Sensation seeking and alcohol expectancies regarding sexual aggression as moderators of the relationship between alcohol use and coercive condom use resistance intentions.

OBJECTIVE: Despite condoms' effectiveness at preventing sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unplanned pregnancy, coercive condom use resistance (CUR; i.e., using coercive tactics to resist condom use with a partner who wants to use one) is relatively common. However, research has not examined how risk factors, including alcohol use, alcohol expectancies related to sexual coercion, and sensation seeking, may interact to predict coercive CUR. The present study used an alcohol administration experiment to assess sensation seeking and alcohol expectancies as moderators of the relationship between acute alcohol intoxication and intentions to perpetrate coercive CUR during a hypothetical scenario. METHOD: Single, young, heterosexual men (N = 313) were randomly assigned to a control, placebo, low (BrAC = .04%), or high dose alcohol condition (BrAC = .08%). Participants then read and projected themselves into a sexually explicit stimulus story and indicated the likelihood that they would perpetrate coercive CUR. RESULTS: Findings indicated that intoxication interacted with expectancies and sensation seeking to predict coercive CUR intentions, such that alcohol intoxication was associated with greater coercive CUR intentions only among participants who reported greater sensation seeking and stronger alcohol expectancies. CONCLUSIONS: Both alcohol expectancies and myopia play a key role in coercive CUR intentions, especially among sensation seeking individuals. Thus, intervention programs should evaluate men's alcohol use, alcohol expectancies, and sensation seeking behaviors as possible targets to reduce the perpetration of coercive CUR. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Typical Drinking, Sensation Seeking, and Alcohol Expectancies Regarding Sexual Coercion as Predictors of Coercive Condom Use Resistance Perpetration.

Although condoms are effective at preventing sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unwanted pregnancies, condom use resistance (CUR) remains prominent. In particular, coercive CUR, or the use of coercive tactics to resist condom use with a partner who wants to use one, comprises a unique combination of sexual aggression and risky sexual behaviors, making it especially problematic. The present study sought to examine the relationship between coercive CUR and a variety of factors associated with both sexual aggression and risky sexual behaviors (e.g., typical alcohol consumption, alcohol expectancies regarding sexual aggression, and sensation seeking) to determine whether such factors may also contribute to the etiology of coercive CUR. To do so, a nationwide study of 102 young, heterosexual men who had previously perpetrated coercive CUR were recruited to complete an online, cross-sectional survey. Data were analyzed using a hierarchical linear regression model, which showed that alcohol expectancies regarding sexual coercion and sensation seeking moderated the relationship between typical drinking quantity and previous coercive CUR perpetration, such that typical drinking was positively associated with coercive CUR among men who reported greater sensation seeking and alcohol expectancies regarding sexual coercion. However, among men who were low in one or both of these factors, typical drinking was not associated with coercive CUR. These results suggest that typical drinking, alcohol expectancies, and sensation seeking may all be important to the etiology of coercive CUR, and that a reduction in one or more may be sufficient to reduce the likelihood of coercive CUR perpetration. Future research should confirm these findings using experimental and/or longitudinal methodologies and seek to develop intervention programs targeting typical alcohol use, alcohol expectancies related to sexual coercion, and sensation seeking in young men.

Intersectionality Within Critical Autism Studies: A Narrative Review.

The aim of this narrative review was to examine intersectionality within critical autism studies. A growing body of evidence has demonstrated the importance of intersectional frameworks in highlighting the diverse experiences of marginalized communities. Many disability studies researchers investigated intersectionality to elucidate the impact of race, gender, sexuality, class, and other constructs on disability identification. Within critical autism studies, a field that emerged to challenge the deficit-laden, pathologizing autism discourses favored by the medical community, intersectionality has started to become an integral component of the literature. This review highlights intersectional frameworks utilized to explore autism in both academic and nonacademic contexts, to provide a foundation for future study. Upon analysis, we found overarching themes regarding the explicit, implicit, and descriptive approaches to intersectionality, racial and gender biases within critical autism studies, and the multidisciplinary nature of intersectionality and critical autism studies. We finish the review with recommendations for how to more fully address the experiences of all autistic people-particularly of racial, gender, and sexual minority individuals-in future study. Our recommendations include utilizing intersectionality as an analytical lens for describing previously overlooked phenomena and questioning central tenets of methodology and processes, including developing research questions, analyzing data, and writing results.

Why is this topic important?: Intersectionality means that many different social influences make up a person's experiences. Examples of these social influences are gender and sexism, ethnicity and racism, and disability and ableism. This topic is important because different autistic people may have different experiences depending on these other social factors. Studying intersectionality helps us to understand these differences and better serve those autistic communities that may be ignored. What is the purpose of this article?: We looked at how authors of published studies and community projects have thought about intersectionality in autistic communities. What personal or professional perspectives do the researchers bring to this topic?: Both authors have invisible disabilities. We have both done research on disability and social influences, and we have worked with people in disability communities, including autistic communities. We have also noticed how our gender, race, and sexual orientation have affected how we experience our disabilities. What results did the researchers find?: We found three main ways that authors talked about intersectionality. (1) Sometimes authors directly talk about intersectionality. This means that some authors use the idea of intersectionality to help them think of a research question or to help them understand their data. In these cases, authors use the word "intersectionality" in their articles. (2) Sometimes authors talk about intersectionality, but not directly. This means that some authors do not use the word "intersectionality" to talk about their research, but they still use similar ideas. For example, sometimes authors looked at what it is like to be an autistic woman. This topic is intersectional because it talks about two different social influences (autism and gender). However, the authors did not directly write that it was intersectional. (3) Finally, sometimes authors do not talk about intersectionality, but their study can be used as a starting point for talking about intersectionality later. For example, sometimes authors look at differences in whether people are diagnosed with autism, based on their race. Research such as this can be helpful because other researchers can use it to make studies to learn about why differences between autistic groups happen. What do the researchers recommend?: We recommend that researchers in many fields and people working with autistic communities think about how intersectionality and social influences affect autistic people. They can do this when thinking of research questions, understanding their data, and writing about their results. We also recommend that researchers think more about racial, gender, and sexual minority group experiences within the autistic community. This is important because sometimes researchers or stakeholders have forgotten about certain groups of autistic people. How will these recommendations help autistic adults now or in the future?: Thinking about intersectionality can help people understand autistic people's different experiences, especially in terms of how these experiences are affected by social influences. We hope that our article leads to research that makes life better for all autistic people and fits better for autistic people who have been ignored or forgotten about in some research or advocacy projects.

"School Shouldn't Be Something You Have to Survive": Queer Women's Experiences with Microaggressions at a Canadian University.

The authors used an interpretative phenomenological analysis of focus-group data provided by eight research participants to investigate microaggressions that target queer women at an urban Canadian university. Four themes emerged from the data that support and extend prior sexual orientation microaggressions typologies research: (a) facing skepticism as response to sexual orientation, (b) living with surveillance as response to gender presentation, (c) encountering heteronormative assumptions, and (d) experiencing vulnerability. The authors discuss these findings in the context of previous research, outline future research directions, and provide implications for campus life.

Associations among psychological distress, high-risk activism, and conflict between ethnic-racial and sexual minority identities in lesbian, gay, bisexual racial/ethnic minority adults.

In this brief report, we present results from a study exploring the associations of high-risk activism (HRA) orientation in lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) issues; HRA orientation in racial/ethnic issues; conflicts in allegiances (CIA) between one's ethnic-racial and sexual minority identities; and anxiety among LGB racial/ethnic minority adults. A racially and ethnically diverse sample of 208 LGB racial/ethnic minority adults (age: M = 27.52, SD = 8.76) completed an online survey. Bivariate correlations showed that HRA orientation in LGB and in racial/ethnic issues, as well as CIA, were each positively associated with anxiety. However, regression analyses indicated that CIA moderated the association between anxiety and HRA orientation in LGB issues (but not racial/ethnic minority issues) such that this association was significant and positive at low levels of CIA and nonsignificant at high levels of CIA. These findings can be used to not only inform psychological practice with this population (e.g., by encouraging practitioners to be more attentive to these issues as potential sources of stress), but also more broadly, as knowledge that can inform the burgeoning psychological literature on collective action. We highlight, for example, the importance of distinguishing between types of activism (i.e., high- vs. low-risk types) in relation to mental health outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record

The associations of sexual and ethnic-racial identity commitment, conflicts in allegiances, and mental health among lesbian, gay, and bisexual racial and ethnic minority adults.

We present results from a study exploring the associations of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) identity commitment and ethnic-racial identity commitment, conflicts in allegiances (CIA) between these 2 identities, and depression among LGB racial and ethnic minority people. LGB racial and ethnic minority adults (N = 208; Mage = 27.52, SD = 8.76), including 104 (50%) men, 93 (44.7%) women, and 11 (5.3%) other gender/ungendered, participated in an online survey. In terms of sexual orientation, 44 (21.2%) identified as lesbian, 90 (43.3%) identified as gay, 51 (24.5%) identified as bisexual women, 16 (7.7%) identified as bisexual men, and seven (3.4%) identified as bisexual gender/ungendered. In terms of race and ethnicity, 46 (22.1%) identified as African American, 49 (23.6%) identified as Asian American, 65 (31.3%) identified as Latinx, 6 (2.9%) identified as Native American, and 42 (20.2%) identified as being of other race/ethnicity or of mixed race. LGB identity commitment was associated with lower levels of depression, and CIA was associated with higher levels of depression. LGB identity commitment moderated the association between CIA and depression such that CIA was associated positively with depression among participants who reported low levels of LGB identity commitment, but this relation was nonsignificant among participants who reported high levels of LGB identity commitment. Implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record