Brown University Researcher Identifies Women With High Risk of Being Raped at College

A new study led by Kate Carey, a professor of behavioral and social sciences in the School of Public Health at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, found that first-year women college students who were victims of a sexual assault before they entered college and those who identified the use of alcohol as enhancing the sexual experience were the most likely to be victims of sexual assaults during their first year in college.

Professor Carey is quick to point out that in no way were sexual assault victims responsible for what happened. Rather, she says that understanding who may be at the greatest risk could be used to tailor educational and prevention programs on college campuses.

“A substantial number of young women start their college career having already experienced either attempted or completed forcible or incapacitated rape — and that, we know, is a historical and experiential factor that puts them at greater risk for re-victimization and other kinds of adverse outcomes related to drinking and substance use,” Dr. Carey said. “We really need to be looking earlier to prevent these events.”

Dr. Carey joined the Brown University faculty in 2011 after teaching for more than 20 years at Syracuse University. She is a graduate of St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, and holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

The study, “Precollege Predictors of Incapacitated Rape Among Female Students in Their First Year of College,” was published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. It may be accessed here.