Between "You" and "Me": Effects of Pronouns and Order on Disclosing Sexual Assault

The wording of self-report instruments likely affects its responses; however, there has been very little inquiry into the topic. The purpose of this study was to examine how items in a sexual assault experiences questionnaire varied based on pronouns (first person or second person) and order (sexual...

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Published in:The Journal of sex research Vol. 62; no. 2; pp. 276 - 289
Main Authors: Clinton-Lisell, Virginia, Anderson, RaeAnn E.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States Taylor & Francis 12.02.2025
Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Assaults
Coercion
College students
Crime
Crime Victims - psychology
Disclosure
Female
Humans
Male
Measures
Mental effort
Negative emotions
Person
Pronouns
Respondents
Responses
Self Disclosure
Self report
Self Report - standards
Sex crimes
Sex Offenses - psychology
Socioeconomic status
Stigma
Surveys and Questionnaires
Wording
Young Adult
ISSN:0022-4499, 1559-8519, 1559-8519
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The wording of self-report instruments likely affects its responses; however, there has been very little inquiry into the topic. The purpose of this study was to examine how items in a sexual assault experiences questionnaire varied based on pronouns (first person or second person) and order (sexual-behavior or coercive-tactic first) affected responses. College students (N = 979) were randomly assigned in a 2 by 2 between-subjects experiment to experimental versions of the Sexual Experiences Survey (SES). The findings indicated that the condition with second-person pronouns and coercive-tactic first phrasing had the highest rate of disclosure. Based on reading time results, respondents may have engaged more in processing of items with second-person pronouns or coercive-tactic first phrasing. Moreover, respondents in coercive-tactic first conditions reported more mental effort was required in answering compared to respondents in the sexual-behavior first conditions. There was no effect of condition on negative affect and very little change in negative affect from completing the SES. Overall, the results support the use of second-person pronouns and coercive-tactic first phrasing in sexual assault self-report instruments to support disclosure of this stigmatized crime. Future research should examine how these findings may be extended to other self-report instruments.
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ISSN:0022-4499
1559-8519
1559-8519
DOI:10.1080/00224499.2024.2341426