The role of sadism and peer pressure in the sexual aggression of male college students

Two types of motivational models help explain sexual aggression in college men. Socialization models emphasize imperatives of the male sex role, whereas a sadistic model focuses on increased sexual stimulation from female distress. These models were evaluated by comparing the relationship between a measure of sexual sadism and the frequency of sexually aggressive episodes with the relationship between peer pressure for sexual intimacy and sexual aggression. College men's ratings of sexual attractiveness for a series of female faces registering both pleasant and distressed affects were used to measure sexual sadism. Results showed that 60% of the college men with a sexual sadism pattern reported repeated episodes of sexual aggression since the 10th grade, whereas only 29% of those not showing this pattern did so. Peer pressure was inversely related to repeated aggression; sexual aggressives reported less peer pressure than students who did not have a history of repeated aggression. These results are not only important because they identify a possible source of sexual aggression toward females but also because they encourage an interest in discovering how sexual and aggressive motives become fused in a significant proportion of normal males.