Survey of American College Students 2022, Experience of Sexual Assault 

Survey of American College Students 2022, Experience of Sexual Assault 

Students’ major area of study also, perhaps oddly, also mattered a great deal with an enormous level of variation between majors. 55.56% of communications and journalism majors in the sample say that they have been sexually assaulted in their lifetime versus only 11.69% of majors in engineering mathematics or computer science. Only 10% of majors in business, economics or finance say that they have ever been sexually assaulted versus nearly 35% of those in the social sciences and 40% of those majoring in criminal justice, law enforcement or other law and policing related areas though not prelaw. Perhaps this is related to the underlying political appeal that some fields may have over others for those of a particular political persuasion and so major is a stand in for political beliefs in some fashion. However, this is merely speculation.This study presents data from a random  sample survey of 1062 full time students at 4-year colleges in the USA, relating the percentage that have ever been sexual assaulted, and if they have ever been sexually assaulted on campus.  Students also give their opinions about how severe a problem they believe sexual assault to be on their campus and they evaluate the appropriateness and effectiveness of college policies designed to deal with the problem.

Data in this 70-page reports is broken out by more than 20 institutional and personal variables, enabling the report's readers to compare rates of assault across many parameters.  For example, readers can compare rates of sexual assault, overall and at the college itself, for gay vs straight students, male vs female or transgender students, or for Caucasian vs. African American or Asian American students, or for students from a range of income levels, SAT/ACT scores, college majors, political convictions and many other variables.  In addition to personal variables, data in the report is also broken out by institutional variables, so, for example, a reader can assess opinions from students about their college policies on sexual assault from students at doctoral level institutions vs. those at research universities, or BA-level institutions.  Other institutional variables include public/private status, tuition level and enrollment.