Alexithymia, Prior Trauma, Alcohol Use, and Sexual Aggression Perpetration: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of a Moderated Mediation Model.

In this study, we examined the relationships between prior trauma, alexithymia, and sexual aggression perpetration among 610 U.S. college students and 107 college students from the Philippines utilizing a cross-sectional retrospective design. We tested a moderated mediation model with alexithymia as the mediator between prior trauma and sexual aggression perpetration, and alcohol use as a moderator of the alexithymia-sexual aggression link. Moreover, given that cultural norms may influence these relationships, we also examined the structural invariance of the proposed moderated mediation model. Path analyses and multiple group analysis were used to examine the moderated mediation model, and examine model differences between samples. We did not find evidence for alexithymia as a mediator, but there was a significant interaction between alcohol use severity and alexithymia on sexual aggression perpetration across both samples. Alexithymia is a key variable in understanding the alcohol use-sexual aggression perpetration relationship. Clinical implications and recommendations for future research are also discussed.

Examining the role of a brief online alcohol use risk feedback on accessing information about available treatment resources for alcohol issues.

Research suggests college-aged young adults are hesitant to seek treatment for alcohol use disorder and highlights barriers contributing to a gap in treatment utilization. One barrier to treatment utilization is the lack of information about available treatment resources. Motivated by the literature on web-based screening and brief interventions (eSBIs), the current study examined whether providing a brief online feedback of one's alcohol use risk severity will make college students more likely to access information about available treatment options for alcohol-related issues. College students (N = 724) who responded to the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (Babor, Higgins-Biddle, Saunders, & Monteiro, 2001) were randomly assigned to receive a brief online feedback on their alcohol use risk or to a no-feedback condition. Overall, only 20% of all participants opted to view available treatment services for alcohol issues. Participants in the feedback group (15%) were significantly less likely to view information for available services compared to the no-feedback group (24%). A significant feedback condition x stigma interaction effect was found, such that those with average and high stigma towards substance use scores were less likely to view treatment information when provided feedback. Without a thorough discussion of individual risks and without the safeguards against psychological reactance present in eSBIs, providing college students with brief online feedback about their alcohol use risk severity made them less likely to access information concerning available on-campus mental health resources for alcohol issues. On the other hand, improving help-seeking attitudes could help increase treatment utilization.