Since August I have completed study 1 and am currently collecting data for study 2 of the Himpathy scale development project. In study 1, the scale was shown to have very good psychometric properties (meaning, it assesses what it’s intended to assess, and it does so with accuracy) as evidenced by its ability to predict how much a study participant will sympathize with a sexual assault perpetrator in a hypothetical scenario. However, contrary to my original hypothesis, the scale did not accurately predict other outcomes such as victim blaming and perpetrator punishment. One possible explanation is that himpathy may not be as strong of a biased reaction as the one associated with the stereotypicality of an assault (one’s preconceived notion of what a sexual assault entails), which may mask its predictive power. In study 2, which is underway, I am attempting to tease out the effects of these two biases on people’s evaluation of a sexual assault case.

My first paper (of a two-paper series) is in the process of being submitted for publication. Additionally, I plan to present findings at the upcoming Association for Women in Psychology Conference in March 2025.

Finally, I am excited to share that I am working on a grant proposal (for CDC funding) with other researchers to document the prevalence of intimate partner violence-related murder in Indiana and study developmental pathways that lead to it.

We are thrilled to share the significant progress we have made since our last update, and we remain deeply grateful for the generous support of Peace Outside Campus.

Over the past quarter, we successfully completed our quantitative data collection, marking an important milestone in our research. We are now embarking on the data analysis phase, employing a novel network psychometric approach. This cutting-edge method not only enhances the rigor of our study but also advances the field of gender-based violence research by offering innovative insights into the complex dynamics of victimization.

We are also delighted to announce that our work has been recognized by one of the major campus climate survey consortiums. This recognition has led to the implementation of our scale across campuses nationwide, with plans for it to be used over the next year. This partnership represents a tremendous opportunity to gather robust data and validate our findings on a national scale. We will continue working towards implementation alongside academic development to ensure our scale reaches as many people as possible.

In addition, we are excited to report that our qualitative paper is officially under peer review for publication. This milestone reflects the significance of our findings and the hard work of our team in advancing knowledge on online sexual aggression.
​
We are profoundly grateful to Peace Outside Campus for enabling us to pursue this important work and to our participants, whose insights continue to inspire and shape our research. We look forward to providing further updates as we continue to make strides in improving campus climates and advancing understanding of online sexual aggression.