TY - CHAP
T1 - Understanding Alcohol-Involved Sexual Aggression Through the Science of Behavior Change
AU - Davis, Kelly Cue
AU - Neilson, Elizabeth C.
AU - Kirwan, Mitchell
AU - George, William H.
AU - Stappenbeck, Cynthia A.
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding (R21AA023811; R37AA025212) was provided by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to the first author.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Sexual aggression remains a significant public health concern, and alcohol intoxication is a key contributor to its occurrence. Despite its prevalence and harmful consequences, interventions addressing the specific mechanisms underlying alcohol-involved sexual aggression are lacking. In the present chapter, we argue that an experimental medicine approach to identifying, measuring, and targeting postulated mechanisms contributing to sexual aggression would enhance these intervention efforts. To that end, we review the extant research on sexually aggressive behavior, focusing on key cognitive, physiological, and emotional mechanisms. Within each of these areas, we examine the research regarding alcohol’s relationship to the mechanism as well as the existence and effectiveness of interventions targeting said mechanisms. Finally, we present as an exemplar a study that used an experimental medicine approach to investigate the utility of targeting emotion regulation as a mechanism underlying alcohol-involved sexual aggression, with additional suggestions for other novel investigations utilizing this paradigm. We conclude that by capitalizing on both new and established rigorous experimental methods, researchers can identify and target the mechanisms of behavior change underlying alcohol-involved sexual aggression, thereby increasing the effectiveness of sexual aggression prevention and intervention programs.
AB - Sexual aggression remains a significant public health concern, and alcohol intoxication is a key contributor to its occurrence. Despite its prevalence and harmful consequences, interventions addressing the specific mechanisms underlying alcohol-involved sexual aggression are lacking. In the present chapter, we argue that an experimental medicine approach to identifying, measuring, and targeting postulated mechanisms contributing to sexual aggression would enhance these intervention efforts. To that end, we review the extant research on sexually aggressive behavior, focusing on key cognitive, physiological, and emotional mechanisms. Within each of these areas, we examine the research regarding alcohol’s relationship to the mechanism as well as the existence and effectiveness of interventions targeting said mechanisms. Finally, we present as an exemplar a study that used an experimental medicine approach to investigate the utility of targeting emotion regulation as a mechanism underlying alcohol-involved sexual aggression, with additional suggestions for other novel investigations utilizing this paradigm. We conclude that by capitalizing on both new and established rigorous experimental methods, researchers can identify and target the mechanisms of behavior change underlying alcohol-involved sexual aggression, thereby increasing the effectiveness of sexual aggression prevention and intervention programs.
KW - Alcohol
KW - Behavior change
KW - Intervention
KW - Mechanisms
KW - Sexual aggression
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U2 - 10.1007/978-3-031-24426-1_4
DO - 10.1007/978-3-031-24426-1_4
M3 - Chapter
AN - SCOPUS:85152082719
T3 - Nebraska Symposium on Motivation
SP - 75
EP - 103
BT - Nebraska Symposium on Motivation
PB - Springer
ER -