DOI: 10.6129/CJP.20170406
Chinese Journal of Psychology 2017, Vol.59, No.2, 63-87

Development of Chinese Rape Myths Concept and Scale

Jiun-Yih Huang（Department of Applied Psychology, Hsuan Chuang University）；Yii-nii Lin（Center for Teacher Education, National Tsing Hua University）

Abstract

Rape myths related concepts and measurements are region-oriented, change-oriented, and are highly associated with sociocultural characteristics, as a result, western concepts and measurement scales may not apply to Chinese society. This study proposed concepts of rape myths from the Chinese point of view and established measurement tool suitable for Chinese society accordingly. Researchers of this study proposed family orientation, chastity orientation, other-orientation, and reflection orientation as the characteristics of Chinese rape myths based on Chinese traditional values and past research findings. The study collected data through anonymous self-report questionnaires surveying students of five public and seven private universities. The number of valid questionnaires was 969. The results of this study showed that the characteristic of family orientation could be further divided into rape victim extension and rapist extension. The characteristics of chastity orientation and other-orientation could be combined into one construct. The revised attributes of the measurement scale included four subscales: rape victim extension myths, rapist extension myths, chastity and other-oriented myths, and reflection myths. The resulted measurement scale was sufficient in internal consistency and composite reliability, and was validated through construct validity, cross-validation validity, and criteriarelated validity. Theoretical implications, practical applications, research limitations, and directions for future research were also discussed in the study.

Keywords: other-orientation, reflection orientation, family orientation, chastity orientation, Chinese rape myths