CULTURE SPECIFIC MODELS OF MEN'S AGGRESSION

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DESCRIPTION (adapted from investigator's abstract): There is a dearth of information on sexual aggression in ethnic minority populations. It is unknown if factors associated with sexual aggression among European Americans also are associated with sexual aggression in other groups, including Asian Americans, which are the fastest growing ethnic minority population in the United States. The proposed project would be the first large-scale study of determinants of sexual aggression in Asian American samples. A theoretical model is proposed in which general constructs distal to sexually aggressive behavior are mediated or moderated by constructs that are more proximal and specific to sexually aggressive behavior. The most distal construct to be examined is Ethnicity. The second level of the model involves Individualism and Collectivism. European Americans are predicted to be relatively more individualistic than Asian Americans. Asian Americans having stronger ethnic identities are expected to be bicultural. The third level of the model involves Interpersonal Constructs specifically associated with sexual aggression in the collectivist path. The intrapersonal constructs diverge into Hostile Masculinity and Impersonal Sex paths. The interpersonal constructs diverge into a risk and a protective path, each involving the impact of sexual aggression on one's reputation in terms of its effects on parents, peers, and legal authorities. All paths converge at the fourth level of the model, Substance Abuse, which includes alcohol and drugs as dis-inhibitors of sexual aggression. Substance abuse moderates the effects of interpersonal and interpersonal constructs on sexual aggression. The dependent measure is Sexual Aggression, as measured by self-report and laboratory analogue measures. It is hypothesized that within structural equation models of sexual aggression: (1) culture-specific models of sexual aggression will fit the data better than will a general model of sexual aggression; (2) interpersonal constructs will contribute to model fit among for both European Americans and Asian Americans. The specific aims of the project are to: (1) test culture-specific models of men's sexual aggression in Asian Americans and European Americans; (2) to cross-validate the model; (3) determine if ethnic differences in the determinants of sexual aggression are culturally-based or the result of ethnic minority status; and (4) determine the predictive validity of the models in a longitudinal study.