Browse Theses

Sexual violence is a continued and pervasive problem on college campuses. As such, colleges and universities have done a lot of work in recent years to improve the availability and access to prevention and interventions services. However, there is still a large gap in understanding the needs and experiences of students other than the cisgender female in reference to sexual violence. This lack of understanding contributes to the continued perception that campus sexual health service centers are "women's centers" and an incomplete understanding of how to effectively serve other populations. This dissertation attempts to address that gap by assessing the association between gender identity and both experiences of sexual violence as well as mental health, physical health, and academic success outcomes after an incident of sexual violence.A secondary data analysis of the National College Health Assessment was performed utilizing students who identify as a cisgender female, cisgender male, transgender female, or transgender male and had reported experiencing at least one incidence of sexual violence in the past 12-months. Results show a difference in experience of sexual violence with cisgender males who have experienced sexual violence being more likely to have experienced multiple forms of sexual violence in the past year as compared to their cisgender female peers (OR: 1.96), while transgender men were more likely to experience unwanted sexual touching as compared to both cisgender women (OR: 1.56) and cisgender men (OR: 1.14). Also, transgender women were more susceptible to negative outcomes related to sexual violence with significantly higher rates of substance use in both number of illicit substances (M = 8.76, CI: 8.09, 9.44) and days of monthly substance use (M = 28.92, CI: 26.55, 31.29) when having experienced multiple forms of sexual violence. Across the board students who had experienced sexual violence had lower grade point averages and were struggling academically.The results encourage service centers to consider the intersectional nature of gender identity and experience of sexual violence when designing both prevention and intervention programs. Further, understanding the differing ways that individuals of unique gender identities may respond to an experience of sexual violence provides insight on how to design those services and to identify vectors of outreach for identifying persons who have experienced sexual violence.