Sexual violence is a major public health issue within the United States, particularly that with perpetrators who are men and victims who are women. Understanding risk factors for sexual violence perpetration is necessary to decrease the overall severity of sexual violence. In past research, psychological reactance has been shown to be associated with sexual violence perpetration, yet there is limited research on this association. Additionally, previous research has found that other traits may enhance the predictive properties of psychological reactance and that sensation seeking can predict sexual violence risk factors and sexual violence perpetration. Yet there is little to no research on how sensation seeking and psychological reactance work jointly to predict sexual violence perpetration. This thesis aims to explore these factors as possible predictors for sexual violence perpetration and sensation seeking as a moderator of the relationship between reactance and sexual violence perpetration. A better understanding of these predictors could allow for new ways to understand sexual violence perpetration overall and aid in future research. Based on this information, reactance, sensation seeking, and their interaction effect are all expected to significantly predict sexual violence perpetration. The current study examined 226 participants who were men, single, attracted to women, and over the age of 18 living in the U.S. Participants were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk, and completed an online survey hosted on Qualtrics. Participants reported past sexual violence perpetration, sensation seeking, psychological reactance, and demographic information. Results provided partial support for the hypothesis. Findings indicated that higher levels of psychological reactance and sensation seeking were positively associated with sexual violence perpetration; however, sensation seeking as a moderator was not significant.

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Augmenting/reducing of the evoked potential has been shown to be related to sensation seeking (SS) and specific clinical disorders. Buchsbaum demonstrated that patients with bipolar affective disorders (BAD) tend to be augmenters, as is the case with sensation seekers, and patients with unipolar affective disorders (UPD) tend to be reducers. In addition, he reported that prophylactic medication reduced the tendency to augment in bipolar patients. However, evidence for these relations is restricted to a few studies. This study explores whether Buchsbaum’s initial findings can be found in a naturalistic clinical setting. Acoustic evoked potentials were recorded for six levels of intensity (59, 71, 79, 88, 92, 96 dB SPL) from 24 healthy adults, 21 unipolar depressed patients, and 21 patients with BAD. Participants also completed personality questionnaires, especially the Sensation Seeking Scales Form V. Results revealed a positive correlation between SS and augmenting/reducing in healthy controls, thereby replicating earlier findings. Bipolar depressed patients showed larger P1/N1 slopes than healthy controls, when medication was statistically controlled. Unipolar depressed patients showed smaller P2 slopes, but only when medication was not controlled. Implications of these results for further research on augmenting/reducing and affective disorders and their relationship to SS are discussed. / Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

College students and emerging adults have been found to be at risk for smoking cigarettes, drinking to excess, using illicit drugs, driving dangerously, and engaging in risky sexual and delinquent behaviour. Psychosocial correlates (Sensation Seeking, peer behaviour, parent behaviour, and peer and parent anti-substance use messages) from three domains of influence (personality, parent, and peer) were examined together to provide a greater context for the occurrence of such health-risk behaviours. The strongest predictor(s) of each behaviour were identified to better inform intervention practices. Three groups were compared— 1) those who never tried substances, 2) those who tried substances in the past, and 3) those who continue to use substances at present, in a population of emerging adults. Self-report data was gathered from 203 Collèges d'Enseignement Général Et Professionnel (CEGEP) students in the Montreal region. Measures included: Reckless Behaviour Questionnaire, Reckless Driving Measure, Health Behaviour Survey, Sensation Seeking Scale—Form V, and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale. Results revealed that peer behaviour was the most significant predictor of substance use in emerging adults, whereas parent behaviour was only a significant predictor of reckless driving. Sensation Seeking, specifically Disinhibition, was found to predict more global reckless behaviours, including illegal activities, such as stealing or using marijuana (p < .01). Neither peer nor parent anti-substance messages were significantly related to any of the health-risk behaviours measured in this study. It would appear that health-risk behaviours tend to be related to the same underlying factors but to varying degrees. Intervention implications are discussed.

College students and emerging adults have been found to be at risk for smoking cigarettes, drinking to excess, using illicit drugs, driving dangerously, and engaging in risky sexual and delinquent behaviour. Psychosocial correlates (Sensation Seeking, peer behaviour, parent behaviour, and peer and parent anti-substance use messages) from three domains of influence (personality, parent, and peer) were examined together to provide a greater context for the occurrence of such health-risk behaviours. The strongest predictor(s) of each behaviour were identified to better inform intervention practices. Three groups were compared— 1) those who never tried substances, 2) those who tried substances in the past, and 3) those who continue to use substances at present, in a population of emerging adults. Self-report data was gathered from 203 Collèges d'Enseignement Général Et Professionnel (CEGEP) students in the Montreal region. Measures included: Reckless Behaviour Questionnaire, Reckless Driving Measure, Health Behaviour Survey, Sensation Seeking Scale—Form V, and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale. Results revealed that peer behaviour was the most significant predictor of substance use in emerging adults, whereas parent behaviour was only a significant predictor of reckless driving. Sensation Seeking, specifically Disinhibition, was found to predict more global reckless behaviours, including illegal activities, such as stealing or using marijuana (p < .01). Neither peer nor parent anti-substance messages were significantly related to any of the health-risk behaviours measured in this study. It would appear that health-risk behaviours tend to be related to the same underlying factors but to varying degrees. Intervention implications are discussed.

PSYCHOLOGICAL CORRELATES OF TOBACCO, ALCOHOL AND DRUG USE AMONG ADOLESCENTS KarakaS, &Ouml / zge M.S., Department of Psychology Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Belgin AyvaSik July 2006, 130 pages The aim of the present study was to identify sociodemographic and psychological correlates of adolescent tobacco, alcohol and drug use. Participants were 854 high school students (485 girls, 369 boys) aged between 14-18. Participants were administered a Demographic Information Form, Arnett Inventory of Sensation Seeking, seven subscales of Drug Use Screening Inventory (DUSI) and Tobacco, Alcohol and Drug Use Questionnaire. Twelve point two percent of the students reported cigarette use, 23.5 % reported alcohol use and 2.3 % reported illicit drug use at least once in their lives. Independent Samples t-test Analysis revealed that smokers received higher scores than non-smokers on sensation seeking, psychiatric disorder, behavior patterns, school performance / adjustment, peer relations, family system and leisure subscales of DUSI but there was not a significant difference between smokers and non-smokers in terms of social competency. Also, it was found that both alcohol users scored higher than non-users on sensation seeking, psychiatric disorder, behavior patterns, school performance / adjustment, peer relations, family system but there was not a significant difference between alcohol users and non-users in terms of scores on leisure and social competency. Drug users scored significantly higher than randomly selected non-users on sensation seeking, behavior patterns and peer relations scales. Logistic regression analysis revealed that adolescent smoking was predicted by gender, age, G.P.A., place of birth, peer smoking, behavior patterns, social competency, school problems and family relations. Besides, alcohol use was predicted by gender, age, number of siblings, maternal education, peer smoking, peer alcohol use, social competency, school performance / adjustment and family relations. Findings are discussed within the context of the relevant literature.

The purpose of the present study is to examine the role of several demographic and personality characteristics of Turkish adolescent risk takers. More specifically, how well gender, age, sensation-seeking, self-esteem, and locus of control predict adolescent risk-taking behavior was examined in this study. Participants were between the ages of 15-19, from two Anatolian high schools and a general lycee in Ankara. They were given four different instruments to fill out -Modified Risk Involvement and Perception Scale (M-RIPS), Arnett Inventory of Sensation-Seeking (AISS), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), Rotter Internal-External Locus of Control Scale (IELOC)- and a demographic data form which was developed by the researcher (n = 867). Involvement subscale of the Risk Involvement and Perception Scale was adapted to Turkish culture by the researcher. A standard multiple regression analysis was conducted to evaluate how well sensation-seeking, self-esteem, locus of control, age, and gender predicted the risk-taking behaviors of adolescents. Results of the study indicated that except self-esteem, all other variables were significantly related to Turkish adolescent risk-taking behaviors. Gender and sensation-seeking were the most predictor variables in explaining adolescent risk-taking. The results also indicated that older male adolescent high sensation seekers who have external locus of control were more likely to engage in various risk-taking behaviors. Theoretical and practical implications, and recommendations for future research were presented.

The aim of the present study was to propose a model on safety climate by investigating the relationship between safety climate perceptions of employees and their safety-related behaviors in the workplace. Additionally, effects of fatalism views and risk taking/sensation seeking tendencies on safe behaviors were analyzed. The possible moderating effects of these variables on safety climate-safe behavior relationship were also investigated. A total of 185 blue-collar employees working in a manufacturing firm participated in the study. Participants filled out the questionnaires including scales of safety climate, cultural values (fatalism, individualism, hierarchy, and egaliterianism) and dimensions (collectivism, power distance, and uncertainty avoidance), and risk taking/sensation seeking. The outcome variables included self-reported compliance with safety rules and self-reported percentage of safety equipment use. Safety climate perceptions predicted compliance with the safety rules. Also, sensation seeking tendencies were found to predict use of protective equipments. The hypothesized relationships concerning fatalism views and moderations were not confirmed in the present study. In addition to the hypotheses, safety climate perceptions tended to be more positive as collectivism, power distance increased, and uncertainty avoidance of the employees increased. Sensation seeking tendencies were higher for employees who reported less equipment use. Employees who reported to have had an accident had higher risk taking scores than employees who reported not to have had an accident involvement. The results are discussed with the implications and contributions of the study. Limitations of the study are presented along with some suggestions for future research.