CURRENT PROJECTS

Project SEVERITY. Recently, I conducted a study which showed that the use of certain combinations of emotion regulation strategies were associated with intentions to perpetrate sexual violence during a hypothetical, sexual scenario, among a sample of cisgender, heterosexual men. Specifically, I found one pattern of emotion regulation which was associated with increased intentions to perpetrate, and another which was associated with reduced intentions to perpetrate. Project SEVERITY seeks to extend the results of this research to other populations, namely, cisgender, heterosexual women, and LGBTQ+ individuals, to determine whether similar profiles of emotion regulation strategies are also associated with intentions to perpetrate (or not perpetrate) sexual violence in these groups of individuals.

Project SEVERAL. Although my research showed that the use of emotion regulation strategies was associated with sexual violence perpetration among cisgender, heterosexual men while they were sober, it did not assess the ways that alcohol intoxication may affect their use of emotion regulation during this hypothetical, sexual situation, or the ways that their use of emotion regulation strategies may be associated with sexual violence while intoxicated. Addressing this is important because research shows that up to half of all sexual assaults involve alcohol use by either the perpetrator, the victim, or both. As such, Project SEVERAL will use alcohol administration procedures to determine how alcohol affects an individuals’ use of emotion regulation strategies during a hypothetical, sexual scenario, and how these strategies may be associated with intentions to perpetrate sexual violence against a hypothetical woman among a sample of cisgender, heterosexual men.

Project SAMER. Previous research of mine of mine has shown that certain personality characteristics (e.g. hostile masculinity, impulsivity, sensation seeking, etc.) interact with emotion regulation difficulties to predict intentions to perpetrate sexual violence among cisgender, heterosexual men during a hypothetical sexual scenario. However, this research did not assess how perceptions of one’s own personality affected intentions to engage in these sexual behaviors. Project SAMER will address this relationship by showing participants an evaluation of their personality before asking them to project themselves into a hypothetical sexual scenario. Then, it will assess how participants’ personalities interact with their emotion regulation to influence their intentions to perpetrate sexual violence against a hypothetical woman during that scenario.