Predicting Sexual Assault Perpetration Among Heterosexually Active Young Men.

Data from an online community sample of young men were analyzed to test predictors of sexual assault perpetration. We used structural equation modeling to test the relative contributions of specific sub-types of childhood adversity to subsequent sexual aggression. Mediators included hostile masculinity, impersonal sexual behavior and attitudes, and substance use variables.

A Latent Class Analysis of Heterosexual Young Men's Masculinities.

Parallel bodies of research have described the diverse and complex ways that men understand and construct their masculine identities (often termed "masculinities") and, separately, how adherence to traditional notions of masculinity places men at risk for negative sexual and health outcomes. The goal of this analysis was to bring together these two streams of inquiry. Using data from a national, online sample of 555 heterosexually active young men, we employed latent class analysis (LCA) to detect patterns of masculine identities based on men's endorsement of behavioral and attitudinal indicators of "dominant" masculinity, including sexual attitudes and behaviors.

Patterns of Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Risk Behavior among Young Heterosexually Active Men.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization is linked to sexual risk exposure among women. However, less is known about the intersection of IPV perpetration and sexual risk behavior among men. This study used data from a diverse, community sample of 334 heterosexually active young men, aged 18 to 25, across the United States to examine whether and how men with distinct IPV-related behavior patterns differed in sexual risk-related behavior and attitudes.

Negative and Positive Factors Associated With the Well-Being of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Questioning (LGBTQ) Youth.

Factors associated with the well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth were qualitatively examined to better understand how these factors are experienced from the youths' perspectives. Largely recruited from LGBTQ youth groups, 68 youth participated in focus groups ( = 63) or individual interviews ( = 5). The sample included 50% male, 47% female, and 3% transgender participants.

"He enjoys giving her pleasure": diversity and complexity in young men's sexual scripts.

Research on heterosexual men's sexual expectations has focused on self-described personal traits and culturally dominant models of masculinity. In a pair of studies, we used a sexual scripts perspective to explore the range and diversity of young men's thoughts about sex and relationships with women and to develop measures for assessing these scripts. In the first study, we conducted semi-structured interviews to elicit young men's accounts of their sexual relationships.

Condoms and Contexts: Profiles of Sexual Risk and Safety Among Young Heterosexually Active Men.

Heterosexual men's sexual safety behavior is important to controlling the U.S. epidemic of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Multidimensional characterization of sexual minority adolescents' sexual safety strategies.

Young adults have high rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Sexual minority youths' risk for STIs, including HIV, is as high as or higher than sexual majority peers'. Sexual safety, while often treated as a single behavior such as condom use, can be best conceptualized as the result of multiple factors.

Comparison of daily and retrospective reports of vaginal sex in heterosexual men and women.

This study examined the agreement between daily and retrospective reports of vaginal sex over a two-month period in a sample of 376 heterosexually active men and women. We also examined whether gender, age, or method of daily data collection (self-administered vs. interviewer administered) were related to agreement between daily and retrospective reports.

Replicating an intervention: the tension between fidelity and adaptation.

Increased awareness of the importance of tailoring interventions to participants' cultures has focused attention on the limited generalizability of a single test of an intervention to determine efficacy. Adaptation is often necessary to replicate interventions across cultures. This produces a tension between fidelity to the original intervention and adaptations necessary to make the intervention relevant to the culture and circumstances of participants.

Retrospective assessment of the association between drinking and condom use.

Objective: Retrospective reports of the association between drinking and high-risk sexual behavior can be biased by implicit theories of the effects of drinking or may represent post hoc justifications instead of accurate reports of behavior. Using data from a daily diary study, we compared daily reports of condom use when drinking and not drinking with the same participants' reports of these behaviors from a retrospective questionnaire administered after diary collection was complete.

Method: Participants included adolescents (n=145), adult sexually transmitted disease clinic clients (n=167), college students (n=145), and men who have sex with men (n=147).

The opposite of sex? Adolescents' thoughts about abstinence and sex, and their sexual behavior.

Context: Little research has explored how teenagers think about abstinence and how it functions in their lives. These questions are particularly salient in light of widespread funding of abstinence-only programs in the United States.

Methods: Data on attitudes and intentions related to abstinence and sex were collected from 365 adolescents aged 12-15 who participated in an HIV risk reduction program in Seattle in 2001-2003.

Effects of friendship closeness in an adolescent group HIV prevention intervention.

Although many interventions for youth rely, explicitly or implicitly, on group effects, sparse theoretical or empirical attention has been paid to the rationale for choosing a small-group design. The present study assesses the role of friendship closeness among youth in prevention intervention groups in shaping their HIV risk-related attitudes, intentions, perceived self-efficacy and perceived norms. Data from an experimental test of a group HIV prevention intervention are used to assess the relationship of friendship on cognitive outcomes at posttest and 6-month follow-up, in a multilevel regression design.

Replicating a teen HIV/STD preventive intervention in a multicultural city.

Although there are now several adolescent HIV and STD preventive interventions of demonstrated efficacy in the literature, little is understood about the portability of these interventions. This study replicated Stanton's Focus on Kids intervention, developed for inner city African American adolescents, in a different population, transferring it to a multicultural city. Despite careful replication of the original study's procedures, youth in the preventive intervention condition of the replication study did not improve in attitudes, perceived norms, self-efficacy, or intentions toward sexual initiation, condom use, or abstinence compared with a carefully matched control condition.

Agreement of daily diary and retrospective measures of condom use.

This study compares condom use reported two ways. 251 heterosexual participants (63% female) reported condom use on a prospective daily diary and on a retrospective questionnaire. Proportion of condom use with vaginal sex was calculated from the diary data and contrasted with retrospective categories.

Drinking and condom use: results from an event-based daily diary.

Although it is often assumed that drinking alcohol interferes with condom use, most studies on this topic do not meet the conditions required for causal interpretation. We examined the association of drinking to condom use using data from diaries of alcohol use and sexual encounters, collected over 8 weeks from college students and clients of a sexually transmitted disease clinic. This method establishes the temporal relationships between drinking and condom use and controls for individual differences by using a within-subjects analysis.

Teens speak out about HIV/AIDS: focus group discussions about risk and decision-making.

Purpose: To better understand the factors teens consider when making decisions regarding sex and condom use.

Methods: Twenty-one same-sex focus groups were conducted with a total of 92 male and female teens from a range of high school programs; schools were selected based on the range of programs and diversity of students enrolled. Focus group moderators facilitated groups using a set of open-ended key questions about sexual decision-making and HIV/AIDS for each group; discussion on a specific topic area continued until no new information was generated.

Adolescent drinking and sex: findings from a daily diary study.

Context: Alcohol consumption often has been cited as increasing adolescents' risk of HIV, and several studies have shown positive relationships between drinking and risky sexual behavior among adolescents. Because most of these studies used global measures of drinking and risky sex, and conducted comparisons across persons, they could not determine whether alcohol use was a cause of risky sex or simply a correlate.

Methods: A sample of 112 U.

Children's beliefs about smoking.

Children's beliefs about smoking were examined in a multi-ethnic urban sample of 4th through 7th grade children. Results showed that, relative to those in earlier grades, children in higher grades held more positive beliefs about the positive outcomes of smoking and the long-term negative consequences of smoking, but there was no association between grade level and beliefs about the immediate negative consequences of smoking. Children in higher grades also perceived more favorable norms toward smoking.