Sexual Assault, Personality and Problem Drinking in College Women

描述（由申请人提供）：我建议解决性侵犯对大学年龄女性心理健康的重大影响，整合人格因素和创伤来预测适应不良的行为后果。一个重要且无法解释的现象是，一些女性对性侵犯的创伤的反应是外化障碍的症状，最明显的是大量饮酒，但其他女性对创伤的反应是内化功能障碍的增加，如重度抑郁症和广泛性焦虑症（Kilpatrick et al.，2003; Ullman & Nadjowski，2009 a）。确定哪些女性可能以何种方式对创伤做出反应至关重要，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，2009 B）;以及（B）对于两种不同类型的功能障碍有不同的药物支持治疗（Hayes等人，1999; Linehan，1993; Zapolski等人，2010年）。这项拟议中的研究的目的是测试这一理论模型：女性的人格特质提升，使她们在苦恼时倾向于采取鲁莽行动（即，消极紧迫感的特点）比其他受创伤的妇女更有可能对创伤作出反应，增加鲁莽行为，如大量饮酒。相比之下，人格特征升高的女性比其他受创伤的女性更有可能对创伤做出反应，增加抑郁和焦虑症状，但他们不太可能增加大量饮酒。到目前为止，还没有纵向研究来衡量性侵犯受害前的人格功能， 研究基于人格对不同形式创伤后痛苦的预测。这项研究填补了文献中的这一重要空白。我将评估1,000名女性的人格功能、饮酒行为和性创伤史，她们在大学一年级之前，然后在第一学期末和第一学年末再次评估。我所在大学的研究表明，大约17%的女性在大学的第一年会经历性侵犯（Wilcox et al.，2007年）。使用三波 纵向设计，我将进行几个回归方程，以差异得分为因变量。在第一种情况下，消极紧迫感与性侵犯的相互作用将预测大学第一年问题饮酒的增加，这种影响将超过最初的问题饮酒和最初的特质抑郁症的影响。在第二种情况下，人格特质的相互作用，使个体内化功能障碍与受害将预测增加抑郁和焦虑在第一年，超过最初的抑郁和焦虑和最初的消极紧迫感。我还将测试性侵犯是否与大学第一年神经质领域的特征增加有关。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，对他们采取不同的干预措施。

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.