Objective: College women are at high risk for sexual assault, especially women with a history of sexual victimization. The present study uses a longitudinal design to explore the role of sexual assertiveness, psychological barriers to resistance, and resistance self-efficacy as putative mediators between prior sexual victimization and sexual revictimization among a sample of 296 college women. Method: Women completed assessments of sexual victimization since the age of 14, as well as putative mediator variables at a baseline assessment. Sexual revictimization was assessed over a 7-month interim. Results: Results of structural equation modeling indicated that the relationship between baseline and follow-up sexual assault was mediated by the study variables. Follow-up analyses suggested that sexual assertiveness served as a particularly salient mediator. Conclusions: These findings suggest that increasing women's sexual assertiveness skills may be a particularly important component of reducing risk for sexual revictimization among women with a history of assault.

The purpose of this study was to better understand young adults' perceptions of what behaviors constitute intimate partner violence (IPV) and the correlates of these perceptions using a comprehensive measure of IPV perceptions and behaviors. Participants were undergraduates (aged 18-25), including 357 women and 346 men ( N = 703) from the midwestern region of the United States, who completed surveys for course credit. Results demonstrated that young women and men on average reported that acts of physical, sexual, and psychological IPV were abusive. However, young women generally rated these behaviors as more abusive than young men, male-to-female (M-to-F) IPV was viewed as more abusive than female-to-male (F-to-M) IPV, and physical IPV was considered the most abusive form of IPV, followed by sexual IPV, which was rated as more abusive than psychological IPV. Furthermore, among men, a history of IPV perpetration and victimization generally predicted decreased perceptions that acts were abusive; however, among women, histories of IPV perpetration and victimization were generally unrelated to abuse perceptions. These data underscore the importance of the inclusion of psychoeducation about the seriousness of all forms of IPV in IPV prevention programming and the importance of situation-specific and targeted IPV prevention messages. Moreover, future research is needed to replicate and better understand the explanatory mechanisms underlying the relationships among a history of IPV, abuse perceptions, and gender.

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Using a mixed methodology, the present study compared men's and women's perceived benefits and emotional reactions with participating in research that inquired about child maltreatment and intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization and perpetration. Participants consisted of 703 college students (357 women, 346 men), ages 18 to 25 who reported on their childhood maltreatment, adolescent and adult IPV victimization and perpetration, and their reactions (perceived benefits and emotional effects) to participating. Participants' reactions to participating were assessed using quantitative scales, as well as open-ended written responses that were content coded by researchers. Women reported more personal benefits from research, whereas men and women reported similar levels of emotional reactions to research participation. Furthermore, greater frequencies of child maltreatment and IPV victimization were related to higher levels of emotional reactions. Common self-identified reasons for emotional reactions (e.g., not liking to think about abuse in general, personal victimization experiences) and benefits (e.g., reflection and awareness about oneself, learning about IPV) were also presented and analyzed. These data underscore the importance of future research that examines the behavioral impact of research participation utilizing longitudinal and in-depth qualitative methodologies. Findings also highlight the potential psychoeducational value of research on understanding the reasons underlying participants' benefits and emotional effects.

Objective: Little research examines factors contributing to specific motives for physical dating violence (DV) perpetration. This study explores this gap in the literature with a specific focus on gender, coping, DV perpetration and victimization, and attitudes toward violence. Method: The sample included 221 college students who reported a history of physical DV perpetration and completed surveys for course credit. Results: Physical DV motivated by emotional expression/dysregulation was associated with physical DV perpetration frequency and disengagement coping for the full sample, and associated with accepting attitudes toward physical DV among women only. Physical DV motivated by control/tough guise was associated with accepting attitudes toward physical DV for the full sample, and physical DV perpetration frequency more strongly for men than women. Physical DV motivated by self-defense was associated with disengagement coping for the full sample, DV perpetration frequency for men, and physical DV victimization frequency more strongly for women than men. Conclusion: Results suggest that DV prevention programming for college students should incorporate focus on coping skills and decreasing accepting attitudes of DV. Results also provide preliminary support for gender-specific tailoring of programs that incorporate emotion regulation and communication skills for women; and among men, deconstructing patriarchal values among frequent perpetrators.

The aim of the current study is to examine the potential differential relationships between sexual victimization occurring in different developmental stages (i.e., in childhood, adolescence, or both stages) and cognitive-affective sexual appraisals (i.e., sexual self-schemas, sexual self-esteem, and erotophobia-erotophilia). Method: The sample included 710 college women who completed surveys for course credit. Results: Results indicated that a history of childhood sexual abuse was uniquely related to lower control sexual self-esteem, whereas history of adolescent sexual assault was uniquely related to greater erotophilia and more positive romantic/passionate sexual self-schema, yet lower control, attractiveness, and moral/judgment sexual self-esteem. However, an experience of both childhood sexual abuse and adolescent sexual abuse was not significantly related to any cognitive-affective sexual appraisals. Childhood psychological abuse was also uniquely related to more open/direct sexual self-schema and greater erotophilia, yet lower attractiveness sexual self-esteem. Conclusions: Results suggest that identification of the developmental stage during which sexual abuse is experienced is an important variable to assess for in relation to affective components of sexuality and may have implications for treatment of sexual assault survivors. For example, women with a history of adolescent sexual assault may benefit from acceptance-based techniques focusing on core dimensions of self-esteem related to their sexuality.

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Despite a growing number of research studies using experience sampling methodologies, little is known about feasibility of these methodologies to the study of intimate partner violence (IPV). In the current study, we examine (a) participant retention and completeness in a 3-week daily diary study, (b) the discrepancy between daily dairy reports of IPV and retrospective summary reports of IPV, and (c) participant reactions to a daily diary assessment of IPV experiences. Participants were 923 undergraduate students (primarily White, heterosexual, and middle to upper-middle class) at two medium-sized universities in New England and the Midwest who received course credit for completing daily diary surveys for 3 weeks about past 24-hour IPV experiences. At the end of the survey, participants summarized their IPV experiences across the 3-week period and answered questions about their reactions to participating in the research protocol. Of the students who completed the baseline survey, 460 (49.8%) were retained until the last day and 229 (24.8%) completed all 21 days. Participants reported higher incidence and frequency of IPV in the daily diaries compared with the retrospective summary measure. On average, participants reported low levels of negative reactions to research participation (e.g., increased fear of partner) and moderate levels of positive reactions to research participation (e.g., gaining insight). IPV victimization before the study, and IPV perpetration and victimization during the daily diary period, predicted negative reactions to research participation reported at the final assessment, whereas IPV perpetration during the daily diary period predicted positive reactions. Overall, findings suggest that although retention is challenging, daily diaries studies may improve accuracy of IPV reporting, and that participants have few negative responses to daily diary methodologies inquiring about IPV.