Psychology of Violence

Objective: Alcohol-involved sexual assault remains a pervasive problem, with extensive individual- and societal-level costs. Emotion regulation (ER), the process through which an individual modulates emotional states, remains an understudied predictor of sexual assault perpetration, with past research focusing on general ER tendencies (e.g., trait ER) as predictors of sexual assault perpetration. This study sought to examine the associations between state ER on sexual assault perpetration in the context of state anger and acute alcohol intoxication...

Objective: The present study documented, compared, and contrasted the test-retest reliabilities of the victimization and perpetration forms of a Tactic-first Sexual Experiences Survey (T-SESs) and the Post-Refusal Sexual Persistence Scales (PRSPSs). Methods: 243 Mechanical Turk workers (116 women, 124 men) completed four questionnaires in a randomized order via anonymous web survey at Time 1 and approximately one week later at Time 2. Results: There were consistent gender differences in test-retest estimates...

Objective: Evidence demonstrates sexual orientation disparities in physical and sexual victimization and alcohol misuse and consequences among female youth; however, most extant research has used variable-centered approaches. The current study used latent class analysis (LCA), a person-centered approach, to: (1) model female youths' physical and sexual victimization; (2) examine sexual orientation disparities in physical and sexual victimization latent class membership; (3) and use physical and sexual victimization latent class membership to predict female youths' engagement in alcohol misuse and related consequences...

Objective: We present a review of peer-reviewed English-language studies conducted outside the United States and Canada on the prevalence of sexual assault victimization in adolescence and adulthood published since 2010. Method: A systematic literature search yielded 32 articles reporting on 45 studies from 29 countries. Studies that only provided prevalence estimates for sexual assault in intimate relationships or did not present separate rates for men and women were excluded...

Objective: Sexual violence has substantial mental health effects on survivors around the globe. Although there has been increasing attention to the ways that sociocultural environments can affect survivors' recovery, there has been no review to our knowledge of the specific factors within sociocultural environments that offer risk or protection, or the mechanisms by which these factors affect recovery. Method: To address this gap, we present a conceptual model supported by a theoretical and empirical review that prioritizes research conducted with ethnic minority and global samples...

OBJECTIVE: Intimate Partner Aggression (IPA) is recognized as a serious challenge to public health, and numerous models specify individual, interpersonal, and contextual antecedents of relationally aggressive behavior. The present study aims to synthesize prior work by determining whether the accumulation of selected factors at these three levels of analysis, when considered simultaneously, predicts IPA. METHOD: We collected self-report, observational, and social network data from 462 newlywed spouses (231 couples) from low-income neighborhoods at three separate time points across the first 18 months of marriage...

Objective: Previous research has indicated that many undergraduates receive disclosures of sexual assault and intimate partner violence (IPV) from their peers; however, much of this research has been cross-sectional. The present study assessed the extent to which demographic characteristics and victimization history predicted whether participants received disclosures over the subsequent 6 months. Directional hypotheses assessed whether psychological symptoms and attitudes predicted, or were consequences of, disclosures at follow-up...

Objective: Victimization is common in adolescence and is associated with negative outcomes, including school failure, and poor emotional, behavioral, and physical health. A deeper understanding of the risk of victimization can inform prevention and intervention efforts. This study tests the risky behavior model in adolescents, examining prospective associations between mean levels of and changes in delinquency and risk for victimization over four annual data collections. Method: Low-income adolescent (53...

Objective: On October 15, 2017, Alyssa Milano encouraged anyone who had been sexually harassed or assaulted to respond on Twitter with the phrase, #MeToo. Millions responded and a cultural reckoning ensued. Anecdotally, the #MeToo movement appears to have affected survivors' acceptance and acknowledgment of their own sexual assault experiences, but empirical evidence is lacking. To address this gap, the aim of this study was to examine associations between behavioral and labeled reports of sexual assault and time since the #MeToo movement began...

Objective: Psychological aggression is common in intimate relationships, yet only a subset of psychologically aggressive couples also engage in physical violence. We examine two factors proposed to identify which psychologically aggressive couples display physical violence, emphasizing (a) couples' negative and ineffective communication during relationship-focused conversations and (b) the demands imposed upon couples by chronic social and economic disadvantage. Method: From 862 spouses (431 couples), we collected self-report data on psychological and physical aggression, observational data capturing the quality of their communication, and self-report data assessing established indicators of socioeconomic vulnerability...

Objective: High rates of alcohol-related sexual assault among young adults represent a significant public health problem. Bystander intervention programs are a promising strategy to reduce sexual assault incidence. However, little is known about how bystander intoxication may modify bystander intervention effectiveness. We examined the role of bystander intoxication and intoxication levels of the hypothetical victim and perpetrator on outcomes associated with Latané and Darley's (1970) steps of bystander intervention, which include noticing a situation, assessment of risk and need for intervention, taking personal responsibility for intervening, and selecting an intervention...

Objective: Ostracism is distressing to those who experience it and people are motivated to find ways to cope, including self-medication or aggression. However, we know little about how alcohol intoxication may affect individuals' reactions to ostracism. This study investigates predictions informed by Alcohol Myopia Theory to observe how alcohol influences changes to one's affect, basic needs fulfillment, and aggression following ostracism. Method: Participants ( N = 97) were randomly assigned to either consume an alcohol, placebo, or nonalcohol beverage, and then participate in a game that simulated ostracism...

Objectives: Researchers and practitioners are becoming increasingly aware that domestic and sexual violence (DSV) can be addressed at the community level by involving bystanders (or actionists , a term used to specify third parties who help as opposed to those who stand by). Since most research on DSV actionists has been conducted in secondary and higher educational contexts, little is known about actionist behaviors in towns and neighborhoods among adults. The current study examines how groups of actionists with differing levels of proactive and reactive behaviors related to DSV prevention vary in their community perceptions...

Objectives: Long-term negative effects of child maltreatment, including risk for depression, are well established. The role of acute stressors in the relationship between maltreatment and depression is not as clear. We used data from a prospective study to test a stress sensitization hypothesis; whether child maltreatment lowered the threshold at which adult household stressors impacted adult depression. We hypothesized that maltreatment would positively moderate the relationship between acute stressors and adult depressive symptoms...

Objective: Sexual minorities assigned female at birth are at increased risk for experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) compared to heterosexual individuals, and bisexual individuals assigned female at birth appear to be at greatest risk. However, few studies have examined potential explanatory factors. Partner jealousy may contribute to bisexual individuals' increased risk for experiencing IPV, given stereotypes that they are promiscuous and evidence that people anticipate being jealous of a bisexual partner...

Objective: This study investigated adolescents' appraisals of responses to problematic situations and their relations to behavioral intentions for aggressive and nonviolent behavior. A key question was whether ratings of effective and ineffective nonviolent responses and aggressive responses reflect distinct constructs or opposite ends of a single dimension. Method: A sample of 183 students at three middle schools in an urban public school system serving a mostly African American population completed measures of aggression, and rated responses to hypothetical situations on five dimensions: behavioral intention, effectiveness, descriptive norms, and anticipated reactions from friends and parents...

Objective: Children in low-income, urban neighborhoods are at high risk of exposure to violence (ETV) across settings and subsequent posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). Little research has examined how multiple forms of ETV co-occur and relate to variations in children's posttraumatic responses. Furthermore, previous research primarily uses variable-centered methods, which can obscure person-level differences. The current study used person-centered methods to derive commonly occurring patterns of ETV by examining frequency of witnessing and victimization across family, school, and community contexts...

Objective: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) individuals disproportionately face exposure to potentially traumatic events-adverse experiences that may have a traumatizing effect-and experience shame as a common consequence. Previous research demonstrates associations between shame and psychological and physical health issues among those with exposure to potentially traumatic events in general, with limited attention among LGBTQ individuals specifically. This study determined whether shame partially mediated the relationship between potentially traumatic events exposure and self-reported mental and physical health symptoms among LGBTQ individuals...

OBJECTIVE: To identify rates of victimization experiences by gender identity and sexual orientation in a large regional sample of 14-to-17-year old high school students. METHOD: All 10th grade students from 27 Northeastern high schools were invited to participate in a survey of dating and sexual experiences (N = 2,766). RESULTS: Compared with heterosexual youth, sexual minority youth reported greater peer victimization of every kind (i.e., bullying, sexual harassment, unwanted sexual contact and intercourse, and every type of dating conflict [threatening behavior, physical abuse, and sexual abuse])...

Objective: Alcohol use/problems and emotion dysregulation are associated with increased intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration. Additionally, alcohol use is an overt coping mechanism for dysregulated emotion. While past research has examined alcohol use/problems as a mediator between emotion dysregulation and IPV, research is limited within clinical samples. The current study sought to fill this gap by examining a theoretical model by which emotion dysregulation and alcohol use/problems influence IPV perpetration in a sample of men arrested for domestic violence...