Richard E. Mattson

The increased construct validity and clinical utility of assessing relationship quality using separate positive and negative dimensions.

The Positive and Negative Quality in Marriage Scale (F. D. Fincham & K. J. Linfield, 1997) is a self-report measure that separately assesses positive and negative dimensions of relationship quality. Fincham and Linfield found that ratings of positive and negative marital quality accounted for unique variance in maladaptive attributions and self-reports of dyadic behavior beyond that accounted for by the Marital Adjustment Test (H. J. Locke & K. M. Wallace, 1959), a widely used measure of marital quality that combines these dimensions. The current study expanded on these findings using a different measure of relationship quality and observed dyadic behavior with a sample of engaged couples (N=43). The results indicate that a two-dimensional approach to measuring self-evaluations of relationship quality is more informative than a one-dimensional approach during the engagement period.

The role of illicit substance use in a conceptual model of intimate partner violence in men undergoing treatment for alcoholism.

Illicit substance use (ISU) predicts intimate partner violence (IPV) above and beyond alcohol use and other known IPV correlates. Stuart and colleagues (2008) provided evidence for a theoretical framework by which ISU contributes both directly and indirectly to IPV. We sought to replicate and extend their findings using data from 181 married or cohabiting heterosexual couples in which the male had recently begun a substance abuse treatment program and met criteria for alcohol dependence (97%) or abuse (3%). Using SEM, we found that (a) Stuart et al.s model provided a good fit to the data; (b) mens cocaine use and womens sedative use emerged as particularly relevant to their respective perpetration of IPV; (c) a positive association between mens antisociality and physical aggression was mediated by increased stimulant use; and (d) the specific pattern of IPV predicted by womens sedative use differed across levels of aggression severity. These findings not only highlight the direct role of ISU in relationship aggression, but also support a larger theory-driven model comprising various proximal and distal precursors of IPV.

Situational and Dispositional Determinants of College Men’s Perception of Women’s Sexual Desire and Consent to Sex: A Factorial Vignette Analysis:

Sexual victimization of women by men on college campuses is a growing societal concern, with research identifying a host of situational and characterological factors that may predict men’s likelihood to engage in sexual misconduct. In the present study, we examined the relative contribution and potential interplay of these various determinants on college men’s perceptions of women’s sexual desire and consent in hypothetical dating scenarios depicting a sexual interaction. We found that the men (N = 145) in this sample (a) conflated sexual desire with consent, (b) varied their appraisals of consent and desire depending on whether and how the woman in the vignette communicated consent or refusal, (c) perceived higher levels of consent if the man in the vignette had intercourse with the woman previously and as a function of escalating sexual intimacy in the ongoing interaction, (d) endorsed higher levels of perceived desire and consent across situations if they more strongly held rape-supportive attitudes, and (e) moderated their association between situational factors and perceptions of a woman’s sexual intentions based on their endorsement of rape myths and a hypermasculine ideology. We conclude that efforts to prevent sexual violence among college students may benefit from being modeled on our findings that some men are likelier to infer consent regardless of the situation, that specific situational factors can foster misperceptions of consent across men in general, and that certain individuals in particular situations may pose the greatest risk for sexual misconduct.