Protective factors for sexual violence perpetration

描述(由申请人提供)：这项拟议的研究将确定在多个影响水平上的保护性因素，以降低一年级男大学生实施性暴力的风险。本研究将在计划行为理论(TPB)中应用一个生态学框架，以确定与个人、同伴和家庭相关的远端因素，这些因素预测TBP近端变量(即态度、规范和控制)，进而预测SV实施的风险。该样本将包括600名一年级男大学生，他们将在第一年末和第二年末完成自我报告问卷。将使用Mplus来分析数据。这项研究的具体目的是：(1)确定来自个人、同伴和家庭水平的生态域的哪些远端变量与TPB结构、对SV的态度、关于SV实施的规范的感知以及对SV实施的感知控制有关；(2)确定测量TPB结构的近端变量是否预期地与SV实施相关；(3)确定TPB变量是否在远端变量和SV实施之间的预期关联中起中介作用；以及(4)评估生态应用的TPB理论解释SV实施的总体能力。这项研究将确定城规会在预测性传播感染方面的效用，评估研究变量的措施是否适当，以及用于招募参与者和收集数据的程序的有效性。这项研究的结果将被用来设计、实施和评估针对男大学生的预防性干预措施，该干预措施专门针对改变已确定的预测SV实施的可修改的保护因素。然后，可以在其他人群中测试干预的适用性。虽然我们的研究议程需要几年的时间才能完成，但R03将使我们在这一进程中取得进展。尽管性暴力在大学生中很普遍，但缺乏预防性暴力行为的干预措施。这可能是因为在对SV实施的研究中缺乏统一的理论。成功的公共卫生干预措施通常建立在令人信服的理论框架基础上。没有理论依据的研究得出的结果很难转化为干预策略，因为缺乏一个先验框架，说明各种因素在预测行为时是如何相互作用的。这项拟议的研究具有创新性，在几个方面推动了研究文献的发展。首先，它使用了一个理论框架，即计划行为理论(TPB)，该理论已成功地用于促进其他类型的健康行为。其次，它扩展了TBP以检查预测TPB结构的远端因素。第三，研究变量来自几个生态领域，因此设计承认SV的实施受到多个水平的影响。第四，它解决了男大学生的犯罪行为，这是一个由于年龄较小、物质使用增加和发育阶段(例如，从青春期过渡到青年)而有可能从事性暴力行为的人群。第五，它检验了模型变量是否可以随着时间的推移预测SV的实施。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed research will identify protective factors across multiple levels of influence that reduce the risk for the perpetration of sexual violence (SV) among first-year male college students. The study will apply an ecological framework to the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to identify individual, peer, and family-related distal factors that predict the TBP proximal variables (i.e., attitudes, norms, and control), and in turn, risk for SV perpetration. The sample will include 600 first-year male college students who will complete self-report questionnaires at the end of their first year and at the end of their second year in college. MPLUS will be used to analyze the data. The specific aims of the study are to: (1) determine what distal variables from the individual, peer, and family-level ecological domains are associated with the TPB constructs, attitudes toward SV, perceptions of norms regarding SV perpetration, and perceived control over the perpetration of SV; (2) determine if the proximal variables measuring the TPB constructs are prospectively associated with SV perpetration; (3) determine if the TPB variables mediate the prospective associations between the distal variables and SV perpetration; and (4) assess the overall capacity of an ecologically applied TPB theory to explain SV perpetration. The study will allow for determining the utility of the TPB in predicting SV perpetration, the appropriateness of the measures in assessing study variables, and the effectiveness of the procedures used to recruit participants and collect data. Findings from this study will be used to design, implement, and evaluate a preventive intervention for male college students that specifically targets changing the identified modifiable protective factors that predict SV perpetration. The applicability of the intervention can then be tested with other populations. Although our research agenda will take several years to accomplish, this RO3 will enable us to make headway in this process. Despite sexual violence (SV) being prevalent among college students, there is a dearth of interventions for preventing SV perpetration. This is likely due to the lack of a unifying theory in research on SV perpetration. Successful interventions in public health generally are based on cogent theoretical frameworks. Studies not grounded in theory produce findings that are difficult to translate into intervention strategies due to the lack of a priori frameworks that specify how various factors interact in predicting behavior. The proposed study is innovative and advances the research literature in several ways. First, it uses a theoretical framework, the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), which has been used successfully to promote other types of health behaviors. Second, it extends the TBP to examine distal factors that predict the TPB constructs. Third, study variables are from several ecological domains, and thus the design acknowledges that SV perpetration is influenced across several levels. Fourth, it addresses perpetration among male college students, a population at risk for engaging in SV perpetration due to their young age, increased substance use, and developmental stage (e.g., transition from adolescence to young adulthood). Fifth, it examines if the model variables predict SV perpetration over time.