Malayeri, Shera (2023). Toward Understanding Heterosexual Aggression in Iran: Prevalence, Predictors, and Perceptions of Sexual Aggression among Iranian Women and Men. (Thesis). Universität Bern, Bern
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Abstract
Sexual aggression is a global and serious public health and social issue that violates human rights. Sexual aggression can be broadly defined as any type of behavior that aims at forcing another person to engage in sexual acts without their willingness to do so (Krahé et al., 2015). Thus far, scientific evidence on sexual aggression in Iran is very limited (Kamimura et al., 2016; Nikparvar et al., 2021), whereas research on the topic in Western societies is well-studied (see reviews by Fedina et al., 2018; Krahé et al., 2015). In order to achieve understanding of heterosexual aggression in society, scientific evidence is needed about the accurate scale of sexual aggression victimization and perpetration among women and men, along knowledge about the predictors (risk and vulnerability factors) of heterosexual aggression (Krahé, 2020; Ullman & Najdowski, 2011), and rape perceptions in the specific social context of society which condones and promotes sexual aggression (Gravelin et al., 2019). This dissertation included two manuscripts: Manuscript 1 focused on establishing the scale and potential predictors of sexual aggression victimization and perpetration among women and men in Iran. Findings revealed a substantially high rates of sexual aggression in both childhood and adulthood among Iranian women and men. Moreover, heterosexual aggression is gender-asymmetric in Iran, as since the age of 15, women experienced a significantly higher prevalence of sexual victimization than men did, whereas men reported a higher prevalence of sexual perpetration than women did. Regarding predictors of heterosexual aggression, our results confirmed the major impact of child sexual abuse and risky sexual behavior as both risk and vulnerability factors for sexual aggression. Both female and male victims of child sexual abuse (younger than 15) were not only more likely to directly experience sexual re-victimization and commit sexual aggression later in life but also to indirectly experience these outcomes through their higher engagement in risky sexual behaviors. Also, as another predictor of sexual aggression only among men, those who exhibited a higher endorsement of hostile masculinity were more likely to be at a greater risk of perpetrating sexual aggression against women. Manuscript 2 empirically tested how the relationship between the victim and the perpetrator as a couple (married vs. dating) affected the way people judge and react to a rape incident, the victim, and the perpetrator. Compared to women, men attributed higher blame to rape victims, were less likely to label the incident as rape, and had less tendency to punish the perpetrator. Results showed that both women and men, tended to blame the married victim more, express less certainty in labeling the marital encounter as rape, however, with larger differences between two encounters for men than women in exonerating the marital perpetrator. This research further examined how dominant social norms about sexuality in Iranian society—religious fundamentalist and honor norms—influenced rape judgments and perceptions. Findings, indeed, showed that stronger religious fundamentalist and honor-oriented beliefs increased likelihood of victim blaming, less certainty of judging the rape encounter as rape, and less severe punishment to the perpetrator. Endorsement of these norms were more pronounced in lower rape judgment and perpetrator punishment in the marital rape compared to the date rape. The findings of this dissertation have provided novel scientifically culture-curated evidence for informing sexual education, prevention, and intervention programs regarding (hetero)sexual aggression in Iran.
| Item Type: | Thesis |
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| Dissertation Type: | Cumulative |
| Date of Defense: | 18 October 2023 |
| Subjects: | 100 Philosophy > 150 Psychology 300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 360 Social problems & social services |
| Institute / Center: | 07 Faculty of Human Sciences > Institute of Psychology |
| Depositing User: | Hammer Igor |
| Date Deposited: | 16 Oct 2025 12:08 |
| Last Modified: | 16 Oct 2025 22:25 |
| URI: | https://boristheses.unibe.ch/id/eprint/6803 |
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