Victim Researcher Profile

BIO

Kaitlin M. Boyle received a BA in Sociology and Women and Gender Studies at The College of New Jersey, MA in Sociology from the UNC Charlotte, and PhD in Sociology from the University of Georgia. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of South Carolina in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, where she concentrates her research on the intersections of social psychology, gender, and violence. She examines sexual victimization and harassment, rape acknowledgment, and psychological distress in a number of contexts, with a particular focus on undergraduate, graduate, and law students. More specifically, she has explored how cultural sexual scripts, power dynamics, institutional resources, and identity relate to survivors’ mental health and reporting behaviors. Recently, she has emphasized an intersectional lens to better understand how institutions and individuals respond to women of color, men, and LGBTQ+ survivors. She primarily engages in this work using self-report victimization survey data that she has collected over the past ten years. She also relies on the National Crime Victimization Survey, official crime reports from colleges and universities, and other secondary data sources, and has training in experimental design and laboratory experiments.

VICTIMIZATION FOCUS

Campus Sexual Assault, Other Campus Crime, Sexual Abuse or Violence (other than campus sexual assault)

SPECIAL POPULATIONS

LGBTQ victims, Male victims generally

RESEARCH EXPERTISE

Data collection, Descriptive studies, Quantitative studies

VICTIM RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

Data collection, Descriptive studies, Quantitative studies