Protective behavioral strategies for sexual aggression and risky sexual behavior

Abstract

Sexual aggression (SA) is a serious public‐health problem on college campuses, and there is a pressing need for basic research fostering the development of novel prevention strategies. The current study (a) developed measures of protective behavioral strategies (PBS) for sexual aggression (SA) and risky sex (RS); (b) characterized college men's PBS use; and (c) evaluated whether those who reported engaging in SA and RS showed lower PBS use. Undergraduate men from two universities (n = 567) who endorsed sexual attraction toward women completed measures of PBS, SA, RS, rape‐supportive and sociosexual attitudes, and alcohol consumption. On average, participants reported using PBS for SA and RS fairly often, but a sizeable number indicated that they seldom or never used the strategies. Men who reported SA engagement in the last year, relative to their peers, endorsed sharply lower reliance on SA PBS and RS PBS. Men who reported at least one RS behavior in the last year used RS PBS far less often than their peers. The PBS measures converged as expected with other attitudinal and behavioral measures. The new PBS measures reference cognitive‐behavioral approaches that a large percentage of college men use on a regular basis, making them potentially acceptable prevention targets. Further, men at greater risk of exhibiting SA are much less likely to take steps to reduce the risks associated with sexual behavior, in comparison with their peers. Thus, future work could evaluate the potential usefulness of incorporating PBS for SA and RS into primary prevention programming in both domains.

A comprehensive review of measures of protective behavioral strategies across various risk factors and associated PBS-related interventions.

“…Dating and sexual PBS focus on reducing the likelihood of being a target of sexual victimization. Assessment of dating and sexual behaviors include: the Risky Sex Scale (RSS; O’Hare, 2001), the Dating Self-Protection against Rape Scale (DSPARS; Moore & Waterman, 1999), the Dating Behavior Survey (DBS; Hanson & Gidycz, 1993), and the Protective Behavioral Strategies for Sexual Aggression and Risky Sex measure (Treat et al, 2021). The RSS was created two decades ago and identifies sexual behaviors in relation to alcohol use.…”

Normative misperception of sexual- and alcohol-related predictors of sexual assault by college men.

“…Participants reported how often they engaged in eight risky sexual behaviors over the last year (e.g., had sex without protection against pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections; had sex with someone just met that day). The scale showed evidence of convergent validity (Treat et al, 2021). Response options were never, 1–2, 3–5, 6–9, 10–14, 15–19, 20, or more.…”

College men’s use of protective behavioral strategies for sexual aggression, risky sexual behavior, and heavy episodic drinking.

“…These approaches are best developed for HED, where they focus not only on reducing overperceptions of peers’ attitudes and behaviors but also on reducing underperceptions of peers’ engagement in protective behavioral strategies (PBS; Dotson et al, 2015; Peterson et al, 2021; Reid & Carey, 2015). In contrast, measures assessing PBS for SAB and more general RSB have only recently been introduced (Treat et al, 2021). The current work substantially revises and extends these measures; characterizes college men’s PBS use across SAB, RSB, and HED domains; examines the interrelatedness of PBS for SAB, RSB, and HED; determines whether college men who report engaging in SAB, RSB, or HED in the last year (relative to their peers) endorse less use of PBS in all three domains; and evaluates whether domain-specific PBS use predicts domain-specific problems even in the presence of other established predictors.…”

“…Recently, Treat et al (2021) developed and validated measures of PBS use for SAB perpetration and a broader RSB domain in a large sample of over 500 sexually active college men who endorsed sexual attraction to women. The 12-item PBS measure for SAB included items related to three well-established risk factors for SAB (Abbey et al, 2011; Malamuth & Hald, 2017; Zinzow & Thompson, 2019): (a) misperception of a potential partner’s sexual interest (e.g., tracking your partner’s changing emotional reactions throughout a sexual encounter); (b) reduced focus on obtaining sexual consent (e.g., explicitly asking a potential sexual partner for consent to engage in sexual behavior); and (c) the consumption of alcohol while engaging in sexual behavior (e.g., being aware that alcohol impairs your judgment and that of your partner, which can lead to behavior you or your partner later regret).…”

“…On average, a large sample of college men reported that they used PBS for SAB fairly often ( M = 3.95 on a 5-point scale) and that they used PBS for RSB sometimes-to-often ( M = 3.52; Treat et al, 2021). Substantial individual differences in PBS use emerged in both domains, however, with 14.8% of the sample reporting that they never or seldom used the SAB PBS, and 28.5% indicating the same for the RSB PBS.…”