Sexual Assault and Chinese International Students on a College Campus

Indianapolis, IN

Sexual assault is prevalent on college campuses, though many cases go unreported. Much research has been conducted on domestic students regarding sexual assault, but little is known when it comes to Chinese international students. The purpose of this study is to discover whether Chinese students are experiencing sexual assault on a college campus, even though criminal reports are rare. Research has shown that in Asian American communities including Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Southeast Asian, the rates of reported sexual violence among the Chinese were the lowest, at 7%. For this reason, it is imperative to examine the rate of reported sexual assault by Chinese students on a college campus. Identifying the problem could allow universities to improve resources for victims. In Spring 2017, research was conducted by sending out anonymous online surveys at a mid-sized Midwestern university. A chi-square test of independence determined that female international students were more likely to be non-victims, less likely to experience sexual coercion, and less likely to report being raped than female domestic students, χ2(n = 2280, 5) = 17.05, p = .004. There was no significant difference between international and domestic male students, χ2(n = 1278, 5) = 4.31, p = .51. These findings will be discussed in terms of the prevalence of sexual assault, cultural norms, and legal reasons for underreported sexual assault. The ultimate goal is to discover whether a problem exists, and if so, how universities and legal institutions can begin to rectify the disparity.