Sexual Assault, Personality and Problem Drinking in College Women

描述（由申请人提供）：我提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，一些女性对性侵犯创伤的反应是外化障碍的症状，最明显的是大量饮酒，但另一些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, 2009a）。鉴于(a)大量饮酒与许多问题有关，包括再次受害的风险增加（Ullman & Nadjowski， 2009年b），确定哪些妇女可能以何种方式对创伤作出反应至关重要；(b)对于两种不同的功能障碍有不同的经验支持的治疗方法（Hayes et al., 1999; Linehan, 1993; Zapolski et al., 2010）。这项研究的目的是测试这个理论模型：性格特征较高的女性在痛苦时更容易做出鲁莽的行为（即消极紧迫感的特征），与其他受创伤的女性相比，她们更有可能以增加鲁莽的行为（如酗酒）来应对创伤。相比之下，性格特征较高的女性更容易产生内化功能障碍，与其他受创伤的女性相比，她们对创伤的反应更容易出现抑郁和焦虑的症状，但她们不太可能酗酒。到目前为止，还没有纵向研究来衡量性侵犯受害者之前的人格功能

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.