Alcohol Problems, Jealousy, and Cyber Dating Abuse Perpetration Among Men and Women: Toward a Conceptual Model

Abstract

Investigations of alcohol use in relation to cyber dating abuse (CDA) remain underdeveloped relative to alcohol-related face-to-face dating abuse research. A critical step toward advancing this area of research would include examining the applicability of alcohol-related partner abuse models to CDA perpetration. Existing models of alcohol-related partner abuse suggested that alcohol and partner abuse are more likely to co-occur in the presence of aggressogenic distal traits. We propose that this model may extend to CDA perpetration. Toward this end, the present study collected cross-sectional data from college students ( N = 258; 56.2% male) to investigate whether trait romantic jealousy moderated the association between alcohol problems and CDA perpetration, controlling for face-to-face dating abuse perpetration. We hypothesized that alcohol problems would positively relate to CDA perpetration among college students with high, but not low, romantic jealousy. We explored whether the interactive effect varied by sex. Results revealed a significant three-way interaction; the moderating role of romantic jealousy in the relation between alcohol problems and CDA perpetration varied by sex. Alcohol problems positively related to CDA perpetration for women with high, but not low, romantic jealousy. Alcohol problems did not relate to CDA perpetration regardless of men’s level of romantic jealousy. These preliminary results suggested that alcohol-related partner abuse models may be useful for conceptualizing CDA perpetration and identifying CDA intervention components.

Proximal associations among college students’ alcohol use and cyber partner abuse perpetration.

“…Although extant data suggests that the prevalence of past-year cyber PA perpetration is comparable across college women and men (Brem, Romero, et al, 2019), the present data revealed that women's odds of daily cyber PA perpetration were greater than men's odds. It is plausible that cyber PA perpetration is perceived as a more acceptable form of abuse among women relative to men.…”

“…With the advent and ubiquity of smartphones and social media, college couples have virtually constant access to one another thereby creating new contexts for individuals to monitor, harass, threaten, humiliate, and otherwise abuse their partners via technology, otherwise known as cyber PA (Borrajo et al, 2015; Elphinston & Noller, 2011; Leisring & Giumetti, 2014). Approximately 44% of college men and 55% of college women perpetrate at least one form of cyber PA each year which may increase their partners’ likelihood of experiencing deleterious mental health consequences (e.g., depression, suicidal ideation, and risky sexual behaviors; Brem, Romero, et al, 2019; Van Ouytsel et al, 2016; Wolford-Clevenger, Elmquist, et al, 2016; Wolford-Clevenger, Zapor, et al, 2016). Despite the prevalence and negative experiences associated with cyber PA, theory and research in this area remain underdeveloped.…”

“…men and 55% of college women perpetrate at least one form of cyber PA each year which may increase their partners' likelihood of experiencing deleterious mental health consequences (e.g., depression, suicidal ideation, and risky sexual behaviors; Brem, Romero, et al, 2019;Van Ouytsel et al, 2016;. Despite the prevalence and negative experiences associated with cyber PA, theory and research in this area remain underdeveloped.…”

A Longitudinal Examination of Alcohol Problems and Cyber, Psychological, and Physical Dating Abuse: The Moderating Role of Emotion Dysregulation

“…In addition to elucidating the longitudinal associations between cyber, psychological, and physical DA, research would benefit from clarifying theory-informed cyber DA risk factors. Alcohol use gained support as an antecedent for in-person DA (Shorey, Stuart, McNulty, & Moore, 2014; Shorey, Stuart, Moore, & McNulty, 2014), and some evidence suggested alcohol use posed a risk for cyber DA (Brem et al, 2019; Crane, Umehira, Berbary, & Easton, 2018; Singh et al, 2015; Van Ouytsel et al, 2016). Cross-sectional data revealed that alcohol use positively related to cyber DA perpetration among adult men and women (Crane et al, 2018; Singh et al, 2015).…”

“…That is, alcohol problems may increase subsequent DA perpetration for individuals with high, but not low, levels of aggressogenic dispositional traits. Brem et al (2019) recently proposed that such a model could be applied to cyber DA such that distal traits interact with alcohol problems to increase the risk of cyber DA.…”