Elizabeth A. Yeater’s research while affiliated with University of New Mexico and other places

The Revised Sociosexual Orientation Inventory (SOI-R) is a widely used measure in research, yet the invariance of this measure has not been established in English speaking Non-Hispanic White (NHW) and Hispanic/Latine populations. This study examined whether the SOI-R, a measure developed in Germany, was invariant between US Hispanic/Latina (N = 208) and NHW (N = 190) undergraduate women. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to assess model fit in the Hispanic/Latina and NHW samples and fit of increasingly restrictive models was used to test configural, metric, scalar, and residual invariance of the models in both samples. CFA results revealed that data from both the Hispanic/Latina and NHW groups fit the model adequately in this sample, which consisted of highly acculturated Hispanic/Latina college women. Tests of measurement invariance found that the SOI-R was invariant across Hispanic/Latina and NHW college women. However, questions about the development of the SOI-R and the underlying assumptions made during the course of its development might be considered prior to the use of the measure in research, and further invariance testing should be conducted in future work with less acculturated Hispanic/Latine populations.

Previous work examining the extent to which individuals seek alcohol to enhance positive experiences (reward drinking) or relieve aversive states (relief drinking) has shown that reward/relief drinking predicts response to naltrexone and acamprosate treatment for alcohol use disorder. Yet, various measures of reward/relief drinking have been used in prior research, and the comparative psychometric properties of these measures are unknown. Evaluating and comparing the psychometric properties of these reward/relief drinking measures could identify measures with the most promise for translating precision medicine findings to clinical practice. In a community sample of 65 individuals with heavy/hazardous alcohol use on the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test, we showed good internal consistency reliability, test–retest reliability, and concurrent validity for theoretically aligned measures (e.g., reward drinking and reward responsiveness, relief drinking and depression/anxiety symptoms) of the reward and relief subscales across the six measures. We then used ecological momentary assessment to determine whether reward and relief drinking subscales predicted within-person associations between contextual factors of interest (e.g., negative affect, positive affect, distress intolerance, physical pain, hangover symptoms, social drinking situations, alcohol cues) and same-moment alcohol craving. All six measures demonstrated limited predictive validity for alcohol craving contexts in daily life as assessed via ecological momentary assessment. Despite these findings, reward and relief drinking measures show good reliability and concurrent validity and previously demonstrated clinical utility for predicting response to alcohol use disorder treatments, including naltrexone. Future research should aim to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the association between responses to reward/relief drinking measures and pharmacotherapy outcomes.

Previous work examining the extent to which individuals seek alcohol to enhance positive experiences (reward drinking) or relieve aversive states (relief drinking) has shown that reward/relief drinking predicts response to naltrexone and acamprosate treatment for alcohol use disorder (AUD). Yet, various measures of reward/relief drinking have been used in prior research, and the comparative psychometric properties of these measures are unknown. Evaluating and comparing the psychometric properties of these reward/relief drinking measures could identify measures with the most promise for translating precision medicine findings to clinical practice. In a community sample of 65 individuals with heavy/hazardous alcohol use on the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test, we showed good internal consistency reliability, test-retest reliability, and concurrent validity for theoretically aligned measures (e.g., reward drinking and reward responsiveness, relief drinking and depression/anxiety symptoms) of the reward and relief subscales across the six measures. We then used ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to determine whether reward and relief drinking subscales predicted within-person associations between contextual factors of interest (e.g., negative affect, positive affect, distress intolerance, physical pain, hangover symptoms, social drinking situations, alcohol cues) and same-moment alcohol craving. All six measures demonstrated limited predictive validity for alcohol craving contexts in daily life assessed via EMA. Despite these findings, reward and relief drinking measures show good reliability and concurrent validity and previously demonstrated clinical utility for predicting outcomes of naltrexone response and other AUD treatments. Future research should aim to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the association between responses to reward/relief drinking measures and pharmacotherapy response.

College sexual assault is a common problem, and survivors often do not report their experience to college campus officials or law enforcement for fear of not being believed. This study examined how contextual factors such as alcohol use and whether the perpetrator was described as a student-athlete or student, and rater characteristics, such as the history of sexual assault and attitudes toward rape, influenced college students’ perceptions of the believability of a hypothetical victim’s sexual assault account. In all, 449 (N = 449) undergraduates read a vignette describing a hypothetical sexual assault and were assigned randomly to one of four conditions with varying contextual features: college athlete—no alcohol, college athlete—alcohol, college student—no alcohol, or college student—alcohol. They then rated how much they believed the victim in the vignette had been raped (0 [not at all] to 100 [completely]). The presence of alcohol use in the vignette was associated with lower ratings of believability, and participants who were higher in rape myth acceptance and lower in rape empathy rated the hypothetical victim’s rape account as less believable. In addition, women who had been raped previously rated the victim in the vignette as more believable than women with no history of sexual assault. Implications for how college campuses might respond more effectively to reported sexual assaults are discussed.

Objective: Precision medicine is an area with great potential for mental health, but has made limited gains prognostically in predicting effective treatments. For refugees exposed to violence, culture may be a crucial factor in predicting treatment outcomes. Method: For this study, 290 participants from three regions (Afghanistan, the Great Lakes region of Africa, and Iraq and Syria) participated in a randomized controlled trial of an advocacy-based intervention. Emotional distress symptoms were measured prior to intervention, midintervention (3 months), postintervention (6 months), and follow-up (6 months after the end of intervention). Number of traumatic events, resource access, social support, and English proficiency were tested for potential predictive effects on intervention outcome. Results: Multilevel generalized linear models revealed that Afghans’ (B = −0.259, SE = 0.108, p = .013), and Great Lakes Africans’ (B = −0.116, SE = 0.057, p = .042) emotional distress symptoms improved as a function of the intervention, while Iraqis and Syrians showed no intervention effects. For Afghans, English proficiency (B = −0.453, SE = 0.157, p < .01) and social support (B = −0.179, SE = 0.086, p = .037) were most strongly correlated to emotional distress, while for Africans, resource access (B = −0.483, SE = 0.082, p < .001) and social support (B = −0.100, SE = 0.048, p = .040) were the strongest predictors of emotional distress. Conclusions: Response to advocacy-based interventions and active ingredients may be influenced by culture; findings have implications for refugees and precision medicine.

Two hundred forty-seven (N = 247) undergraduate women at a medium-sized, Southwestern university provided written descriptions of a hypothetical sexual assault (SA). Women with a prior history of SA also described their actual SA experiences; women without a SA history provided a written description of a prior bad date or hookup. The contextual features of SA scripts were compared to those of actual SA experiences. Several characteristics of a stereotypical or “blitz rape” (e.g., physical force by a stranger) were more likely to be included in SA scripts relative to women’s actual SA experiences. Victimized women were also more likely to include verbal coercion, a hangout/hookup context, and previous consensual kissing in their SA experiences, in comparison to their SA scripts. The contextual features of SA experiences were also compared to the contextual features of bad dates or bad hookups. SA experiences, relative to bad dates, were more likely to include alcohol use, physical and verbal coercion by the perpetrator, and passive resistance. SA experiences, relative to bad hookups, were more likely to include physical and verbal coercion by the perpetrator, and knowing the man for less than 1 week. Victimized participants SA experiences were also found to be less likely to include previous consensual kissing and consensual intercourse in comparison to bad hookup experiences of nonvictimized women. Overall, there was considerable overlap between the contextual features present across all experiences. The lack of differentiation among these events may explain why women experience difficulty acknowledging whether they have experienced SA.

Displaced persons continue to lack access to mental health services despite the strong association between trauma exposure and displacement with enduring emotional distress. Local psychotherapists are a promising solution for improving access to mental health services; however, no research to date has examined the external validity of locally led therapist effectiveness. In this exploratory study, longitudinal data at three time points were collected from 28 Arabic-speaking displaced persons seeking mental health services from a locally operated nonprofit in the autonomous Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq. Treatment was provided by local therapists previously trained in evidence-based treatments. Participants beginning weekly psychotherapy completed the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition and the Patient Health Questionnaire at baseline, 1 month, and 3 months into treatment. A multilevel linear mixed model measured outcome change over time. Both PTSD scores (β = −9.87, SE = 1.37, d = 1.74, p < .001) and depression scores (β = −2.75, SE = .47, d = 1.32, p < .001) decreased with a large effect. In conclusion, findings suggest that local psychotherapists may provide a linchpin solution to crises of access in global mental health. However, future research with a focus on external and internal validity is necessary to confirm these findings.

Objective: College women report high rates of sexual assault. Research focused on women's risk factors for sexual assault remains necessary to assist women in reducing their risk. Previous work has shown alcohol use and cannabis use to be associated with sexual assault. The current study examined whether individual difference variables moderated women's risk for sexual assault during occasions of alcohol use and cannabis use using ecological momentary assessment (EMA). Method: Participants were 18- to 24-year-old first-year undergraduate women (N = 101) who were unmarried and interested in dating men, consumed three or more alcoholic drinks on one occasion in the month before baseline, and engaged in sexual intercourse at least once. Baseline individual difference variables included sex-related alcohol expectancies, alcohol problems, decision skills, and sexual attitudes. EMA reports, collected three times per day over 42 days, included items regarding alcohol and cannabis use and sexual assault experiences. Results: Among women who experienced sexual assault during the EMA period (n = 40), those with higher sexual risk expectancies had a higher probability of sexual assault during occasions when they were using alcohol or cannabis. Conclusions: Several modifiable risk factors for sexual assault and individual differences factors may exacerbate risk. Ecological momentary interventions may be useful to reduce sexual assault risk for women with high sexual risk expectancies who use alcohol or cannabis.

Intersectionality and minority stress frameworks were used to guide examination and comparisons of psychological distress (depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms) and protective factors (religiosity, spirituality, social support) among 673 Black, Latinx, and White lesbian and bisexual women with and without histories of sexual assault. Participants were from Wave 3 of the 21-year longitudinal Chicago Health and Life Experiences of Women (CHLEW) study. More than one-third (38%) of participants reported having experienced adolescent or adult sexual assault (i.e., rape or another form of sexual assault) since age 14. Confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and multivariate analyses of covariance were used to analyze the data. Results revealed that levels of religiosity/spirituality and psychological distress varied by race/ethnicity and by sexual identity (i.e., Black lesbian, Black bisexual, Latinx lesbian, Latinx bisexual, White lesbian, White bisexual). Black lesbian women reported the highest level of religiosity/spirituality whereas White lesbian women reported the lowest level. White bisexual women reported the highest level of psychological distress whereas White lesbian women reported the lowest level. We found no significant differences in reports of sexual assault or in social support (i.e., significant other, family, friend, and total social support). However, White lesbian women had higher friend, significant other, and total social support relative to the other five groups of women with minoritized/marginalized sexual identities. Future work should examine whether religiosity, spirituality, and social support serve as protective factors that can be incorporated into mental health treatment for lesbian and bisexual who have experienced sexual assault to reduce psychological distress.