Intimate partner violence (IPV; psychological, physical, and sexual abuse) victimization is prevalent among college women and is linked to alcohol-related problems. Theory and prior data suggest that women may be more likely to drink after IPV if they have difficulty regulating their emotions; yet the moderating effect of daily emotion dysregulation on the proximal IPV-alcohol use association remains unexamined. This study investigated the hypothesis that daily IPV victimization would positively and prospectively associate with same-day alcohol use (any drinking, number of drinks, and heavy episodic drinking [HED]), and that higher levels of daily emotion dysregulation would strengthen this association. College women (N = 161) completed daily reports of emotion dysregulation, alcohol use, and IPV over 60 consecutive days. Multilevel modeling did not support hypotheses. IPV victimization did not significantly associate with odds of subsequent, same-day alcohol use, number of drinks consumed, or HED, regardless of daily emotion dysregulation level. Main effects revealed that daily emotion dysregulation positively associated with alcohol use across all models. The effects of IPV on alcohol use may accumulate over time rather than having a subsequent, proximal effect. Enhancing college women’s ability to regulate emotions may mitigate alcohol use and HED, regardless of women’s IPV experiences. / Master of Science / Intimate partner violence (IPV), including physical, psychological, and sexual abuse is common amongst college women and is often linked with alcohol use problems. Previous research suggests that women may be more inclined to consume alcohol following IPV victimization, particularly if they struggle with regulating their emotions. However, the specific role of daily emotion dysregulation in moderating the relationship between IPV victimization and subsequent alcohol use has not been thoroughly investigated. This study aimed to investigate whether daily experiences of IPV victimization would positively associate with same-day alcohol consumption, evaluated through overall drinking, the amount consumed, and the occurrences of heavy episodic drinking (HED), and whether greater levels of daily emotion dysregulation would intently this relationship. A sample of 161 college women completed daily assessments over 60 consecutive days, reporting their experiences with IPV victimization, alcohol use, and emotion dysregulation. The findings did not support the initial hypotheses. IPV victimization did not significantly increase odds of same-day alcohol use, the number of drinks consumed, or HED, irrespective of the levels of daily emotion dysregulation. However, the data revealed that emotion dysregulation was positively associated with alcohol use across all models. This suggests that the effects of IPV victimization on alcohol use may accumulate over time rather than wield an immediate influence. Improving emotion regulation skills among college women could potentially mitigate alcohol use and instances of HED, independent of their experiences with IPV victimization.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/121306 |
| Date | 06 August 2024 |
| Creators | Mongan, Lindsay M. |
| Contributors | Psychology, Brem, Meagan J., Kim-Spoon, Jungmeen, O'Leary, Daniel K. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Text |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf, application/pdf |
| Rights | CC0 1.0 Universal, http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ |
Page generated in 0.0023 seconds