On the surface, a recent study asking college males if they would consider committing rape is disconcerting, but its undertones are telling of how hyper-masculinity can contribute to sexual assault.

According to USA Today College, Sarah Edwards, of the University of North Dakota, led a study published in the journal Violence and Gender that surveyed 86 men in college. 13.6 percent of the respondents said they would commit rape if there were no consequences and if no one knew.

That figure jumped to 31.6 percent when asked if they would "force" a woman into having sex. Edwards said this exhibits two different types of profiles for perpetrators. She told USA Today the smaller group is the kind of person that hates woman and is more like to "blame" them for their problems. The larger group is generally men who objectify women and believe they are supposed to be "sexually dominant."

For example, Elliot Roger appears to fit into the smaller group because he explicitly condemned the women he believed spurned him for other men for his feelings of "loneliness, rejection and unfulfilled desires."

The latter, Edwards said, has elements of hyper-masculinity, which occurs when stereotypical male behaviors are exaggerated. She said she has tried to get to the root cause of hyper-masculine behavior, but it has not been easy.

"If you're working with hyper-masculinized groups, you think of the usual suspects," she told USA Today. "Male sports - it's very competitive, there's a big focus on body image and the idea that bodies are power and you're taught to value physical conquest over others."

These groups also include the Reserve Officer Trainings Corps (ROTC) and fraternities, both officially recognized, male-dominated student organizations found at most colleges. Scott Lewis, the president of the National Behavioral Intervention Team Association, said young men can sometimes not grasp the difference between rape and forcible sexual intercourse.

"Foundational research has [revealed] these 'undetected rapists'," he told USA Today. "College men would say things like, 'Oh, I never raped somebody.' But when you recounted the act with the elements of the crime... they'd say, 'Oh well, I've done that - but I've never raped somebody.'"

He too said conducting such studies with male-only, or male-dominated groups can be challenging, given the way the groups could be portrayed.

"I conduct sexual assault programming, and when I'm working with a campus, I'll say, 'Hey, can I talk to your male athletes separately, can I talk to your ROTC separately, can I talk to your Greek frat men separately,'" Lewis said. "The message that you utilize toward them is slightly different [than for other students]. Their experience is different and their subculture is very different."

Edwards said the key to combatting the negative aspects of hyper-masculinity is to get men to recognize forcible sexual intercourse as rape.

"I wanted to look at how can we engage those men who think forcing a woman to have sexual intercourse is normal," she said, "and that seems to be a part of their culture and their buddies do it and [they think] there's nothing wrong with it."