Substance Use, Risky Sex, and Peer Interactions Predict Sexual Assault Among College Women: An Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) Study

2020 ◽  
pp. 088626052095872
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A. Yeater ◽  
Katie Witkiewitz ◽  
Maria Testa ◽  
Angela D. Bryan
Keyword(s):  
Substance Use ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
College Women ◽  
Ecological Momentary Assessment ◽  
Peer Pressure ◽  
Casual Sex ◽  
Risky Sex ◽  
Undergraduate Women ◽  
Ecological Momentary ◽  
Momentary Assessment

Sexual assault is an unfortunately common experience among women in college campuses. This study used ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to gain a better understanding of the contextual determinants of sexual assault among college women. EMA reports inquired about sexual assault experiences, risky sex (sex without a condom and regretted hookups), and substance use (alcohol and cannabis use), as well as what activities participants were engaged in (e.g., pregaming, drinking with peers, and drinking with a casual sexual partner), and whether they experienced peer pressure to engage in casual sex. Participants were 103 freshman undergraduate women (18–24 years old) at a Southwestern university in the United States, who were unmarried, interested in dating opposite-sex partners, engaged in binge drinking (defined as having 3 or more drinks on one occasion) in the past month, and reported at least one experience of sexual intercourse in their lifetime. Participants completed reports (one random and two time-contingent) via EMA three times a day over a 42-day period. Compliance in completing EMA reports was good (84.2% of prompted reports were completed), and time-to-completion of reports once signaled was acceptable (mean = 26 minutes, median = 5.75 minutes). During the 42 days, 40 women (38.8%) reported 75 occasions of sexual assault. The odds of experiencing sexual assault were significantly greater during occasions of regretted hookups and unprotected sex. Additionally, drinking with peers and peer pressure to engage in casual sex were each associated significantly with occasions of sexual assault. Reducing risk for sexual assault among undergraduate women may be possible by targeting these behaviors and contextual features in near real-time via momentary intervention.

An Ecological Momentary Assessment of College Women’s Decisions to Use Protective Behavioral Strategies

2021 ◽  
pp. 088626052110051
Author(s):  
Nichole M. Scaglione ◽  
Rob Turrisi ◽  
Nichole M. Sell ◽  
Kimberly A. Mallett ◽  
Michael J. Cleveland
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
College Women ◽  
Risk Reduction ◽  
Ecological Momentary Assessment ◽  
Behavioral Strategies ◽  
Protective Behavioral Strategies ◽  
Willingness To Use ◽  
Ecological Momentary ◽  
Momentary Assessment

Protective behavioral strategies (PBS) have been associated with reduced risk for sexual assault victimization in college women. Sexual assault risk reduction programs have had limited success increasing PBS use, particularly among heavy drinkers, suggesting a need for additional research on the malleable predictors of PBS use. Whereas longitudinal studies show women’s decisions to use PBS can be both planned and reactive, little is known about the decision-making processes that affect PBS use on drinking days, when sexual assault risk may be elevated. The current study used ecological momentary assessment to examine variability in the associations between decision-making and PBS use within and across drinking days in first-semester college women. Participants (56 female drinkers) completed a 14-day protocol with three daily measures of intentions and willingness to use PBS, and once-daily diaries of PBS use. Multilevel models examined between-day and within-day effects of intentions and willingness to use PBS with regards to sexual assault PBS (e.g., communicating sexual boundaries) and drinking PBS (e.g., limiting alcohol consumption), respectively. On days when sexual assault PBS willingness increased throughout the day, women tended to use more sexual assault PBS. This association was strongest among women who were typically less willing to use these PBS. Among women who were the least willing to use drinking PBS, their drinking PBS use decreased on days when they reported increased willingness to use them. Decisions to use sexual assault and drinking PBS on drinking days were qualified by women’s typical levels of willingness to use the different PBS. This suggests the need for a multi-faceted intervention strategy that targets both typical and event-level risk. Individual-level alcohol and sexual assault risk reduction approaches could be enhanced with event-level PBS messaging and evaluation.

scholarly journals Daily factors driving daily substance use and chronic pain among older adults with HIV: An exploratory study using ecological momentary assessment

Alcohol ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 77 ◽  
pp. 31-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexis Kuerbis ◽  
M. Carrington Reid ◽  
Jordan E. Lake ◽  
Suzette Glasner-Edwards ◽  
Jessica Jenkins ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Chronic Pain ◽  
Substance Use ◽  
Ecological Momentary Assessment ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Ecological Momentary ◽  
Momentary Assessment

scholarly journals The psychosocial predictors and real-time antecedents of substance use among participants recruited via an online crowdsourcing platform in the United States: an ecological momentary assessment study (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Payaal Jain ◽  
Claudine Offer ◽  
Christopher Rowe ◽  
Caitlin Turner ◽  
Carol Dawson-Rose ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Substance Use ◽  
Negative Affect ◽  
Ecological Momentary Assessment ◽  
Crack Cocaine ◽  
The United States ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
The Past ◽  
Ecological Momentary ◽  
Momentary Assessment

BACKGROUND Substance use is a major public health problem and contributes substantially to the burden of disease among adults throughout the United States (US). To inform interventions, there is a need to identify the antecedents of substance use by collecting data in real-time using ecological momentary assessment (EMA). Also, crowdsourcing platforms like Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) which leverage the internet to conduct research used in conjunction with EMA, may improve the scientific rigor of addiction science. OBJECTIVE We aimed to: 1) utilize EMA data and examine the temporal relationship between day-level cravings for alcohol and stimulants (e.g., cocaine, crack cocaine, and methamphetamine) and substance use (i.e., heavy drinking or any drug use) in a given day; and 2) assess whether depression, negative affect, and self-esteem measured at baseline predicted substance use in a given day, among participants recruited using MTurk. METHODS Adults in the US who reported alcohol or stimulant use (i.e., crack cocaine, cocaine, or methamphetamine) in the past year, were recruited using MTurk in 2018. Participants completed a baseline survey assessing socio-demographics, and psychosocial factors, and daily diaries assessing substance use, and cravings for alcohol and stimulants, online. Four multivariable random-intercept logistic regression models were built to examine psychosocial constructs separately along with other significant predictors from bivariate analyses, controlling for age and education. RESULTS Among a total of 272 participants, the average age was 36.1 (standard deviation [SD]=10.5), most (80.8%) were white and male (73.9%), and 65.3% were men who reported having sex with other men (MSM). At baseline, 63.8% engaged in any current or past hazardous alcohol consumption, 15.3% reported using cocaine, 10.1% reported using methamphetamine, 4.4% reported using crack cocaine, and 38.2% reported any non-injection or injection drug use in the past six months. On a scale from 0-100, median day-level cravings for alcohol, methamphetamine, cocaine and crack cocaine were; 5 (interquartile range [IQR]=0-26), 54 (IQR=20-88), 39 (IQR=1-71), and 52 (IQR=51-87), respectively. In multivariable analyses, factors independently associated with substance use in a given day were: higher baseline levels of depression (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]=1.11, 95% CI=1.02-1.21, P=0.01), and negative affect (aOR=1.08, 95% CI=1.01-1.16, P=0.01), lower levels of self-esteem (aOR=0.90, 95% CI=0.82-0.98, P=0.02), and greater day-level cravings for alcohol (aOR=1.02, 95% CI=1.01-1.03, P<0.001), and stimulants (aOR=1.03, 95% CI=1.01-1.04, P=0.01). Lastly, MSM had a higher odds of engaging in substance use in a given day in all final models: (aOR=4.90, 95% CI=1.28-18.70, p=0.02); (aOR=5.47, 95% CI=1.43-20.87, p=0.01); (aOR=5.99, 95% CI=1.55-23.13, p=0.009); and (aOR=4.94, 95% CI=1.29-18.84, p=0.01). CONCLUSIONS Substance use interventions should utilize evidenced-based approaches to reduce depression, negative affect, and cravings, increase self-esteem, and engage MSM. Interventions may also consider leveraging mobile health platforms to more effectively reduce substance use among populations who use crowdsourcing platforms.

Ecological Momentary Assessment

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saul Shiffman
Keyword(s):  
Substance Use ◽  
Ecological Momentary Assessment ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Use Patterns ◽  
Valid Data ◽  
Report Data ◽  
Self Report Data ◽  
Ecological Momentary ◽  
Ema Data ◽  
Momentary Assessment

Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) is a method for collecting data in real time and in real-world settings in order to avoid retrospective biases, collect ecologically valid data, and study behavioral processes over time. EMA is particularly suited for studying substance use because use is episodic and related to contextual factors like mood, setting, and cues. This chapter addresses the application of EMA to substance use research, describing important elements of EMA design and analysis and illustrating them with examples from substance use research. It discusses and reviews data on methodological issues such as compliance and reactivity and covers considerations in designing EMA studies of substance use. Data on the associations between EMA data on substance use and more traditional self-report data are reviewed. EMA methods reveal substance use patterns not captured by questionnaires or retrospective data and hold promise for substance use research and treatment.

Does Assessment Alter Responses? An Examination of Measurement Reactivity in an Ecological Momentary Assessment of Body Comparisons

2021 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 304-332
Author(s):  
Rachel I. Macintyre ◽  
Kristin E. Heron ◽  
Charlotte A. Dawson ◽  
Kelly B. Filipkowski ◽  
Danielle Arigo
Keyword(s):  
Individual Difference ◽  
Ecological Momentary Assessment ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Loss Of Control ◽  
Undergraduate Women ◽  
Measurement Reactivity ◽  
Time Periods ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Ecological Momentary ◽  
Momentary Assessment

Introduction: Body comparisons have been implicated in body dissatisfaction and eating disorder development. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) has been used to capture body comparisons in everyday life; however, the potential for measurement reactivity this approach has on EMA responses has yet to be examined. The present study systematically evaluated measurement reactivity in EMA of body comparisons. Methods: Undergraduate women (N = 75) completed four surveys daily for 11 days; Days 1–4 did not include comparison assessments and Days 5–11 did. Changes were examined in related EMA measures between these time periods and individual difference measures pre- and post-EMA. Results: A within-person MANOVA showed no significant change in the individual difference measures. Multilevel analyses revealed that participants reported fewer comparisons as day of study increased. When they completed EMA with versus without comparison items, they reported fewer occasions of loss of control while eating and less pleasant social company at time of assessment. Discussion: Findings suggest limited concern for reactivity in this approach, though researchers examining body comparisons, loss of control eating, and perceptions of social company should be cautious when interpreting their findings and consider examining reactivity directly. Future research on body comparisons should also consider using run-in periods to improve data quality.

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