Understanding the origins and the development of rape and sexual aggression against women: Four generations of research and theorizing

•There are three well-established generations of theorizing and a fourth generation is emerging•Etiological models are mainly propensity-based or static-trait based explanations•Propensity models are not well-suited to explain the development of sexual aggression•A fourth generation of research and theorizing is based on a developmental life course (DLC) perspective•The DLC approach aims to explain both the continuity and the discontinuity of sexual aggression over time

Several explanations have been proposed to explain the origins and the development of rape and sexual aggression against women. For the most part, the first three generations of research and theorizing provided an inherently static view of the propensity among males to commit a sexual aggression, providing little information about the developmental processes involved in the origins and course of sexually aggressive behavior. This article provides a review of contemporary explanations of sexual aggression against women and an examination of the underlying developmental issues that these models imply. Given the emergence of longitudinal research on sexual aggression, these issues are then contrasted and compared with the relatively nascent body of knowledge about the origins and the development of sexual aggression over the life course. More specifically, in recent years a fourth generation of research and theorizing concerned by the developmental and life course factors conducive to rape and sexual aggression has emerged. This fourth generation proposes a more dynamic etiological framework to understand the origins and the development of sexually aggressive behaviors that is directed by men toward women. Emerging research from this generation highlight unresolved issues about, among other things, the understanding of the continuity and discontinuity of rape and sexual aggression over time as well as the developmental pathways leading to rape and sexual aggression.