Extending a Conceptual Model of Alcohol-Related Violence to Cyber Dating Violence Using a Daily Diary Design with College Students

Research examining the contextual antecedents to college dating violence (DV) remains underdeveloped, suffers limitations, and has not included abuse perpetrated through technology (i.e., cyber DV). Understanding the contextual antecedents to face-to-face and cyber DV will advance efforts to prevent these prevalent social problems. This dissertation evaluated the proximal associations among alcohol use and face-to-face (i.e., psychological, physical, and sexual DV) and cyber DV while testing theoretically supported moderators of this relationship (i.e., state/daily negative affect, daily emotion dysregulation, and trait jealousy). Following baseline trait assessments, 236 participants (173 women, 61 men, and 2 “other” gender) completed surveys on their daily alcohol use (any alcohol use, binge drinking, and number of drinks consumed), state/daily negative affect, daily emotion dysregulation, and face-to-face and cyber DV for 60 consecutive days. Hypotheses were partially supported. Consistent with prior research, the odds of perpetrating psychological and sexual DV following alcohol use varied as a function of contextual affective experiences. The odds of perpetrating psychological or sexual DV did not vary as a function of trait jealousy, independently or in conjunction with daily alcohol use. In contrast to hypotheses, the odds of perpetrating cyber DV increased as the number of drinks consumed per day increased, but these odds did not vary as a function of contextual affective experiences or trait jealousy. Instead, the odds of cyber DV perpetration increased with increases in proximal negative affect and emotion dysregulation, regardless of alcohol use. Physical DV hypotheses could not be tested due to low endorsement. Results suggest that existing models of alcohol related DV may not extend to cyber DV. Additional research is needed to identify salient proximal risk factors of cyber DV that may inform a comprehensive model.

This dissertation was supported by a Visionary Grant from the American Psychological Foundation (APF), and by grant F31AA026489 from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). The content is solely the responsibility of the author and does not necessarily represent the official views of the APF, NIAAA, or the National Institutes of Health.