The Relationship between Sexual Assault Victimization, Campus Climate, Social Support and Academic Outcomes Amongst Sexual Minority College Students

Background and purpose: Sexual minority college students disproportionately experience sexual assault in the college context, compared to their heterosexual peers. Recently, associations have been identified between sexual assault victimization and a variety of different academic outcomes for college students. This study investigates the following research question: is there a relationship between victimization and academic outcomes when controlling for other factors for sexual minority college students? It is hypothesized that campus climate, levels of support and institutional response all uniquely contribute to academic outcomes (i.e., academic commitment, academic conscientiousness, and grade point average) amongst this population..

Methods: Participants were recruited for this cross-sectional study through an anonymous, on-line survey. The survey was distributed using paid advertisements on three social media sites (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit). Ultimately, 241 individuals met the study criteria. All participants were current undergraduate college students in the United State (U.S), over the age of 18 who identified as a sexual minority. Participants attended colleges in all 50 states of the U.S. A majority of participants attended public institutions (63%, n = 151), while 35% (n = 84) attended private institutions and 2.5% (n = 6) were unsure. The average age of participants was 19.8 years old. All measures used were from reliable, validated instruments that had been used previously with college students.

Results: Three separate multiple regression models were assessed to determine how campus climate, social support, institutional response, and victimization are associated with academic outcomes (i.e., institutional commitment, academic conscientiousness and self-reported GPA). Model 1: The total variance in institutional commitment explained by the model as a whole was 18.2%, F (9, 227) = 5.61, p < .001. When controlling for other variables, three measures made unique, statistically significant contributions to the model. The LGBTQ Campus Climate recorded the highest beta value (beta = -.204, p = .004) followed by Institutional Response (beta - .183, p = .011) and Social Support (beta = .151, p = .020). Model 2: The total variance in academic conscientiousness explained by the model as a whole was 8.1%, F (9, 227) = 3.325, p < .001. When controlling for other variables, two measures made unique, statistically significant contributions to the model. Social Support recorded the highest beta value (beta = -.161, p = .018) followed by Victimization (beta = .156, p = .016). Model 3: The model exploring how the independent variables contributed to GPA was not statistically significant, F (9, 217) = 1.00, p = .438.

Conclusions and Implications: A primary finding of this study is that campus climate, perceptions of institutional response and social support all significantly contributed to the variance in institutional commitment amongst participants in this sample. Next, social support and sexual assault victimization did significantly predict academic conscientiousness. Implications from these findings underscore the importance of efforts that cultivate inclusion on campus and that advocates should consider how to integrate academic support in supportive services.