Heather L McCauley

Michigan State University | MSU · School of Social Work

Objectives: We assessed the relationship between gender attitudes, identified as a critical component of violence prevention, and abuse toward dating partners among adolescent male athletes. Methods: Our sample comprised 1699 athletes from 16 high schools in northern California who were surveyed between December 2009 and October 2010 in the larg...

Sexual minority women are more likely than heterosexual women to have ever experienced intimate partner violence (IPV). Although IPV is associated with sexual risk and poor reproductive health outcomes among US women overall, little is known about whether IPV is related to sexual and reproductive health indicators among sexual minority women in par...

Objective: Identification and refinement of psychometric properties of the Reproductive Coercion Scale (RCS) for use in survey research and clinical practice. Study Design: Young women ages 16–29 seeking services in 24 Pennsylvania and 5 California family planning clinics completed questionnaires. Data were pooled for analysis (n=4674), and underl...

Sexual violence is a devastating trauma with long-lasting effects on survivors’ health and well-being. Despite the substantial impacts of the last 25 years of research, the prevalence of sexual violence has remained stable. It will be necessary to reconceptualize our work, challenging our theories, methods, and strategies for dissemination and impl...

Sexual minoritized women (SMW) are more likely than exclusively heterosexual women to experience intimate partner violence (IPV). We conducted in-depth interviews with a clinic-based sample of plurisexual SMW ( n = 25) ages 18 to 34 about the gender of their perpetrators. Participants primarily experienced physical and sexual IPV in relationships w...

The Sexual Experiences Survey [SES] is considered the gold standard measure of non-consensual sexual experiences. This article introduces a new victimization version [SES-V] developed by a multidisciplinary collaboration, the first revision since 2007. The 2024 SES-V is designed to measure the construct of sexual exploitation since the 14th birthda...

This article describes the development of the Verbally Pressured Sexual Exploitation module of the Sexual Experiences Survey (SES)-Victimization (introduced by Koss et al., 2024). This module assesses the use of verbal or nonphysical, paraverbal pressure to obtain sexual acts without freely given permission. An interdisciplinary team of seven sexua...

Sexual violence (SV) on college campuses disproportionately affects cisgender (nontransgender) women, sexual minorities (e.g., gays/lesbians, bisexuals), and gender minority (e.g., transgender/nonbinary) people. This study investigates gender and sexual behavior differences in common SV intervention targets—SV-related knowledge, prevention behavior...

Purpose Much attention has been offered to the deleterious health impacts of sexual violence (SV) and for the most part, research has adopted a strengths-based perspective, focusing on resilience after SV. However, this research is hindered by inconsistencies regarding the conceptualization of resilience. The purpose of this study is to address the...

Institutional betrayal has been used to describe the experiences of sexual assault survivors who are harmed by institutions which they rely on for safety or survival. This concept has primarily been studied in the context of survivors' direct relationships with institutions they are members of (e.g., universities, churches, military) and how the sa...

Rape myth acceptance (RMA) is commonly targeted in anti-rape activism (e.g., the #MeToo Movement) and prevention work due to its association with perpetration, risk of victimization, survivor outcomes, and injustices in the criminal legal system. The 22-item updated Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance (uIRMA) scale is a widely used, reliable measure for...

Men’s experiences with sexual violence (SV) remain underrecognized in advocacy work, public discourse, academic research, and clinical practice, largely because SV is gendered as a feminine experience. To increase our understanding of this topic, the present thematic synthesis of qualitative studies sought to explore how socially constructed tenets...

Prevalence of sexual assault remains high on American college campuses, and sexual consent education is lacking within school-based sexual health education programming. Much empirical research has aimed to reduce sexual violence through a deeper understanding of college students' perceptions of sexual consent. However, researchers have not yet exam...

This chapter reviews social marketing and awareness approaches to sexual assault prevention with boys and men, including poster campaigns (i.e., Know Your Power) and other awareness-raising strategies such as public service announcements (i.e., It’s On Us) and advocacy groups (i.e., Men Can Stop Rape), and social norms marketing campaigns. The chap...

Since the inception of the viral #MeToo Movement in 2017, news coverage of sexual assault incidents and related public discourse have become much more prevalent on social media platforms. While this hashtag activism has prompted important social discourse, little is known about how exposure to this type of trauma-related content affects survivors o...

The phenomenon of “slutpages,” tied to high schools, fraternities, and the military, used to post, share, and comment on nude and semi-nude images of women, has emerged in mass media. To our knowledge, this is the first study to empirically investigate slutpage use behaviors including: visiting slutpages, posting nude images/videos online without c...

Objective: Campus climate surveys related to sexual violence have become commonplace on college campuses. Despite what their name implies, these surveys have lacked both a clear definition of climate and conceptualization of how climate shapes sexual violence. Moreover, these surveys have largely focused on individual attitudes and behaviors, payin...

We sought to explore the type and function of support networks of transmasculine and nonbinary young adults (TNBYA) during their chosen name transition. We conducted 12 in-depth, semi-structured qualitative interviews (2018) to understand who was providing support and how that support was given among Midwestern United States TNBYA who had transitio...

Athletic trainers are allied health professionals focused on the prevention, examination, treatment, and rehabilitation of injuries and medical conditions associated with sport. They are uniquely positioned to affect the health and wellbeing of student-athletes. In particular, athletic trainers are well-positioned to be leaders in preventing sexual...

Adolescence is a dynamic developmental period characterized by intense physical, neurological, psychological, and psychosocial changes spanning from approximately age 10 through the late 20s. Intimate partner violence (IPV) is common of this period. Despite studies documenting the effectiveness of prevention efforts to reduce IPV, the prevalence ha...

Background: The current study is the first to explore the prevalence of reproductive coercion among adolescent women currently or previously involved in the U.S. foster care system. Reproductive coercion (RC), a form of intimate partner violence (IPV) involving exertion of power over a partner by controlling their reproductive health and decision m...

Families are central to the work of systemic family therapists, yet demographics, laws, and social and cultural norms have shifted globally over time, challenging traditional definitions of family. Research on sexual and gender minority and system‐involved populations highlights the ability for us to hold both traditional and socially expansive def...

Objective: Preventing sexual violence among college students is a public health priority. This paper was catalyzed by a summit convened in 2018 to review the state of the science on campus sexual violence prevention. We summarize key risk and vulnerability factors and campus-based interventions, and provide directions for future research pertaining...

Objectives. To assess differences by gender of sexual partner in the association between sexual assault and alcohol use among women seeking care in college health centers. Methods. This longitudinal study comprised 1578 women aged 18 to 24 years visiting 28 college health centers in Pennsylvania and West Virginia from 2015 to 2018. We used multilev...

Introduction Sexual violence, particularly in the context of drinking, is prevalent on college campuses. This study tested a brief intervention to prevent sexual violence among students receiving care from college health centers. Study design This study was a two-arm, unblinded cluster RCT. Setting/participants On 28 campuses with health/counseli...

Bystander interventions have been highlighted as promising strategies to reduce sexual violence and sexual harassment, yet their effectiveness for sexual minority youth remains largely unexamined in high schools’ populations. This rigorous cluster randomized control trial addresses this gap by evaluating intervention effectiveness among sexual majo...

Personality-linked psychological factors including distress tolerance and delay discounting have been shown to underlie both Alcohol Use and Major Depressive Disorders. Although these disorders commonly co-occur, especially among individuals seeking in-patient treatment, no study has examined the association between distress tolerance, delay discou...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate demographic differences and evaluate how reproductive coercion and relationship abuse influences young females' care-seeking and sexual health behaviors. METHODS: We conducted a secondary analysis of cross-sectional baseline survey data from sexually active female students (aged 14-19 years) who sought care from school h...

In recent years, researchers and clinicians around the world have been taken aback by the high prevalence of relationship violence, particularly among school-age children as young as 12. Many have also documented the close relationship between prejudice and discrimination on the basis of gender identity, sexual orientation and racial identity, and...

The present study, which included four focus groups of women (n = 21) in four New England prisons, aimed to understand how power impacted women’s relationships, exposure to violence, and health. Women described power in three ways: (a) power as control over their sexuality and their sexual partners, (b) power emerging from emotional strength, and (...

Purpose: The current study explores the use of chosen names in identity development among nonbinary young adults (NBYA). Little is known about the process of transitioning to chosen names, however, it has been shown to reduce suicidality and increase well-being among NBYA. This study describes how NBYA select and integrate identity with their chose...

Purpose: Chosen name use can enhance the psychological well-being among transgender and nonbinary young adults (TNBYA). However, little is known about how support networks may enhance or inhibit the well-being of TNBYA while transitioning to a chosen name. The current study describes support networks of TNBYA and how those support networks function...

Introduction: Sexual minority girls (SMGs) may be at high risk for substance use partially due to anti-gay discrimination. Low levels of parent-child communication and parental knowledge may contribute to this risk. This study seeks to identify parent-child communication and parental knowledge trajectories, determine the likelihood of SMGs followi...

The goal of the current study was to identify risk factors that predict sexual intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization across young women's relationship histories, within a socioeconomically diverse sample recruited from a university, a 2-year college, and community organizations serving low-income young women. We interviewed 148 young women...

The present study assessed how individuals used the #NotOkay hashtag on Twitter to respond to Donald Trump’s comments about grabbing women by their genitals. We analyzed 652 tweets which included commentary about the hashtag. Three main themes emerged: (a) users’ acknowledgment and condemnation of rape culture, (b) Donald Trump and the national sta...

In response to the #MeToo movement, #HowIWillChange was intended to engage men and boys in the ongoing discussion about sexual violence by asking them to evaluate their role in sustaining rape culture. We collected publicly available tweets containing #HowIWillChange from Twitter’s application programming interface on October 26, 2017 via NCapture...

We explored patterns of intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization at the relationship level within a socioeconomically diverse sample of young women who had experienced IPV. We recruited from a university, a 2-year college, and high-risk community settings. Drawing on life course theory and utilizing the life history calendar, we conducted retr...

In November 2017, Raliance, a partnership working to end sexual violence, unveiled its online Sport + Prevention Center that included a report developed in partnership with the UC San Diego Center on Gender Equity and Health (GEH) that analyzed sexual violence prevention opportunities in and with sport. The analysis found that “sport is uniquely po...

Teen dating violence and sexual violence are severe public health problems. Abusive behaviors within the context of dating or romantic relationships are associated with adverse health outcomes. Promoting positive bystander intervention and increasing knowledge of abusive behaviors are promising strategies for preventing dating and sexual violence....

Purpose of review: Dating and sexual violence victimization are not uncommon in early adolescence and increase in prevalence throughout adolescence into young adulthood with profound health and social consequences. Greater attention to what works in prevention is needed to inform current policies and practices. Recent findings: Adolescent dating...

Background: Unintended pregnancy (UIP) is a persistent public health concern in the United States disproportionately experienced by racial/ethnic minorities and women of low socioeconomic status. UIP often occurs with experiences of reproductive coercion (RC) and intimate partner violence (IPV). The purpose of the study was to qualitatively descri...

Background: Public intimate partner violence (IPV) discourse emphasizes physical violence. In May 2016, the Twitter hashtag #MaybeHeDoesntHitYou generated a public conversation about abuse beyond physical IPV. Because of the often-disconnect between IPV research and what survivors struggle to name as abuse in their daily lives, we sought to unders...

Study objective: To examine the impact of childhood trauma and family history of psychiatric illness on weight loss trajectories of obese, adolescent females with PCOS. Design: Prospective Study SETTING: PCOS and Adolescent Medicine Outpatient Clinics PATIENTS: Participants were, on average, 15.8 years, 80% Caucasian, and had a BMI of 36.8 ± 8.8...

Objective Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is highly prevalent among incarcerated populations; however, research has yet to examine whether prisoners diagnosed with BPD experience greater interpersonal dysfunction and institutional misconduct while incarcerated. Procedure This study drew from a sample of 184 male and female prisoners diagnose...

Introduction: Sexual violence (SV) on college campuses is common, especially alcohol-related SV. This is a 2-arm cluster randomized controlled trial to test a brief intervention to reduce risk for alcohol-related sexual violence (SV) among students receiving care from college health centers (CHCs). Intervention CHC staff are trained to deliver uni...

Background: Social media provides a context for billions of users to connect, express sentiments, and provide in-the-moment status updates. Because Twitter users tend to tweet emotional updates from daily life, the platform provides unique insights into experiences of mental health problems. Depression is not only one of the most prevalent health c...

Promoting healthy interpersonal relationships – those that, at minimum, are respectful, caring, and free from violence and coercion – is a large social undertaking in which health-care providers can play a critical role. Providers have the capacity to model respectful and caring communication, as well as to establish norms related to interpersonal...

This study assessed whether trajectories of parental monitoring components were different for sexual minority girls (SMGs) compared to heterosexual girls. We recruited 14-19-year-old girls from two adolescent medicine clinics. We estimated growth curve models to compare how components of parental monitoring-adolescent disclosure, parental solicitat...

Objective: To explore racial/ethnic differences in reproductive coercion (RC), intimate partner violence (IPV), and unintended pregnancy (UIP). Materials and methods: We analyzed cross-sectional, baseline data from an intervention that was conducted between August 2008 and March 2009 in five family planning clinics in the San Francisco, Californ...

Context: Despite multiple calls for clinic-based services to identify and support women victimized by partner violence, screening remains uncommon in family planning clinics. Furthermore, traditional screening, based on disclosure of violence, may miss women who fear reporting their experiences. Strategies that are sensitive to the signs, symptoms...

A critical step in developing sexual assault prevention and treatment is identifying groups at high risk for sexual assault. We explored the independent and interaction effects of sexual identity, gender identity, and race/ethnicity on past-year sexual assault among college students. From 2011 to 2013, 71,421 undergraduate students from 120 US post...

This chapter discusses a specific and promising school and community-based prevention intervention—the Coaching Boys into Men (CBIM) program. CBIM trains athletic coaches to talk with their adolescent male athletes about respect, nonviolence, healthy relationships, and positive bystander behaviors with the goal of reducing sexual and dating violenc...

Background: Hopefulness has been associated with increased treatment retention and reduced substance abuse among adults, and may be a promising modifiable factor to leverage in substance abuse treatment settings. Few studies have assessed the relationship between hopefulness and substance use in adolescents, particularly those with high-risk backg...

Our study sought to assess whether parental monitoring and their associations with health behaviors differed for heterosexual girls compared to sexual-minority girls (girls who identified as lesbian or bisexual, endorsed same-sex attraction, or had same-sex romantic or sexual partners). We analyzed three components of parental monitoring—adolescent...

Objective: We assessed the effectiveness of a provider-delivered intervention targeting reproductive coercion, an important factor in unintended pregnancy. Study design: We randomized 25 family planning clinics (17 clusters) to deliver an education/counseling intervention or usual care. Reproductive coercion and partner violence victimization at...

Introduction: Girls and women are at risk of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and cervical cancer from male and female sexual partners throughout the life course. However, no study has assessed how sex of sexual partners, a dimension of sexual orientation, may relate to HPV vaccination among girls and women. Methods: In 2014, data from the 2...

BACKGROUND: Women ages 16-29 utilizing family planning clinics for medical services experience higher rates of intimate partner violence (IPV) and reproductive coercion (RC) than their same-age peers, increasing risk for unintended pregnancy and related poor reproductive health outcomes. Brief interventions integrated into routine family planning c...

To understand how primary care providers (PCPs) perceive barriers to adolescent depression care to inform strategies to increase treatment engagement. We conducted semistructured interviews with 15 PCPs recruited from community pediatric offices with access to integrated behavioral health services (ie, low system-level barriers to care) who partici...

Background: Women veterans represent a vulnerable population with unique health needs and disparities in access to care. One constellation of exposures related to subsequent poor health includes adverse childhood experiences (ACEs; e.g., physical and sexual child abuse), though research on impacts of ACEs among women veterans is limited. Methods:...

A national conversation has emerged regarding the prevalence of and strategies for addressing sexual assault on college campuses. Sexual assault includes rape, sexual coercion, being forced to penetrate someone else, and unwanted sexual experiences including those without physical contact [1]. We are now familiar with the statistic that one in five...

Addressing the social and clinical service needs of minors who have been sexually exploited remains a challenge across the United States. While larger metropolitan centers have established shelters and service provision specific for trafficked persons, in smaller cities and more rural settings, survivors of trafficking (especially minors) are usual...

Poor mental health is associated with teen dating violence (TDV), but whether there are specific types of psychiatric disorders that could be targeted with intervention to reduce TDV remains unknown. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to assess the associations of psychiatric disorders that emerged prior to dating initiation with su...

Unintended pregnancy is common and disproportionately occurs among low-income and African-American (AA) women. Male partners may influence women's risk of unintended pregnancy through reproductive coercion, although studies have not assessed whether racial differences in reproductive coercion impact AA women's disparate risk for unintended pregnanc...

This study explored gender norms with cricket coaches and athletes in India to adapt a coach-delivered gender violence prevention program from the United States for the urban Indian context. Interviews and focus groups conducted among coaches and adolescent cricketers highlight the extent to which coaches and athletes articulate prevailing inequita...

Few evidence-based interventions address adolescent relationship abuse in clinical settings. This cluster randomized controlled trial tested the effectiveness of a brief relationship abuse education and counseling intervention in school health centers (SHCs). In 2012-2013, 11 SHCs (10 clusters) were randomized to intervention (SHC providers receive...