Dr. John Foubert is Dean of the College of Education at Union University, and is a consultant to colleges and the military. He has written 11 books about preventing sexual violence, managing life in college residence halls, and the harms of pornography. Dr. Foubert has made several appearances on CNN and NPR. He is cited regularly in news outlets like the New York Times, U.S. News and World Report, and the Huffington Post. Dr. Foubert has testified before Congress and briefed the White House and the Pentagon about how to end sexual violence. He travels nationwide to speak to colleges, military units, and churches about sexual assault and pornography. Supervisors: Dr. Susan Komives and Dr. Scott Allison Phone: 405-338-8046 Address: www.johnfoubert.com
The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between first year college men’s religio... more The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between first year college men’s religious preference (Catholic, Protestant, or none) and their level of moral development as measured by the Defining Issues TestShort Form (Rest, 1986). Data analyses were conducted based upon results for 161 in-coming college men. Results of an analysis of variance indicated that those with no stated religious preference had significantly higher P scores (M = 45.2, SD = 16.8) than respondents who identified as Roman Catholic (M = 36.1, SD = 16.7) or as Protestant (M = 38.6, SD = 17.3). Implications are discussed regarding the relevance of Kohlberg's conceptualization of moral development for men who identify as Protestant or Roman Catholic.
A unique new approach to overcoming men's defensiveness toward sexual assault prevention pro... more A unique new approach to overcoming men's defensiveness toward sexual assault prevention programs is described. By appealing to audience members as potential helpers of women who survive rape as opposed to addressing them as potential rapists, programmatic goals can be achieved.
Issues and ideas on how to conduct assessment in college and university residence life programs a... more Issues and ideas on how to conduct assessment in college and university residence life programs are reviewed.
Non-commissioned officers were trained to present a one-hour rape prevention workshop, The Men&#x... more Non-commissioned officers were trained to present a one-hour rape prevention workshop, The Men's Program, to approximately 250 soldiers in the US Army stationed in Germany. Another group of approximately 250 soldiers saw a Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Program unit brief presented by a Sexual Assault Response Coordinator/Family Advocacy Program Manager. Participants were administered pretests and posttests to determine the effectiveness of these two programs. This report details the ...
Abstract Sexual violence is a persistent problem on the college campus. One method of addressing ... more Abstract Sexual violence is a persistent problem on the college campus. One method of addressing sexual violence is to endorse bystander intervention, whereby students are encouraged to interrupt potential sexual assault situations. Although initial research indicates that the Christian college campus provides a cultural context where fewer acts of sexual violence are committed, nothing is known about whether students on such campuses are more or less likely to intervene as a bystander. Five research questions were addressed in this study, which involved asking 851 students who attended three Christian institutions and one secular university to complete self-report surveys about their sexual assault and bystander intervention experiences. The responses indicated that violence was less common at the Christian colleges than at the secular institution. We also found that both men and women are more willing to intervene to prevent sexual violence at Christian campuses than on the secular campus. Implications of these and other results are discussed.
Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence, 2022
Bystander intervention in potential sexual assault situations is a common method of helping to ad... more Bystander intervention in potential sexual assault situations is a common method of helping to address sexual violence on college campuses. Although numerous variables have been shown to mediate bystander intervention behavior, the pool of potential correlates is limited. The present study used regression analysis to determine the relationship between bystander behavior and three predictors: religiosity, gratitude, and victim empathy. Consistent with prior research, both religiosity and gratitude significantly predicted bystander behavior. Contrary to prior research, the relationship between victim empathy and bystander behavior was negative. Findings are discussed relating to potential bystander intervention programs, and future research, particularly on gratitude, is suggested.
In this qualitative study, researchers examined how college seniors experienced and resolved spir... more In this qualitative study, researchers examined how college seniors experienced and resolved spiritual struggles in college. Results indicated that academic activities provided opportunities to question, learn, and grow spiritually. Although a variety of external factors influenced students' explorations of their spirituality, participants looked inward to resolve their struggles in deeply personal ways. Spiritual struggle was often manifested as a reexamination of students' pre-college values, an ongoing process for many students. Researchers identified four ways of describing students' state of resolution: (1) recommitting to an existing faith, (2) slightly readjusting their spiritual or religious values, (3) blending spiritual traditions, or (4) losing their faith. The religious and spiritual life of college students has been a concern of higher education in the United States since its very foundation (Thelin, 2004), but the amount and scope of available research on s...
Handbook of Sexual Assault and Sexual Assault Prevention, 2019
... As one pornography director put it, People just want it harder, harder, and harder what ar... more ... As one pornography director put it, People just want it harder, harder, and harder what are you gonna do next? (Adult Video News, 2003, p. 60). Another director was blunt in describ-ing his task: [O]ne of the things about today's porn and the extreme market, the gonzo ...
We examined the prevalence and repeat offenses of college men, including fraternity men and stude... more We examined the prevalence and repeat offenses of college men, including fraternity men and student athletes, taking advantage of someone sexually while under the influence of alcohol. Preexisting data from the Core Alcohol and Other Drug Survey included a sample of 12,624 college men at 49 community and 4-year colleges. Results provide further evidence that the problem of campus rape is largely one of serial perpetration. More than 87% of alcohol-involved sexual assault was committed by serial perpetrators. Fraternity men and student athletes were significantly more likely to commit alcohol-involved sexual assault than other men on campus.
This study examined relationships between intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity, reasons for using ... more This study examined relationships between intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity, reasons for using Internet pornography, frequency of using Internet pornography during the last year, and the degree to which participants believed they were both confident in their efficacy and were willing to intervene to help prevent a sexual assault from occurring. Students volunteered to take an online survey as one of several options for course credit in a research participation system in a School of Education at a midwestern public university. Men's extrinsic religiosity was positively correlated with their use of Internet pornography and negatively correlated with willingness to intervene as a bystander. Men's intrinsic religiosity was negatively correlated with how many reasons they had for using pornography and negatively correlated with their use of pornography. Women's extrinsic religiosity negatively correlated with their bystander efficacy. Women's intrinsic religiosity was n...
Several characteristics of sexual assault awareness programs for women are associated with meetin... more Several characteristics of sexual assault awareness programs for women are associated with meeting the goals of risk reduction. To date, the literature lacks an exploration of how single-sex programs affect women, particularly when they take a bystander intervention focus using women’s risk recognition and avoidance as outcome measures. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of The Women’s Program (Foubert, 2011), a sexual assault awareness program geared toward women. Participants consisted of 103 undergraduate women attending a large, public university in the Midwest United States. Women in the treatment group viewed a presentation of The Women’s Program, whereas the control group received no intervention. Consistent with hypotheses, program participants reported a greater ability to recognize risk cues, a greater willingness to engage in self-protective behaviors, and a greater level of perceived self-efficacy in handling threatening dating situations comp...
Students from two research universities completed items measuring the frequency of their using di... more Students from two research universities completed items measuring the frequency of their using different kinds of pornography, and measures of their willingness and intent to intervene to help a bystander who might be experiencing sexual violence. Hierarchical logistic regressions showed that for men, violent/degrading pornography use, but not explicit but non-degrading pornography use, was significantly associated with reduced bystander willingness to intervene, but not associated with bystander efficacy. Women did not show the same impact of violent/degrading pornography use on the two bystander intervention variables. Results suggest violence/degrading pornography may contribute to a culture of acceptance of violence against women.
The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between first year college men’s religio... more The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between first year college men’s religious preference (Catholic, Protestant, or none) and their level of moral development as measured by the Defining Issues TestShort Form (Rest, 1986). Data analyses were conducted based upon results for 161 in-coming college men. Results of an analysis of variance indicated that those with no stated religious preference had significantly higher P scores (M = 45.2, SD = 16.8) than respondents who identified as Roman Catholic (M = 36.1, SD = 16.7) or as Protestant (M = 38.6, SD = 17.3). Implications are discussed regarding the relevance of Kohlberg's conceptualization of moral development for men who identify as Protestant or Roman Catholic.
A unique new approach to overcoming men's defensiveness toward sexual assault prevention pro... more A unique new approach to overcoming men's defensiveness toward sexual assault prevention programs is described. By appealing to audience members as potential helpers of women who survive rape as opposed to addressing them as potential rapists, programmatic goals can be achieved.
Issues and ideas on how to conduct assessment in college and university residence life programs a... more Issues and ideas on how to conduct assessment in college and university residence life programs are reviewed.
Non-commissioned officers were trained to present a one-hour rape prevention workshop, The Men&#x... more Non-commissioned officers were trained to present a one-hour rape prevention workshop, The Men's Program, to approximately 250 soldiers in the US Army stationed in Germany. Another group of approximately 250 soldiers saw a Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Program unit brief presented by a Sexual Assault Response Coordinator/Family Advocacy Program Manager. Participants were administered pretests and posttests to determine the effectiveness of these two programs. This report details the ...
Abstract Sexual violence is a persistent problem on the college campus. One method of addressing ... more Abstract Sexual violence is a persistent problem on the college campus. One method of addressing sexual violence is to endorse bystander intervention, whereby students are encouraged to interrupt potential sexual assault situations. Although initial research indicates that the Christian college campus provides a cultural context where fewer acts of sexual violence are committed, nothing is known about whether students on such campuses are more or less likely to intervene as a bystander. Five research questions were addressed in this study, which involved asking 851 students who attended three Christian institutions and one secular university to complete self-report surveys about their sexual assault and bystander intervention experiences. The responses indicated that violence was less common at the Christian colleges than at the secular institution. We also found that both men and women are more willing to intervene to prevent sexual violence at Christian campuses than on the secular campus. Implications of these and other results are discussed.
Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence, 2022
Bystander intervention in potential sexual assault situations is a common method of helping to ad... more Bystander intervention in potential sexual assault situations is a common method of helping to address sexual violence on college campuses. Although numerous variables have been shown to mediate bystander intervention behavior, the pool of potential correlates is limited. The present study used regression analysis to determine the relationship between bystander behavior and three predictors: religiosity, gratitude, and victim empathy. Consistent with prior research, both religiosity and gratitude significantly predicted bystander behavior. Contrary to prior research, the relationship between victim empathy and bystander behavior was negative. Findings are discussed relating to potential bystander intervention programs, and future research, particularly on gratitude, is suggested.
In this qualitative study, researchers examined how college seniors experienced and resolved spir... more In this qualitative study, researchers examined how college seniors experienced and resolved spiritual struggles in college. Results indicated that academic activities provided opportunities to question, learn, and grow spiritually. Although a variety of external factors influenced students' explorations of their spirituality, participants looked inward to resolve their struggles in deeply personal ways. Spiritual struggle was often manifested as a reexamination of students' pre-college values, an ongoing process for many students. Researchers identified four ways of describing students' state of resolution: (1) recommitting to an existing faith, (2) slightly readjusting their spiritual or religious values, (3) blending spiritual traditions, or (4) losing their faith. The religious and spiritual life of college students has been a concern of higher education in the United States since its very foundation (Thelin, 2004), but the amount and scope of available research on s...
Handbook of Sexual Assault and Sexual Assault Prevention, 2019
... As one pornography director put it, People just want it harder, harder, and harder what ar... more ... As one pornography director put it, People just want it harder, harder, and harder what are you gonna do next? (Adult Video News, 2003, p. 60). Another director was blunt in describ-ing his task: [O]ne of the things about today's porn and the extreme market, the gonzo ...
We examined the prevalence and repeat offenses of college men, including fraternity men and stude... more We examined the prevalence and repeat offenses of college men, including fraternity men and student athletes, taking advantage of someone sexually while under the influence of alcohol. Preexisting data from the Core Alcohol and Other Drug Survey included a sample of 12,624 college men at 49 community and 4-year colleges. Results provide further evidence that the problem of campus rape is largely one of serial perpetration. More than 87% of alcohol-involved sexual assault was committed by serial perpetrators. Fraternity men and student athletes were significantly more likely to commit alcohol-involved sexual assault than other men on campus.
This study examined relationships between intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity, reasons for using ... more This study examined relationships between intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity, reasons for using Internet pornography, frequency of using Internet pornography during the last year, and the degree to which participants believed they were both confident in their efficacy and were willing to intervene to help prevent a sexual assault from occurring. Students volunteered to take an online survey as one of several options for course credit in a research participation system in a School of Education at a midwestern public university. Men's extrinsic religiosity was positively correlated with their use of Internet pornography and negatively correlated with willingness to intervene as a bystander. Men's intrinsic religiosity was negatively correlated with how many reasons they had for using pornography and negatively correlated with their use of pornography. Women's extrinsic religiosity negatively correlated with their bystander efficacy. Women's intrinsic religiosity was n...
Several characteristics of sexual assault awareness programs for women are associated with meetin... more Several characteristics of sexual assault awareness programs for women are associated with meeting the goals of risk reduction. To date, the literature lacks an exploration of how single-sex programs affect women, particularly when they take a bystander intervention focus using women’s risk recognition and avoidance as outcome measures. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of The Women’s Program (Foubert, 2011), a sexual assault awareness program geared toward women. Participants consisted of 103 undergraduate women attending a large, public university in the Midwest United States. Women in the treatment group viewed a presentation of The Women’s Program, whereas the control group received no intervention. Consistent with hypotheses, program participants reported a greater ability to recognize risk cues, a greater willingness to engage in self-protective behaviors, and a greater level of perceived self-efficacy in handling threatening dating situations comp...
Students from two research universities completed items measuring the frequency of their using di... more Students from two research universities completed items measuring the frequency of their using different kinds of pornography, and measures of their willingness and intent to intervene to help a bystander who might be experiencing sexual violence. Hierarchical logistic regressions showed that for men, violent/degrading pornography use, but not explicit but non-degrading pornography use, was significantly associated with reduced bystander willingness to intervene, but not associated with bystander efficacy. Women did not show the same impact of violent/degrading pornography use on the two bystander intervention variables. Results suggest violence/degrading pornography may contribute to a culture of acceptance of violence against women.
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