sorority and served as a volunteer to the national organization. I sat on the advisory council of a fraternity.

"I am Greek – and I know we can do better."

Top: Beliefs about hazing and sexual violence can often form before students get to college, according to a study conducted by researchers in the Department of Psychology. Graphic by Stefanie Goodwiller/University Marketing and Communications