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Objectives: To investigate young women's engagement in and receipt of condom use resistance (CUR; attempts to avoid condom use with a partner who wants to use one), including nonconsensual condom removal ("stealthing"), with male partners., Methods: Participants were 503 women aged 21-30 years with increased sexual risk characteristics recruited from 2013 to 2017. Participants completed measures assessing sexual victimization history and CUR experiences., Results: Findings indicated that 87% of women experienced noncoercive CUR from a partner and 49% experienced coercive CUR. Of these women, 58% and 19% reported having engaged in noncoercive and coercive CUR, respectively. Twelve percent of women had a partner engage in stealthing; none of the women engaged in stealthing. The severity of sexual victimization history was positively associated with both use and receipt of coercive and noncoercive CUR. Diagnoses of sexually transmitted infections were positively associated with receipt of, but not engagement in, CUR., Conclusions: Findings demonstrate that sexual victimization and both the use and receipt of CUR are positively related for young women, suggesting that prevention efforts focusing on women's sexual health would benefit from joint consideration of sexual violence and risk behaviors and that such efforts should target victims of sexual violence., (Copyright © 2019 Jacobs Institute of Women's Health. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

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. Participants were recruited and surveyed online, and grouped conceptually based on the types of IPV perpetration behavior(s) used in a current or recent romantic relationship. Groups were then compared on relevant sexual risk variables. Men reporting both physical abuse and sexual coercion against intimate partners reported significantly higher numbers of lifetime partners, higher rates of nonmonogamy, greater endorsement of nonmonogamy, and less frequent condom use relative to nonabusive men or those reporting controlling behavior only. This group also had higher sexually transmitted infection (STI) exposure compared to men who used controlling behavior only and men who used sexual coercion only. Findings suggest that interventions with men who use physical and sexual violence need to account for not only the physical and psychological harm of this behavior but also the sexual risk to which men may expose their partners.

Heterosexual men's sexual safety behavior is important to controlling the U.S. epidemic of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). While sexual safety is often treated as a single behavior, such as condom use, it can also be conceptualized as resulting from multiple factors. Doing so can help us achieve more nuanced understandings of sexual risk and safety within partner-related contexts. We used latent class analysis with data collected online from 18- to 25-year-old heterosexually active U.S. men (n = 432) to empirically derive a typology of the patterns of sexual safety strategies they employed. Indicators were sexual risk-reduction strategies used in the past year with the most recent female sex partner: condom use, discussing sexual histories, STI testing, agreeing to be monogamous, and discussing birth control. We identified four subgroups: Risk Takers (12%), Condom Reliers (25%), Multistrategists (28%), and Relationship Reliers (35%). Partner-related context factors--number of past-year sex partners, relationship commitment, and sexual concurrency--predicted subgroup membership. Findings support tailoring STI prevention to men's sexual risk-safety subgroups. Interventions should certainly continue to encourage condom use but should also include information on how partner-related context factors and alternate sexual safety strategies can help men reduce risk for themselves and their partners.

This study used an experimental paradigm to investigate the roles of sexual victimization history and alcohol intoxication in young women's sexual-emotional responding and sexual risk taking. A nonclinical community sample of 436 young women, with both an instance of heavy episodic drinking and some HIV/STI risk exposure in the past year, completed childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and adolescent/adult sexual assault (ASA) measures. A majority of them reported CSA and/or ASA, including rape and attempted rape. After random assignment to a high alcohol dose (.10 %) or control condition, participants read and projected themselves into an eroticized scenario of a sexual encounter involving a new partner. As the story protagonist, each participant rated her positive mood and her sexual arousal, sensation, and desire, and then indicated her likelihood of engaging in unprotected sex. Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that ASA and alcohol were directly associated with heightened risk taking, and alcohol's effects were partially mediated by positive mood and sexual desire. ASA was associated with attenuated sexual-emotional responding and resulted in diminished risk taking via this suppression. These are the first findings indicating that, compared to non-victimized counterparts, sexually victimized women respond differently in alcohol-involved sexual encounters in terms of sexual-emotional responding and risk-taking intentions. Implications include assessing victimization history and drinking among women seeking treatment for either concern, particularly women at risk for HIV, and alerting them to ways their histories and behavior may combine to exacerbate their sexual risks.

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. We used latent class analysis to identify profiles based on ever-used sexual safety strategies and lifetime number of partners among 425 self-identified LGBTQ youth aged 14-19. Data collection took place anonymously online. We identified four specific subgroup profiles for males and three for females, with each subgroup representing a different level and type of sexual safety. Profiles differed from each other in terms of age and outness for males, and in outness, personal homonegativity, and amount of education received about sexual/romantic relationships for females. Youths' sexual safety profiles have practice implications for sexuality educators, health care professionals, and parents., (Copyright © 2013 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Whereas gendered sexual scripts are hegemonic at the cultural level, research suggests they may be less so at dyadic and individual levels. Understanding "disjunctures" between sexual scripts at different levels holds promise for illuminating mechanisms through which sexual scripts can change. Through interviews with 44 heterosexually active men and women aged 18 to 25, the ways young people grappled with culture-level scripts for sexuality and relationships were delineated. Findings suggest that, although most participants' culture-level gender scripts for behavior in sexual relationships were congruent with descriptions of traditional masculine and feminine sexuality, there was heterogeneity in how or whether these scripts were incorporated into individual relationships. Specifically, three styles of working with sexual scripts were found: conforming, in which personal gender scripts for sexual behavior overlapped with traditional scripts; exception-finding, in which interviewees accepted culture-level gender scripts as a reality, but created exceptions to gender rules for themselves; and transforming, in which participants either attempted to remake culture-level gender scripts or interpreted their own nontraditional styles as equally normative. Changing sexual scripts can potentially contribute to decreased gender inequity in the sexual realm and to increased opportunities for sexual satisfaction, safety, and well-being, particularly for women, but for men as well.

Two studies examined the effects of alcohol and relationship type on women's sexual assault risk perception. Study 1 participants (N = 62) consumed a moderate alcohol dose or nonalcoholic beverage, then rated their awareness of and discomfort with sexual assault risk cues in a hypothetical encounter with a new or established dating partner. Study 2 (N = 351) compared control, placebo, low, and high alcohol dose conditions using a similar scenario. Intoxicated women reported decreased awareness of and discomfort with risk cues. An established relationship decreased discomfort ratings. Findings indicate that alcohol may increase women's sexual victimization likelihood through reduced sexual assault risk perception.

This study examined effects of alcohol consumption (control, moderate dose, high dose) and type of relationship (new, established) on women's responses to escalating male sexual aggression. The role of childhood trauma was also examined. After consuming a beverage, participants (N=220) projected themselves into a story portraying a social interaction with a man that depicted escalating sexual aggression. The story was paused 3 times to assess assertive, polite, and passive resistance as well as consent. Alcohol consumption increased consent and interacted with type of relationship to increase passive resistance and with level of sexual aggression to increase polite resistance. Assertive resistance increased and other responses decreased as the man's sexual aggression escalated. Childhood trauma lowered consent initially and increased passive resistance when rape was threatened.

Separate lines of research show that men overestimate the extent of male peers' sexual activity, and independently, that sexually aggressive men believe that other men approve of coercive behavior. This study examined the intersection of these lines of inquiry, testing whether the degree of male participants' misperception of other men's sexual behavior differs as a function of perpetrator status. In a national sample, we presented heterosexually active men (n = 497) with sexual scenarios varying in sexual acts, partner types, and circumstances. Results showed that participants significantly overestimated the typicality of all types of sexual situations for other men. Participants also misjudged the desirability of scenarios consistent with a traditional masculinity sexual script to other men; these scenarios reflected an adversarial perspective on relationships and an impersonal approach to sexuality – a known risk factor for sexual aggression. Further, sexually aggressive men overestimated the desirability of these traditional masculinity scenarios to a greater extent than non-aggressive peers. Findings suggest that interventions that provide accurate knowledge about social norms, or "typical" sexual desires and behaviors among other men, may reduce pressure to live up to perceived but perhaps inaccurate masculine ideals, as well as reduce social norm-related risks for sexually aggressive behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]