Protective factors for sexual violence perpetration

描述（由申请人提供）：拟议的研究将在多个影响层面确定保护性因素，以降低一年级男大学生性暴力（SV）实施的风险。本研究将在计划行为理论（TPB）中应用生态框架，以确定预测TBP近端变量（即态度、规范和控制）的个体、同伴和家庭相关远端因素，进而预测SV发生的风险。样本将包括600名大一男生，他们将在大一和大二结束时完成自我报告问卷。MPLUS将用于分析数据。本研究的具体目的是：(1)确定来自个体、同伴和家庭层面生态域的哪些远端变量与TPB构念、对性侵犯的态度、对性侵犯行为的规范感知以及对性侵犯行为的感知控制有关；(2)确定测量TPB结构的近端变量是否与SV行为具有前瞻性关联；(3)确定TPB变量是否介导远端变量与性侵犯行为之间的前瞻性关联；(4)评估生态应用TPB理论解释SV发生的总体能力。该研究将确定TPB在预测性侵犯行为方面的效用，评估研究变量的措施的适当性，以及用于招募参与者和收集数据的程序的有效性。本研究的结果将用于设计、实施和评估针对男性大学生的预防性干预措施，该干预措施专门针对改变预测性侵犯行为的可修改保护因素。然后可以在其他人群中测试干预措施的适用性。虽然我们的研究议程需要几年时间才能完成，但RO3将使我们在这一过程中取得进展。尽管性暴力（SV）在大学生中普遍存在，但缺乏预防性暴力犯罪的干预措施。这可能是由于对性侵犯行为的研究缺乏统一的理论。公共卫生领域成功的干预措施通常以令人信服的理论框架为基础。没有理论基础的研究产生的结果很难转化为干预策略，因为缺乏一个先验框架来说明各种因素如何在预测行为中相互作用。提出的研究是创新的，并在几个方面推进了研究文献。首先，它使用了一个理论框架，即计划行为理论（TPB），该理论已被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TBP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行为在几个层面上受到影响。第四，它解决了男性大学生的犯罪问题，这是一个由于年龄小、药物使用增加和发育阶段（如从青春期过渡到青年期）而有参与性暴力犯罪风险的人群。第五，它检验了模型变量是否预测了随时间的性侵犯行为。

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.