View clinical trials related to Sexual Aggression.
Filter by:This project extends the investigators' previous research regarding the intersecting risks of alcohol, sexual risk behavior (SRB), and sexual aggression (SA) in male drinkers who have sex with women by examining the mediating and moderating roles of both intrapersonal and interpersonal emotional factors. While independent streams of research consistently document alcohol's role in SRB and SA, the investigators' work has demonstrated that these behaviors are related, and that alcohol exacerbates their likelihood both independently and synergistically. The researchers' investigations focus on a particular type of SRB: men's resistance to condom use with female partners who want to have protected sex. Condom use resistance (CUR) is common and normative among young male drinkers, with up to 80% of men reporting engaging in CUR. Of particular concern, research demonstrates that up to 42% of men report using coercive CUR tactics such as emotional manipulation, deception, condom sabotage, and force to obtain unprotected sex. Investigators will evaluate hypotheses that distal and proximal emotional and alcohol factors influence in-the-moment SRB/CUR intentions as well as daily alcohol use and SRB/CUR. The investigators will also examine whether the relationships among assessed variables are similar across experimental and naturalistic settings. That is, investigate the extent to which men's responses in the lab parallel their real-world drinking and SRB/CUR behaviors, particularly regarding self and partner emotions, empathy, and interpersonal stress.
Although correct, consistent condom use can greatly reduce sexually transmitted infections and unplanned pregnancies, resistance of condom use is common among young adults. Young men's alcohol intoxication and sexual aggression history are predictive of greater condom use resistance and other sexual risk behaviors (e.g., unprotected sex). Moreover, emotional factors may play a role in these associations, suggesting a promising avenue for continued research. This project builds upon our prior research through investigation of the emotional mechanisms involved in young men's alcohol-related sexual risk behavior. This research addresses a critical knowledge gap and advances the field through the use of multiple methods designed to evaluate distal and proximal emotional factors implicated in alcohol-related sexual risk. Male drinkers aged 21-30 who use condoms inconsistently (N = 420) will first complete a screening procedure followed by a baseline survey that will assess relevant constructs, including emotional traits, emotion dysregulation tendencies, and alcohol expectancies. They will then complete a 30-day daily diary assessment of their daily emotional states, daily coping motives pertaining to drinking and sex, and daily drinking and sexual risk behaviors to evaluate daily relationships among these factors. The same participants will complete an in-lab experiment assessing in-the-moment effects of alcohol intoxication and provocation on emotional states and sexual risk intentions. Statistical analyses will be used to examine the daily influence of emotional states and coping motives on alcohol consumption and sexual risk behaviors and the experimental effects of alcohol intoxication and provocation on emotional states and other mediators, as well as sexual risk intentions. Moderating effects of emotion dysregulation tendencies will also be examined, and the linkages between event-level and experimental relationships will be investigated. This research is both significant and innovative in that it will address the public health concern of men's sexual risk behaviors, including condom use resistance; will evaluate the role of emotional processes in men's alcohol-related sexual risk; and will use multiple methods to gather complementary types of data that will elucidate the mechanisms underlying alcohol-related sexual risk behaviors and provide an empirical evidence base from which to develop and inform prevention and intervention programs.
An online, interactive web-based program for older teens and their parents is designed to address teen alcohol use and teen relationships. The parent-teen dyad both participate in the web-based program and engage in off-line discussion activities. This intervention promotes communication skills, refusal skills, and helps teens consider how to make healthy choices. A total of 411 family dyads (one parent, one teen) were recruited.
Rates of sexual assault are alarmingly high, and alcohol is consistently implicated in the majority of these assaults. Despite well-intentioned prevention efforts, this pandemic continues unabated, warranting the development of novel and innovative approaches to the reduction of sexual aggression. The goal of this research is to evaluate the efficacy of two brief online emotion regulation interventions for reducing alcohol-related sexual aggression in heavy episodic drinking young men with a sexual aggression history. Previous research suggests that emotion regulation difficulties are associated with both alcohol consumption and aggressive behavior. Despite the potential prevention utility of improving sexually aggressive men's emotion regulation skills in order to reduce their alcohol-related sexual aggression, this approach has yet to be explored. Thus, this study evaluates the effects of two brief online ER interventions - cognitive restructuring and mindfulness - on men's emotion regulation during a sexual aggression-related analogue. Additionally, these effects will be evaluated during both sober and intoxicated states through a laboratory- based alcohol administration experiment.
The proposed study is a test of the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a brief motivational interview style intervention. The intervention will take place in the pediatric emergency department of the Boston University Medical Center by a trained interventionist and will follow an intervention manual developed by a team of dating abuse and brief intervention experts. The study will involve two randomized groups of youth age 15-19: one group will receive the intervention and the other will not. The study will compare changes in data from baseline to 3- and 6-month follow-up for those in both groups. Outcomes including dating abused related knowledge, attitudes about the use of violence to resolve conflict, and dating abuse behavior (perpetration and/or victimization) will be assessed. The hypothesis of this study is that youth who receive the intervention will show improvements in dating abuse related knowledge, attitudes and behavior that are maintained for 6 months, while those in the control group will show no similar change.