Gender Differences in the Relationship Between Sexual Activity and Dating Violence: The Role of Satisfaction, Jealousy, and Self-control.

While research has shown that sexual intercourse within a relationship is positively associated with physical intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration, particularly among young adults, whether well-known correlates of IPV moderate this relationship and whether these effects are gendered is less known. We draw on data from the International Dating Violence Study (2001-2006; n = 5,502) to more thoroughly explore sexual activity in a relationship on the risk for dating violence perpetration among college students in heterosexual relationships. First, the relationship between sexual activity and physical IPV is examined. Second, this study examines the role of sexual satisfaction/disagreement on IPV among sexually active participants as a potential mechanism by which sexual activity impacts IPV. Third, this study examines whether jealousy and self-control, two well-known correlates of IPV, moderate the relationship between sexual activity and IPV. For all analyses, gendered effects were examined. We found that sexual activity was positively related to overall and severe (i.e., potentially injurious) IPV perpetration and the effects were comparable between men and women. Likewise, although there was gender symmetry in the main effects of jealousy, results demonstrate that the interaction between intimacy and jealousy was gendered. Conversely, self-control was related to IPV comparably for men and women but did not moderate the effects of intimacy. Sexual satisfaction was unrelated to IPV perpetration for men and women, but women who report disagreement over frequency of intercourse reported higher offending. The theoretical implications of the current study are discussed as well as avenues for prevention and intervention programming, including collaborative, campus-based approaches to both violence prevention, healthy relationships, and sexual decision-making.

Visualizing the infrastructure of US healthcare using Internet GIS: a community health informatics approach for reducing health disparities.

Policy makers and healthcare providers often lack the resources or information to make effective healthcare decisions that impact their communities. Information must therefore be delivered to in a way that maximizes healthcare decision making. This paper examines the infrastructure of U.S. Healthcare using an Internet-based geographic information system (GIS). Internet GIS assists communities in accessing health information via the Internet, thereby leveling the playing field between urban and less affluent rural communities in the United States. A Community Health Informatics approach of incorporating "place" in identifying and reducing health dis-parities and transforming patients to active consumers of health care may ameliorate the impact of devolution and provide a foundation for effective decision support. The Internet GIS includes data visualization tools that provide the public, health care providers, and policy makers with tools to examine socio-economic and demographic factors that impact the distribution of health services

HIV/AIDS Community Health Information System.

Given changes in the faces of AIDS over the last decade, it is crucial that disparities in health and access to healthcare are addressed. An Internet-based GIS was developed using ESRI's Arc Internet Map Server (Arc IMS) to provide users with a suite of tools to interact with geographic data and conduct spatial analyses related to the characteristics that promote or impede the provision of HIV-related services. Internet Mapping allows those engaged in local decision-making to: (1) geographically visualize information via the Internet; (2) Assess the relationship between the distribution of HIV services and spatially referenced socio-economic data; and (3) generate "what if" scenarios" that may direct the allocation of healthcare resources.