Minority women

Sexual violence (SV) is a significant problem that impacts women on college campuses at an alarming rate (Fischer et al., 2018). The body of research published regarding women’s experiences with SV on college campuses disproportionately focuses on Caucasian women (Oney, 2018). Few studies address the specific concerns of minority women and their experiences with SV and even fewer studies serve to identify contributing factors to their recovery. In addition to the prevalence of SV on college campuses, the rates of rape myth acceptance (RMA) that have been studied among this age group focus primarily on White cisgender men and women, and again, are understudied in women who identify as racial/ethnic minorities (Oney, 2018).
Research correlates high levels of RMA with a decreased willingness to accept recovery-promoting assistance post-SV, which reduces a survivor’s willingness to access to services such as counseling (Oney, 2018). The objective of this study was to determine if rape myth acceptance predicts recovery self-efficacy and if experiences of SV serve as a mediating variable between recovery-self efficacy and RMA in ethnic and racial minority college-age women.
The results of this study indicate that RMA does not predict or mediate the variables of recovery self-efficacy and SV. A linear regression analysis was used to establish if RMA predicts recovery self-efficacy, the factors within the scales were not correlated and additional tests yielded non-statistically significant results; (b = -0.02, t = -0.29, p = .77). The study also was unable to provide evidence of experiences of SV being a mediating variable between RMA and recovery self-efficacy through a mediation analysis (b =.00, SE = .002, 95% CI = [-.004, .004], p =.89).

The purpose of this qualitative narrative research study was to interpret the meaning found throughout the formal educational experience stories of Native American, Asian American, and African American women born after 1944, who had earned an education doctorate degree after 1976, and were working with adults in an educational capacity within the community. Utilizing the snowball technique, 14 participants from across the United States volunteered to collaborate with the researcher. The study's conceptual framework included adult learning principles and practices, Nussbaum's 'narrative imagination,' which were used to examine the women's motivation to participate in an education doctorate program as well as the barriers, the enhancers, and the application of the degree in the community. Data collected included an in-depth, face-to-face interview, two reflective narrative guides, document analysis, and researcher journals and analytic memos. All data was coded and analyzed with Atlas -ti 5.0 software, and thematic analyses completed in order to triangulate the data. Six major themes for motivation to participate were found: self-awareness through placement in the family, family and community expectation in importance of education, personal strengths and weaknesses, perceived differences in the classroom and mainstream society, and knowledge of motivation to pursue doctorate. Five barriers emerged: racism, gender, advisers, institutional changes and problems, and juggling multiple roles in limited time. Five main enhancers arose: family and community foundation, financial, friends, and others which motivated participation.