Jeffrey A. Bernat

Prevalence of Traumatic Events and Peritraumatic Predictors of Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms in a Nonclinical Sample of College Students

This study investigated lifetime prevalence of traumatic events and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms among 937 college students. Participants rated their lifetime experiences of traumatic events and, in response to their “most stressful” event, completed measures of objective stressor dimensions, PTSD, and peritraumatic reactions. Approximately 67% of respondents reported at least one traumatic event. An estimated 4% of the full sample (12% of traumatized individuals) met PTSD criteria within the past week. After controlling for vulnerability factors and objective characteristics, peritraumatic reactions remained strongly predictive of PTSD symptoms. Results are discussed with respect to immediate reactions to traumatic events as potential precursors of PTSD symptomatology.

Risk recognition and trauma-related symptoms among sexually revictimized women

This study used experimental methodology to investigate the differential impact of various levels of sexual victimization on womens perceptions of risk and evaluative judgments of sexual assault within a dating interaction. Single- and multiple-incident victims were compared with nonvictims. Results supported the hypothesis that revictimized women would exhibit longer latencies than either single-incident victims or nonvictims in signaling that an audiotaped date rape should be halted. Revictimized women with greater posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, arousal symptoms in particular, exhibited latencies similar to those of nonvictims, whereas revictimized women with lower levels of PTSD symptoms had significantly longer latencies. Dissociative symptoms were not related to latency. These findings suggest that PTSD-related arousal symptoms may serve a buffering effect, increasing sensitivity to threat cues that portend a sexually coercive interaction.

The Role of Alcohol Expectancies and Alcohol Consumption Among Sexually Victimized and Nonvictimized College Women

The present study investigated alcohol expectancies, alcohol consumption, sexual assertiveness, and the number of consensual sexual partners as potential risk factors for sexual assault among three groups of college women: nonvictimized, moderately victimized, and severely victimized. Women with severe victimization histories (attempted or completed rape), compared with nonvictims, reported more consensual sexual partners, less perceived assertiveness in their ability to refuse unwanted sexual advances, greater weekly alcohol consumption, and more positive outcome expectancies for alcohol including tension reduction, sexual enhancement, and global positive change. In addition, for both victimized and nonvictimized women, consumption of alcohol and expectancies of social enhancement following alcohol use independently accounted for a significant portion of the variance of sexual activity following alcohol consumption. Findings are discussed with respect to research aimed at reducing sexual assault among women who are at highest risk for sexual violence.

Homophobia and Physical Aggression Toward Homosexual and Heterosexual Individuals

This study examined the relationship between homophobia (defined as self-reported negative affect, avoidance, and aggression toward homosexuals) and homosexual aggression. Self-identified heterosexual college men were assigned to homophobic (n = 26) and nonhomophobic (n = 26) groups on the basis of their scores on the Homophobia Scale (HS; L. W. Wright, H. E. Adams, & J. A. Bernat, 1999). Physical aggression was examined by having participants administer shocks to a fictitious opponent during a competitive reaction time (RT) task under the impression that the study was examining the relationship between sexually explicit material and RT. Participants were exposed to a male homosexual erotic videotape, their affective reactions were assessed, and they then competed in the RT task against either a heterosexual or a homosexual opponent. The homophobic group reported significantly more negative affect, anxiety, and anger-hostility after watching the homosexual erotic videotape than did the nonhomophobic group. Additionally, the homophobic group was significantly more aggressive toward the homosexual opponent, but the groups did not differ in aggression toward the heterosexual opponent.

Sexual Coercion and Attraction to Sexual Aggression in a Community Sample of Young Men

Few studies have examined sexually coercive behavior in nonoffending yound adults other than college students. The present investigation examined self-report measures of peer delinquency, sexual promiscuity, hostility toward women, anger, and alcohol consumption on dates as predictors of sexual coercion and attraction to sexual aggression in a cross section of 65 nonoffending young men from a rural community. Delinquency was the strongest predictor of both coercive sexual behavior and attraction to sexual aggression. Attraction to sexual aggression also was significantly predicted by hostility toward women. Individuals with no histories of committing sexually coercive acts but who were highly attracted to sexual aggression shared profiles similar to sexually coercive men on hostility toward women, delinquency, and alcohol consumption on dates. Sexually noncoercive men low on attraction scored significantly lower than sexually coercive men on hostility toward women and alcohol consumption on dates and reported significantly less delinquent behavior than both other groups.

Sexually aggressive men's responses to a date rape analogue: Alcohol as a disinhibiting cue

Sexually aggressive and nonaggressive college men listened to an audio tape date rape analogue during which cues of nonconsent and force gradually escalated over time, and signified when unwanted sexual advances should terminate. Before listening to the scenario, participants were instructed that the couple depicted on the tape either had or had not consumed alcohol. Alcohol acted as a permissive cue for the sexually aggressive group, delaying their decisions to desist sexual advances compared to aggressive peers who were not provided with this situational disinhibitor. However, the presence or absence of character alcohol consumption did not differentially impact nonaggressive mens decisions. In partial support of a suspicious schema explanation, relatively more aggressive men rated the woman as less honest in expressing her feelings about sex, resulting in overestimations of how much she really wanted to have sex. However, they rated her behavior as less typical than most womens behavior given the sam...

Construct validity and test-retest reliability of a date rape decision-latency measure

In two studies, the construct (convergent and discriminant) validity and test-retest reliability of a date rape decision-latency measure was examined. In Study 1, 174 college men completed measures related to sexual aggression and listened to an audiotaped simulation of a date rape, during which cues of nonconsent and force gradually escalated over time. Participants were instructed to respond, by pressing a button which recorded the latency of their decisions in seconds, if and when they believed the man depicted in the scenario should stop his sexual advances. Results demonstrated positive associations between prolonged decision latencies and sexually aggressive behavior, calloused sexual beliefs, acceptance of interpersonal violence, and sexual promiscuity. In Study 2, initial results were cross-validated in a sample of 102 college men, and discriminant validity was established as decision latencies were unassociated with measures of social desirability, alcohol consumption and drug use. Test-retest reliability assessed over a 2-week interval was .87.

Borderline Personality Disorder: An Overview

The overview of the borderline personality disorder literature reveals that this category continues to evolve, despite its relative recent history in the DSM. Perhaps the most significant improvements will come from systematic research that attempts to resolve the controversy whether the disorder is best conceptualized as a category or personality dimension. Nonetheless, the DSM-IV diagnosis describes a reliable and valid construct. Additional research is also needed to gain a better understanding of the etiology of the disorder, including systematic investigations of the interplay among biological factors, genetic vulnerabilities, and psychological and social risk factors. The use of prospective, longitudinal designs studying large cohorts of children will provide a better understanding of the development, etiology, course, and prevention of the disorder. It is expected that advances in basic research will also translate into breakthroughs in treatment, which ultimately may improve the quality of life for BPD patients.

The Classification of Abnormal Behavior: An Overview

Tremendous progress in classifying abnormal behavior has been made in the past 25 years. With the advent of DSM-III and its multiaxial system, along with the purging of psychodynamic theory from classification in favor of operational definitions, we now have a much improved classification scheme. Nonetheless, there is still room for improvement within that system, including a more open-minded evaluation of the feasibility of the medical model, as opposed to a classification system based on classification theory and models, and more empirically based decision making. The latter is expected to occur as the literature base expands, and perhaps future systems will be revolutionary not so much for their changes but for their demonstrations of the validity of earlier schemata.

Sexual coercion history, calloused sexual beliefs and judgments of sexual coercion in a date rape analogue

This study compared men with and without a history of coercive sexual behavior on their judgments of how far a man should go in using coercion in an audiotaped date rape simulation. Calloused sexual beliefs (CSB) and a “token resistance” manipulation were expected to differentially interact with coercion history. Results showed no effect for “token resistance.” Calloused sexual beliefs interacted with coercion group, such that sexually coercive men high in CSB took significantly longer to stop the date rape interaction than coercive men low in CSB, who did not differ from noncoercive men. These findings support a model of sexual coercion in which a cognitive set consisting of rape-supportive beliefs may serve as a disinhibitor of behavior.