Objective: Much is known about how alcohol increases the risk of sexual assault or intimate partner violence victimization during college. This research qualitatively explores perceptions about how alcohol influences "disclosures about these events" to informal supports. Participants: Participants included college students who received a…

Objective: One strategy to address the health issues among college students is through bystander intervention. However, much is still unknown about bystander behavior. The purpose of the current study was to assess the feasibility of daily diary methodology as applied to bystander opportunity. Method: Using a convenience sample, we examined (1)…

Background: College is a critical life stage for alcohol-related harms to others (AHTOs), gender, and sexual identity. We tested associations between inclusively-defined gender and sexual identities (separately) and AHTOs among college students. Methods: The Healthy Minds Study (n = 8,308) provided data about three AHTOs: (1) babysitting a drunk…

Previous studies have indicated that sorority members engage in high-risk alcohol consumption, putting them at increased risk of sexual victimization. In the current study, we examined the associations between sorority members' adherence to myths about sexual consent and assault related to alcohol misuse. Findings from the responses of 110…

Objectives: The current study examined the association between alcohol use frequency (ie, days a week one consumes alcohol), sexual and gender identity, and bystander confidence to intervene in interpersonal violence (ie, bystander self-efficacy). Participants: Participants were 750 undergraduate students aged 18-25 (260 heterosexual men, 260…

Objective: Most studies on agreeing to unwanted sex have assessed sexual encounters between people who have had sex before. Thus, we examined instances of sexual compliance with a novel sexual partner. Participants: A probability sample of college students at a university in the Midwest United States (N = 7,112). Methods: Participants completed an…

Objective: Misperception of sexual intent is linked to incidence of sexual assault. The present study tested the effects of gender, alcohol consumption, and leaving a party together, in isolation and in interaction, on perceptions of sexual intent. Participants: Undergraduates (N = 438) completed an online survey between Winter 2017 and Winter…

Universities have attempted to address sexual violence on campuses through various prevention programs, including bystander intervention. Unfortunately, the extant literature on bystander intervention has primarily focused on bystander characteristics. Little is known about how situational characteristics affect the likelihood of intervening…

Objective: This study assessed whether college women who bring their own alcohol to parties (BYOB) are less vulnerable to sexual victimization (SV). Participants: Participants were 652 female freshmen (M age = 18.04 years) at a large, public university. Methods: Women were recruited by email to complete online surveys of their drinking-related…

Sexual assault is an issue that impacts many college campuses; however, it was not known to what extent different college years (year in school) affect the probability of alcohol-related sexual assault, nor was it known to what extent race moderates the statistical relationship between college year and alcohol-related sexual assault. The purpose…

Objective: To determine whether college men's perceptions of campus drinking norms, aggregated at the institution-level, predicted heavy episodic drinking and sexual violence perpetration. Participants: Data were collected from a sample of 1144 first-year male college freshmen enrolled at one of thirty four-year institutions in the state of…

This dissertation explores the newly theorized concept of "sexualized aggression" in U.S. college women's social drinking spaces (e.g., parties, bars, clubs). I developed the concept of sexualized aggression to refer to understudied and overlooked forms of sexual assault and aggression--more specifically, sexual assault that happens in…

Acceptability of a sexual violence (SV) risk reduction program called "RealConsent" designed for first-year female college students was conducted as part of a larger, randomized controlled trial. "RealConsent" uses web-based and mobile technology to deliver four 45-minute theoretically and empirically derived modules designed…

Objective: Research has just begun to identify American college students who study abroad as a group at-risk for sexual violence victimization. The purpose of the current study was to examine the context of these incidents. Participants: We utilized a large longitudinal sample of 2,428 United States college students studying abroad for between 4…

High intensity (HI) binge drinking has emerged as a high-risk drinking phenotype in young adult drinkers, yet few studies have evaluated clinically meaningful correlates of HI binge drinking among young adults at risk for co-occurring psychopathologies, such as interpersonal trauma-exposed drinkers. The present study compared three groups (i.e.,…