Jennifer A. Livingston, Ph.D. - US grants

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Candidate is seeking a Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (MRSDA; K01) in order to develop an independent program of research on adolescent alcohol use, sexual risk behavior and sexual victimization. Ultimately, this program of research will be applied to prevention. The award will provide the time and resources necessary for the candidate to receive extensive mentoring, training, and supervised research experience. Proposed career development and training activities include: (a) an examination of the relevant literature; (b) ethics training; (c) statistical training; (d) development of instruments for assessing risk behavior over time; and (e) training in the development of cognitive-based prevention programs appropriate for an adolescent population. The specific aims of this research are: 1) to gain a preliminary understanding of adolescent perceptions of risk and how these perceptions influence decision-making related to risk behavior; 2) to examine the predictors of adolescent alcohol use and sexual behavior; 3) to study the impact of age of onset of alcohol use and sex on negative sexual outcomes; and 4) to gain an understanding of the contexts in which adolescents initiate risk behavior and experience sexual victimization. \Maria Testa, Ph.D. and Michael Windle, Ph.D. will serve as co-Preceptors on this award. Consultants are Julie Downs, Ph.D., Baruch Fischhoff, Ph.D., and Jonathon Tubman, Ph.D. This team will provide the expertise in adolescent alcohol use, sexual risk behaviors, sexual victimization, and cognitive-based interventions. The resources at the Research Institute on Addictions provide the ideal environment for developing a career in alcohol research, and for conducting the research outlined in this proposal.

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Peer victimization (PV; i.e., bully victimization, sexual harassment) is pervasive and has been associated with adverse outcomes including emotional distress and substance use among adolescents. Although there is clearly the potential for PV to cause harm, not all adolescents suffer serious effects from such experiences. Little is known about the conditions under which PV causes harm and for whom. There is a surprising lack of research to illuminate: (a) the individual, social and situational factors that influence an individual's response to victimization proximally and over time; and (b) the role of PV in the development of substance use. The proposed study will investigate the acute and long-term effects of PV on adolescent well-being and substance use. Two complimentary methods of data collection to be used: a longitudinal web-based survey comprised of multiple short-interval assessment over a two-year period and a daily diary study of PV experienced over an eight-week period. Adolescents ages 13 - 15 years, will be recruited via address based sampling to participate. The proposed research will advance current understandings of the conditions under which PV is deleterious and for whom, and will identify the processes through which PV affects the development of substance use. It is guided by the following Specific Aims: 1. what are the acute, proximal effects of PV on emotional distress (e.g., negative effect, anxiety) and on substance use among adolescents? 2. Are there individual or situational variables that moderate the association between PV and proximal outcomes? Do the effects of PV vary across three dimensions: victim characteristics (e.g., gender), the characteristics of the PV experience (e.g., chronicity), and potential buffers (e.g., parent, and peer support)? 3. What are the long-term effects of PV on emotional distress and substance use? The effects of PV on trajectories of emotional distress and substance use over time will be examined, as will potential mediators (e.g., depression) and moderators (e.g., alcohol coping expectancies) of PV to identify who is most at risk of developing a substance use problem following PV. The use of multiple methods to address these aims is highly novel and offers the potential to significantly advance understandings of PV.

ABSTRACT Approximately 1 in 5 U.S. college women is sexually assaulted (SA), and nearly half of these assaults involve alcohol. These assaults often occur in social settings, where others are present. Because of this, research has begun to focus on ways in which those who are a part of this social environment (?bystanders?) may be incorporated into assault prevention efforts. Seminal work by Latané and Darley (1970) underscores two conditions that must be in place in order for others in the social environment to take preventive action: a relationship with the potential victim, and a sense of personal responsibility to her. Without these, helping behavior is unlikely to occur. Typically offered in group format, to general audiences of students who may not socialize or even know one another, existing bystander-based interventions are unlikely to tap into the sense of relationship or responsibility that would catalyze action. This is a missed opportunity. In contrast, relationship and responsibility are the hallmark of friendships. Moreover, friends are central to the drinking context of college women and to the context of SA. For all of these reasons, friends are optimally positioned to act to prevent SA, and a focus on friends is a promising direction for intervention. Yet, data show that though women want to help protect their friends against SA, they report a number of barriers regarding whether, when, and how to do this. They also report lacking the necessary skills to intervene effectively. Thus, they do not feel ready to engage in SA prevention. A friend-based, motivational intervention can address these barriers, cultivating the relationship and responsibility that already exist between friends, and collaboratively addressing challenges that stand in the way of helping behavior. Accordingly, the objective of the proposed study is to develop an innovative, friend-based motivational intervention (FMI) that encourages and prepares friends to reduce SA risk. Delivered to pairs of friends (dyads), the FMI will be designed to foster collaborative efforts to increase readiness for, and decrease barriers to helping behavior, and to teach and plan together for assault prevention skills. As the role of alcohol has been under-addressed in SA prevention efforts, the FMI also will explicitly attend to how intoxication may serve as a barrier to friend intervention, and strategies for overcoming this barrier. The FMI will be developed in three stages (1. Development, 2. Implementation & Refinement, 3. Preliminary Testing). In the final stage of the project, the intervention will be tested in a randomized, controlled mini-trial (FMI vs. waitlist control). Friend dyads will be followed in bi-weekly online assessments for 3 months to examine changes in helping attitudes and behaviors. Feasibility, scalability, iatrogenic effects, and whether drinking influences intervention outcomes also will be examined. Findings will offer rich information about how best to incorporate friends into sexual assault prevention, and will lay the groundwork for the next steps for the FMI.

Abstract Lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer or questioning, and those youth with other sexual minority identities (LGBQ+) report riskier alcohol use patterns than their heterosexual peers. This raises concerns that?like patterns found in the general population?early, risky alcohol use may strongly predict later alcohol problems and related deleterious health consequences (e.g., other substance abuse, victimization, poor physical and mental health) that contribute to health disparities among sexual minority adults. The harmful effects of peer victimization (PV; i.e. bullying and sexual harassment) on adolescent psychosocial functioning may be one pathway through which LGBQ+ youth become involved in high-risk alcohol use. In adolescence, heterosexist social norms are strongly enforced through bullying and homophobic sexual harassment. Alarmingly high numbers of LGBQ+ youth experience homophobic peer aggression. Such experiences can lead to internalized heterosexism and sexual minority stress. Sexual minority stress has been strongly associated with increased alcohol use across the lifespan in sexual minority populations. Cross-sectional studies have shown that PV is positively associated with alcohol and other substance use among LGBQ+ adolescents. However, the mechanisms through which PV contributes to negative outcomes and the protective factors that ameliorate those outcomes among LGBTQ+ youth are not well understood. Advances in understanding the effects of PV on LGBQ+ adolescents have been hampered by a dearth of longitudinal and mixed methods studies that include these youth in their samples. Using a mixed methods design, the proposed study will investigate the acute daily and longitudinal effects of PV on LGBQ+ adolescent risky alcohol use, as well as identify potential buffers and risk factors for these outcomes. Data from 500 adolescents (ages 15-17 years, 50% female gender identity, diverse racial composition) will be collected using four longitudinal surveys (baseline, 6-, 12, and 18- month follow-ups), two bursts of daily reports (4-weeks each), and qualitative interviews. Informed by sexual minority stress and psychological mediation theories, the proposed study aims to: (1) identify the psychosocial mechanisms linking PV with alcohol and other substance use among LGBQ+ youth; (2) understand the daily associations between PV and alcohol and substance use; and (3) examine the contexts in which LGBQ+ youth experience PV and gain insight into the psychosocial factors related to PV and substance use. The proposed study utilizes a novel integrative conceptual model that incorporates extant knowledge from research on PV and substance use conducted with heterosexual youth along with factors identified in the LGBQ+ literature, including sexual minority stress and the psychological mediation framework, to clarify the processes implicated in substance use by LGBQ+ youth. Results from this study are critically needed to understand the pathways, processes and contexts through which LGBQ+ adolescents become involved in high-risk alcohol use to inform the development of primary prevention programs that improve and preserve the health of LGBQ+ youth.