Nicole Johnson

University of British Columbia | UBC · Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education

Objective: Prevention programs that address the intersecting health problems of risky alcohol use, unsafe sexual behaviors, and sexual violence are needed. This pilot project assessed the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a two-session group-based intervention, Sex Positive Lifestyles: Addressing Alcohol & Sexual Health (SPLA...

Affluent White rural men have the highest rates of gun ownership in the United States. However, few studies have specifically examined reasons and motivations for gun ownership and gun behaviors in this population. Therefore, this study sought to examine the relationship between stress variables, namely masculine gender role stress, adverse childho...

Objective: During young adulthood, drinking and sexual behaviors are both normative and inextricably linked. While this association is well documented, little is known about how students define positive and negative drinking-related sexual experiences. Methods: Thirty-five undergraduates participated in a focus group about sexual experiences in the...

Background: Sexual assault and heavy alcohol use are prevalent and interrelated public health concerns on university campuses. Surprisingly, however, few alcohol harm reduction interventions address this intersection to help students reduce both personal and community risks for sexual assault in college drinking contexts. Objectives: In the current...

The present study examines an understudied potential warning sign of school shootings: violence against women (VAW). Utilizing the social–ecological model of violence prevention, we employed directed content analysis to determine the prevalence of acts and social–ecological features of VAW among profiles of 59 boys/men who perpetrated school shooti...

Faculty, staff, and students employed by or who serve as representative of universities in the United States are required by the Title IX federal law to report all instances of sexual harassment, discrimination, and sexual assault on college campuses. Despite the well-intended purpose of the Title IX regulations, less is known about campus communit...

Military sexual trauma remains a critical concern within the US military. One possible explanation for the persistence of this trauma is the presence of rape culture. This study examined perceptions of military sexual trauma within the framework of rape culture (i.e. traditional gender roles, sexism, adversarial sexual beliefs, hostility toward wom...

After the popularization of #MeToo in 2017, the conversation around sexual violence was brought to global attention. The collapse of compassion theory is proposed to occur in situations where individuals no longer feel increased levels of empathy due to an increase in the number of victims. This theory was employed to attempt to understand negative...

Prevalence rates of intimate partner violence (IPV) among sexual minority men are elevated in comparison to heterosexual men. Thus, there is a need to examine factors linked with IPV among sexual minority men. The present study examined the link between masculinity contingency—the degree to which a man derives self-worth from feeling masculine—and...

This study examined the relationship between intimate partner violence (IPV) and use of anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS), in a relationship context, among men who have sex with men (MSM). The sample was collected online via Prolific.co and consisted of 491 MSM. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. While accounting for the influe...

Initial evidence suggests that rates of intimate partner violence (IPV) increased at the beginning of the COVID‐19 pandemic. However, much of the prevalence research has focused on survivors’ experiences of IPV during the initial lockdown period from March to June 2020. The current study adds to this initial research by centering the experience of...

Digital dating abuse (DDA), a manifestation of intimate partner violence (IPV), is becoming more relevant. Despite elevated rates of IPV among sexual minority individuals and increased experiences of DDA, research has focused largely on face-to-face forms of IPV (e.g., physical assault) among presumed heterosexual couples. The minority stress theor...

Background and objectives: We applied the Minority Stress Model to sexual minority older adults to examine how distal minority stressors of ageism and heterosexism related to psychological well-being (life satisfaction, quality of life, psychological distress, loneliness). We investigated social support and in-group social contact as stress-amelio...

The current study examines an understudied potential warning sign of school shootings: violence against women (VAW). Utilizing the social-ecological model of violence prevention, we employed the methodologies of content analysis and feminist inquiry to examine the prevalence of acts and mechanisms of VAW among profiles of 63 individuals who perpetr...

Researchers have consistently found an increased vulnerability to sexual violence in bisexual women. Much like the broader literature around sexual violence against women, the limited research examining this vulnerability in bisexual women has focused on intraindividual victim factors such as alcohol use, mental health, and previous sexual assault...

Mental health professionals' responses to work with trauma survivors vary among a range of aversive and positive psychosocial experiences. This study examines the prevalence and predictors of these responses, including secondary traumatic stress (STS), vicarious resilience (VR), burnout, and compassion satisfaction (CS), among mental health profess...

Rape myths are false beliefs about rape, rape victims, and/or perpetrators of rape that perpetuate a culture where sexual violence is excused. Martha Burt created the first measure of rape myth acceptance in 1980 and since then scholars have continuously updated our understanding of rape myths with a continued focus on rape perpetrated by men again...

This special issue aims to amplify the voices of those who were and continue to be at the frontlines resisting and responding to sexual violence. In order to frame this special issue, we first outline the current socio-political landscape, including increased visibility of movements such as #NoMore, #TimesUp, and most notably #MeToo, and the public...

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and additional marginalized genders and sexualities. LGBTQ+ campus resource centers provide essential services for college and university communities and are increasingly necessary in light of the ongoing and reverberating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. This commentary describes specific needs of LGBTQ...

The current study is a randomized controlled trial comparing HOPE ( Helping to Overcome PTSD through Empowerment) to an adapted version of present-centered therapy (PCT+) in residents of domestic violence shelters with posttraumatic stress disorder from intimate partner violence. HOPE is a cognitive-behavioral treatment that adopts an empowerment a...

Greater accuracy is needed in the assessment of sexual victimization that occurs in intimate relationships. Existing assessment strategies in the literature often represent two distinct approaches – intimate partner violence specific strategies vs. sexual violence specific strategies. The current study compared multiple distinct strategies for asse...

Research identifies sexual regret as the most common source of regret in the USA; however, few studies have explored this phenomenon. This study utilised a mixed-methods approach to explore sexual regret in a sample of 189 US college students. Quantitative analyses assessing who is most likely to experience sexual regret revealed no significant dif...

Addressing women’s intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration is essential not only to their partners’ safety but also to their own as, for women who are victims of IPV, their IPV perpetration may be a risk factor for their own revictimization. Although many studies have examined risk factors for women’s IPV perpetration, results diverge with reg...

Research on sexual victimization (SV) in college women often focuses on perpetration by nonpartners thus, little is known about SV by intimate partners on college campuses. To address this gap in the literature, the current study compared prevalence and revictimization rates and negative correlates of SV based on victim–offender relationship. Findi...

Objective: Interpersonal trauma is a nonspecific risk factor for disordered eating (DE). Studies have begun to examine mechanisms that explain the relationship; however, few have tested comprehensive theoretical models. The Model of Psychological Adaptation (McCann, Sakheim, & Abrahamson, 1988) posits that trauma exposure results in core schema di...

Researchers studying bystander behavior in the context of sexual violence are informed by the five-step process of bystander intervention that was described by Latané and Darley (1969). According to this process an individual must first recognize a situation as problematic prior to intervening. The behaviors that are easily recognized or taught in...

Greater accuracy is needed in the assessment of sexual victimization that occurs in intimate relationships (intimate partner sexual victimization - IPSV). Existing assessment strategies in the literature often represent two distinct approaches – intimate partner violence specific strategies vs. sexual violence specific strategies. The current study...

Recommendations to conceptualize sexual orientation as a continuum and as multidimensional rather than one dichotomous variable (e.g., DeBlaere et al., 2010; Kinsey et al., 1948) have been largely unexplored in sexual minority older adults, including how these dimensions might differ by age and gender. In this study, participants indicated their se...

Despite being at increased risk when compared to their cisgender and heterosexual counterparts, LGBTQ+ university students remain invisible or, at best, underserved by current rape prevention programming. The current study outlines the adaptation of a rape prevention programme, Define It!, co-created by the first author and grounded in feminist con...

Sexual violence is considered a public health crisis and is particularly a problem on college campuses. Efforts for rape prevention at the collegiate level have included decreasing rape myth acceptance and increasing prosocial bystander behaviors. Although bystander models vary in regard to format and target population (e.g., male, female, or combi...

During the 2016 U.S. presidential election, violence against women was salient in the narratives surrounding both major party candidates: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. These discussions surrounding violence against women reflect a cultural ideology that excuses and/or supports such violence. This study aimed to understand the function of politi...

Objective: A subgroup of patients with Parkinson disease (PD) develops impulse control disorders (ICD) associated with their dopamine replacement therapy. Patients and their families may be reluctant to report ICD symptoms or unaware these symptoms are related to PD medication, which can make detecting an ICD difficult for clinicians. Ideally, a b...

Objective: The current investigation sought to explore the impact of the comorbidities of substance use disorder (SUD), major depressive disorder (MDD), and borderline personality disorder (BPD) on the trajectory of intimate partner violence (IPV)-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms across a 6-month follow-up period in IPV surviv...

Feminist scholars have long argued the presence of a “rape culture” within the United States; however, limited efforts have been made to quantify this construct. A model of rape culture was first proposed in 1980 and expanded in the 1990s in an effort to quantify rape myth acceptance. This model posits that five underlying components make up a rape...

As the literature on sexual violence and its relationship with sexual orientation in women continues to grow, one issue is becoming clear: the need to investigate bisexuality as a correlate of sexual violence and of greater negative outcomes following such violence. Although several studies have noted higher rates and negative consequence of sexual...

The literature on gender differences in perpetration of physical partner violence (PV) consists of two opposing camps: those who emphasize gender symmetry, and those who emphasize gender asymmetry. We propose a both/and approach to this controversy by suggesting that the issue of gender symmetry is complex and dependent upon context. Furthermore, w...

Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and intimate partner violence (IPV) are interconnected public health problems. However, few HIV prevention interventions address the unique needs of IPV survivors in shelter and none of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's best-evidence risk reduction interventions adequately exp...

There has been a long-standing debate regarding whether or not there is gender symmetry in intimate partner violence (IPV); however, shelter samples have been understudied thus far. This study investigates the prevalence and predictors of IPV perpetration in a sample of 227 women in battered women's shelters. Participants were asked to complete a n...

This study explored the acceptability, feasibility, and initial efficacy of an expanded version of a PTSD treatment developed for residents of battered women's shelters, Helping to Overcome PTSD through Empowerment (HOPE) in women who received standard shelter services (SSSs). A Phase I randomized clinical trial comparing HOPE + SSSs (n = 30) to SS...

This article presents a review of issues and considerations when developing a comprehensive military sexual trauma (MST) treatment program. A review of the current literature was conducted, which we argue is the first step in informing programmatic design. Next, information on how to obtain local public data and then a description of how we used th...

Over one million Americans live with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and roughly 20 percent of those living with HIV are unaware of their status. One way to decrease this epidemic is community-based rapid testing with high-risk populations. One high-risk population that has received limited attention is victims of intimate partner violence...

Attempts to organize professional psychology began in the early twentieth century and came to fruition with the convening of the Boulder Conference on Graduate Education in Clinical Psychology in 1949. The conference answered the long‐standing call for a standardized training model for professional psychology. Many forces influenced the decision to...

Background: Research suggests that posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression are two common mental health problems in intimate partner violence (IPV) survivors. Research has found that while Black women consistently report higher rates of victimization than White women, they also report less severe PTSD and depressive symptoms, suggestin...

While the relationship between sexual trauma and risky sexual behavior (RSB) has received much attention, only a handful of studies have investigated the factors that protect victims of sexual trauma from developing this maladaptive pattern of behavior. The current study investigated the protective role of social support, quality and quantity, in d...

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a social problem associated with significant morbidity; however, victims don't always utilize treatment and resources. One's readiness to change may be one variable impacting their pursuit of treatment and other resources. The current study investigated correlates of readiness to change, and readiness to change's...

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is associated with significant morbidity, including high rates of re-abuse even after women have taken steps to achieve safety. This study evaluated the roles of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity and length of shelter stay in the severity of re-abuse in 103 IPV victims over a six month period afte...