This study aims to examine how different types of campus safety tips influence 500 participants' feelings of safety, acceptance of rape myths, and attitudes toward campus climate. The study manipulates the independent variables of safety tip framing (rape myth endorsing vs challenging) and target audience (woman-directed vs non-woman directed). It is predicted that rape myth endorsing and woman-directed tips will decrease feelings of safety and satisfaction with campus climate, and increase rape myth acceptance, compared to rape myth challenging and non-woman directed tips. The goal is to encourage discussion on creating safer and more effective campus safety strategies to ultimately help reduce sexual assault.

1. Participants
• Expected 500 MTURK participants
Independent Variables
Woman -direct & rape myth-endorsing safety tips
• Walking on campus: Ladies: Don’t walk alone, always travel in groups especially at night (never
walk alone at night!). Avoid “shortcuts” no matter how tired you are after a long day
• Date night: Ladies: Avoid secluded places when dating. Don’t create an opportunity for
something bad to happen.
• Communication is key: Ladies: Don’t expect your date to know what you’re thinking, tell them
assertively where you draw the line. Miscommunication can make you vulnerable to rape, don’t
send mixed signals!
Woman-direct & rape myth-challenging safety tips
• Walking on campus: Ladies: There is no harm in walking alone, but if you feel unsafe or if you
notice something that might be unsafe, use the blue call boxes located throughout
• Date night: Ladies: Its okay to be in a secluded place with a date. If something bad happens,
report it to authorities.
• Communication is key: Ladies: Uncertainty about sexual limits is normal and consent can be
withdrawn at any time. It is okay to change your mind without an explanation.
Non woman-direct & rape myth-endorsing safety tips
• Walking on campus: Don’t walk alone, always travel in groups especially at night (never walk
alone at night!). Avoid “shortcuts” no matter how tired you are after a long day of studying.
• Date night: Avoid secluded places when dating. Don’t create an opportunity for something bad
to happen.
• Communication is key: Don’t expect your date to know what you’re thinking, tell them
assertively where you draw the line. Miscommunication can make you vulnerable to rape, don’t
send mixed signals!
Non woman-direct & rape myth-challenging safety tips
• Walking on campus: There is no harm in walking alone, but if you feel unsafe or if you notice
something that might be unsafe, use the blue call boxes located throughout campus.
• Date night: Its okay to be in a secluded place with a date. If something bad happens, report it
to authorities.
• Communication is key: Uncertainty about sexual limits is normal and consent can be
withdrawn at any time. It is okay to change your mind without an explanation.
Dependent Variables
Feelings of safety scale 4-items
• “After reading the tips, how safe would you feel on this campus?”
Rape Myth Acceptance
Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (Payne, Lonsway, & Fitzgeral, 1999) 19-
items
• “When a woman is raped, she usually did something careless to put
herself in that situation.”
Acceptance of Modern Myths About Sexual Aggression (Bohner, 2007) 30-
items
• Interpreting harmless gestures as "sexual harassment" is a popular
weapon in the battle of the sexes.”
The General Campus and Academic Climate Subscales for Undergraduate
Students (Reid & Radhakrishnan, 2003) 20-items
• “The atmosphere at this university appears to be very friendly.”
• College women, often blamed for sexual assaults, prefer to not report
crimes (Schwartz & Leggett, 1999).
• Prevention of campus crime requires accurate reporting; a lack of crime
reports hinders the ability of university officials to create a safe campus
(Cantalupo, 2014).
Campus safety tips are often
• Directed toward woman
• Use prevention-focused language
• Target women's behaviors (Yeater & O’Donohue,1999)
Common sexual assault prevention tips (Bedera & Nordmeyer, 2015)
• women should never be alone
• don’t let your date drink too much alcohol and
• take a self defense class
• These safety tips might indirectly adversely negatively affect the campus
climate.
• Beliefs about crime responsibility increase when victim-blaming
language appears (Franuik, Seefelt, Cepress, & Vandello, 2008)
We will examine the consequences of phrasing safety tips with:
• Women-directed versus non-women-directed language
• Reinforce or challenge common myths and misperceptions about rape
Measuring effects of safety tip phrasing on:
• Feelings of safety
• Rape myth acceptance
• Attitude toward campus climate
Participants reading rape myth-endorsing versus rape myth-challenging
safety tips participants will report:
• Decreased feelings of safety
• Increased rape myth acceptance
• Lower satisfaction regarding campus climate
Participants reading women-directed versus non women-directed safety
tip participants will report:
• Decreased feelings of safety
• Increased rape myth acceptance
• Lower satisfaction regarding campus climate
Never walk alone
How safety tips influence beliefs about rape and feelings of safety
Jessica A. Potter, Elizabeth R. Brown, Curtis E. Phills
University of North Florida
Introduction Method Predicted Results
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Rape myth
endorsing
Rape myth
challenging
Feelingsofsafety
Woman-directed
Non woman-directed
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Rape myth
endorsing
Rape myth
challenging
Rapemythacceptance
Woman-directed
Non woman-directed
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Rape myth
endorsing
Rape myth
challenging
Campusclimate
satisfaction
Woman-directed
Non woman-directed
Implications
This research was partially supported by the Office of Undergraduate
Research at the University of North Florida (UNF) through the Student
Mentored Academic Research Team (SMART) grant. The content is solely
the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the
official views of the University of North Florida.
Hypotheses
• Our research investigates how campus safety tips influence feelings of
safety, rape myth acceptance, and campus climate attitudes.
• We aim for study results to encourage a wider discussion on creating
safer and more effective campus safety tips
• Our results may aid in efforts to reduce sexual assault rates at universities.