Sexual Assault, Personality and Problem Drinking in College Women

描述(由申请人提供)：我建议解决性侵对大学年龄女性心理健康的重大影响，将人格因素和创伤结合起来预测不适应行为的后果。一个重要且无法解释的现象是，一些女性对性侵犯创伤的反应是外化障碍的症状，最明显的是酗酒，但另一些女性对创伤的反应是内化功能障碍的增加，如严重的抑郁症和广泛性焦虑症(Kilpatrick等人，2003年；Ullman&Nadjowski，2009a)。关键是要确定哪些妇女可能以何种方式应对创伤，因为(A)大量饮酒与许多问题相关，包括增加再次受害的风险(Ullman&Nadjowski，2009b)；(B)对于两种不同类型的功能障碍，有不同的经验支持的治疗方法(Hayes等人，1999年；Linehan，1993；Zapolski等人，2010年)。这项拟议研究的目的是测试这一理论模型：人格特征提升的女性在痛苦时会做出鲁莽行为(即消极紧迫感)，与其他受到创伤的女性相比，她们更有可能对创伤做出更多鲁莽行为的反应，比如酗酒。相比之下，与其他遭受创伤的女性相比，个性特征较高的女性更有可能对创伤做出反应，表现出更多的抑郁和焦虑症状，但她们不太可能参与更多的酗酒。到目前为止，还没有纵向研究衡量性侵受害者之前的人格功能和 研究基于个性的不同形式的创伤后痛苦的预测。这项拟议的研究填补了文献中的这一重要空白。我将评估1000名女性在大学一年级之前的人格功能、饮酒行为和性创伤史，然后在第一学期结束时再评估一次，然后在第一年结束时进行评估。我所在大学的PROR研究表明，这些女性中约有17%会在大学第一年经历性侵(Wilcox等人，2007年)。使用三波 在纵向设计中，我将以差异分数作为因变量进行几个回归方程。首先，负面紧迫感与性侵犯的相互作用会预测大学一年级问题饮酒的增加，而且这种影响将超过最初的问题饮酒和最初的特质抑郁的影响。在第二种情况下，倾向于将功能障碍内化的个性特征与受害之间的相互作用将预测在第一年内抑郁和焦虑的增加，超过最初的抑郁和焦虑以及最初的消极紧迫感。我还将测试性侵犯是否与大学一年级神经质领域特征的增加有关。一个成功的模型测试将指导临床研究人员根据不同的攻击受害者的个性特征，对他们进行不同的干预。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): I propose to address the significant impact that sexual assault has on the mental health of college-aged women, integrating personality factors and trauma to predict maladaptive behavioral consequences. One important and unexplained phenomenon is that some women respond to the trauma of sexual assault with symptoms of externalizing disorders, most notably heavy alcohol consumption, but others respond to the trauma with increases in internalizing dysfunction, such as major depression and generalized anxiety disorder (Kilpatrick et al., 2003; Ullman & Nadjowski, 2009a). It is crucial to identify which women are likely to respond to the trauma in which way, given that (a) heavy alcohol consumption is associated with many problems, including increased risk of re-victimization (Ullman & Nadjowski, 2009b); and (b) there are different empiricallysupported treatments for the two different kinds of dysfunction (Hayes et al., 1999; Linehan, 1993; Zapolski et al., 2010). The intent of the proposed research is to test this theoretical model: Women with elevations in personality traits that dispose them to engage in rash action when distressed (i.e., the trait of negative urgency) are more likely than other traumatized women to respond to the trauma with increases in rash actions such as heavy drinking. In contrast, women with elevations in personality traits that dispose them to internalizing dysfunction are more likely than other traumatized women to respond to the trauma with increased symptoms of depression and anxiety, but they are less likely to engage in increased heavy drinking. To date, there are no longitudinal studies that measure personality functioning prior to sexual assault victimization and investigate personality-based prediction of different forms of post-trauma distress. The proposed study fills this important gap in the literature. I will assess the personality functioning, drinkig behavior, and sexual trauma histories of 1,000 women prior to their first year of college, and then again at the end of their first semester and then at the end of their first year in school. Pror research at my university suggests that approximately 17% of these women will experience sexual assault during their first year in college (Wilcox et al., 2007). Using a three-wave longitudinal design, I will conduct several regression equations using difference scores as dependent variable. In the first, the interaction of negative urgency with sexual assault will predict increased problem drinking across the first year of college, and that effect will be above and beyond the effect of initial problem drinking and initial trait depression. In the second, the interaction of personality traits that dispose individuals to internalizing dysfunction with victimization will predict increased depression and anxiety across the first year, above and beyond initial depression and anxiety and initial negative urgency. I will also test whether sexual assault is associated with increases in traits within the Neuroticism domain across the first year of college. A successful model test will guide clinical researchers to apply different interventions to different assault victims, based on their personality characteristics.