Date of Award

2022

Document Type

Doctoral Research Paper

Degree Name

Psy.D.

Organizational Unit

Graduate School of Professional Psychology

First Advisor

Kathryn Barrs

Second Advisor

Kenneth Rollins

Third Advisor

Jennifer Tippett

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

Keywords

Military service academies, Military sexual assault, United States Military Academy, United States Naval Academy, United States Air Force Academy

Abstract

Military Sexual Trauma (MST) at the United States Military Services Academies (MSA) remains at a concerning rate despite the MSAs’ proactive educational steps towards addressing this issue. One of the most influential factors is the very culture of the MSAs. This paper analyzes publicly-accessible governmental research and reports, peer reviewed articles, a legal publication, and media coverage. The analysis shows that there remain significant barriers to change which continue to play a role in the high frequency of MST. These barriers are low rates of accountability, difficulty in access to cadets/midshipmen by outside researchers, and the overall MSA cultural trends that seem to be moving towards a lack of bystander intervention and a decreasing amount of trust in leadership. This analysis concludes that continual changes at an educational level must continue. Additionally, changes in accountability and accessibility at legal and institutional levels can more effectively address MST.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Extent

63 pgs

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