Extending a Conceptual Model of Alcohol-Related Violence to Cyber Dating Violence using a Daily Diary Design with College Students

University Of Tennessee Knoxville, Knoxville TN

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Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract The long-term objective of the proposed study is to evaluate the proximal associations between alcohol use, state negative affect, state emotion regulation, trait jealousy, and face-to-face and cyber dating violence (DV) among college students. Alcohol use, DV, and cyber DV are prevalent public health problems on college campuses that relate to various negative consequences1,2,6,9,11. Extensive research supports the proximal relationship between alcohol use and face-to-face DV, but research linking alcohol use to cyber DV is limited to cross-sectional designs139,142,143. Extending empirically-supported theoretical models15,16 of alcohol-related DV to cyber DV will aid researchers in identifying targetable areas of prevention and intervention. Existing theoretical models15,16 suggested alcohol use and DV are more likely to co-occur in the presence of negative affect13, when individuals have limited skills for regulating negative affect (i.e., trait emotion regulation)18,19, or when individuals have high trait jealousy17. Notably, prior daily diary research has yet to examine negative affect prior to face-to-face or cyber DV. Although research supported alcohol use139,142,143, trait jealousy26,46, and negative affect41 as motivators for cyber DV, the contextual antecedents to cyber DV remain largely unknown. There has never been a daily diary investigation of cyber DV. Furthermore, no daily diary study examined whether day-to-day fluctuations in state emotion regulation moderates the interaction between state negative affect and alcohol use in relation to DV. Finally, no daily diary study examined whether alcohol increases the risk for DV among individuals with high, relative to low, trait jealously, a finding that cross- sectional data would support17,56. A theory-informed15,16 approach to elucidating the distal and proximal antecedents that interact with alcohol use to facilitate cyber and face-to-face DV will advance the understanding and prevention of alcohol-related DV. The proposed daily diary study will address these research gaps by (1) investigating state negative affect prior to DV, state emotion regulation, and trait jealousy as moderators of the temporal association between alcohol use and DV, and (2) being the first study to investigate the proximal antecedents to cyber DV. The proposed study aims to investigate the proximal associations between alcohol use and both face-to-face and cyber DV in 125 men and 125 women college students. Using an innovative daily diary design, the proposed study will investigate trait jealousy, state negative affect, and state emotion regulation as moderators of the proximal associations between alcohol use and both face-to-face and cyber DV. Participants will complete brief, daily surveys for 60 consecutive days, which will allow for more accurate reporting on the proximal relationship between alcohol use, state negative affect, state emotion regulation, and DV (i.e., face-to-face and cyber) perpetration. The proposed study has the potential to inform prevention and intervention efforts to reduce alcohol-related DV.