Abstract

BERNAL-BALDENEBRO, Brando; VINAS-VELAZQUEZ, Bertha Margarita  and  MEJIA-RAMIREZ, Manuel Alejandro. Myths about Sexual Aggression: Validation of a Scale in University Students in Mexico. Acta de investigación psicol [online]. 2019, vol.9, n.1, pp.98-107.  Epub Nov 25, 2019. ISSN 2007-4719.  https://doi.org/10.22201/fpsi.20074719e.2019.1.09.

Sexual aggression is a psychosocial and public health problem rarely recognized socially as such, due to the myths around it, graded and mediated by culture of social group in which the phenomenon occurs (Caballero, 2006). In the state of Baja California, Art. 180 of the criminal code defines sexual abuse as the act “that without the consent of a person executes in it or makes it execute a sexual, without the purpose of reaching copulation” (p. 48). In the present study we assume, like the authors of the AMMSA, originally developed in Germany (Gerger, et al., 2007) that sexual aggression is the basis for all types of sexual violence. Two studies were carried out, the first with the purpose of validating the AMMSA scale in the Mexican version; and the second, to determine the degree of acceptance of the sexual aggression myths in students of a public university in Northern Mexico. A sample of 128 students was obtained for the first study and 400 students for the second, a non-probabilistic method was used. The results of the first study indicate an internal consistency of the Mexican version of AMMSA (α = .93), which agrees with the results of the original test (α between .90 and .95); and external presents a high and significant positive correlation with the Mexican version of the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (r = .68, p <.001). It is demonstrated that the psychometric properties of AMMSA were adequate during its application in university students of the northwest of Mexico, obtaining a high degree of reliability and validity. It is important to note the fact that men tend to accept the myths of sexual assault. This coincides with the popular belief that, within the role of men, one must be tough, aggressive and dominant in their interpersonal relationships (Herman, 1988, Hirigoyen, 2006). This is shown when reviewing that men are, by a wide margin, the biggest aggressors when it comes to issues of sexual violence. When comparing the degree of acceptance among the Faculties under study, the lowest average was observed in the Faculty of Medicine and Psychology.

Keywords : Sexual aggression; AMMSA scale; Factor analysis; University students; Northern border of Mexico.

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