Michelle Drouin

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious and widespread public health concern. Not only has it been the subject of thousands of papers published over the past three decades, but it also appears frequently in legal proceedings across criminal, civil, and family court contexts. To have currency in the field, forensic experts and other individuals working in court systems must identify and synthesize a wide and complex body of literature, from the conceptual underpinnings of IPV to issues of memory and trauma, many of which may affect victim participation, testimony, and credibility. In this review, we provide a comprehensive and concise summary of several foundational IPV studies, as well as some that have built upon these theoretical models and empirically tested the premises, focusing on key findings relevant to legal proceedings. We also spotlight potential avenues of expert testimony, including “counterintuitive” victim behavior, coercive control, persistence in abusive relationships, delayed reporting, technology‐facilitated abuse, and factors that may impact the way in which IPV is manifested or reported (e.g., cultural factors, interpersonal context). Finally, we discuss the wider implications of this work for law and policy, focusing on the continuous need for empirically‐grounded testimony in the courtroom.

Sexual consent is central to cases of sexual assault and rape. Logically, sleeping persons cannot consent; yet there has been scant research examining the experience of sexual touching while sleeping. The current research is the first known to specifically examine sexual touching with a sleeping partner, with a goal of understanding the contextual features surrounding, responses to, and perceptions of the legality and acceptability of these behaviors. Undergraduate participants from two universities (N = 724) completed several measures assessing their experience of sexual touching while sleeping, the context, sexual precedence, responses, and their perceptions of such touching. A significant proportion reported waking up to someone touching them sexually (n = 233; 32.2%), including genital touching and penetration, and about one in ten (n = 71; 9.8%) reported completely sleeping through a sexual act. Participants had been touched sexually while sleeping by a range of individuals from spouses to strangers, but it was more common among established sexual partners. Perceptions of legality and acceptability of sexual touching while sleeping were influenced by relationship context and sexual precedence. Meanwhile, immediate, longer-term, and affective responses to specific sexual touching while sleeping incidents varied by both relationship type and sexual precedence. This research provides important avenues for education and prevention efforts, particularly in light of the discordance between perceptions of legality and acceptability and current conceptualizations of consent and legal statutes.

In this study, we examined five different intimacy needs (i.e., emotional, social, sexual, intellectual, and recreational) across several types of modern-day romantic relationships (i.e., committed, friends with benefits, one-night-stands, and polyamorous) among undergraduates ( N = 240). Overall, individuals rated emotional needs as most important and social needs as least important to a fulfilling partnership. Additionally, they expected committed partners to meet 81% of their total intimacy needs but other types of partners to meet far fewer (i.e., one-night stands = 20%, friends with benefits = 35%, polyamorous = 50%). Men and women rated intimacy needs similarly across most relationship types; however, attachment and attachment x gender emerged as significant predictors of intimacy needs. Specifically, men who were anxiously attached had fewer sexual need expectations across most relationship types, while anxiously attached women had more sexual need expectations, but only in polyamorous relationships. Meanwhile, within committed relationships, men and women who were more avoidantly attached had fewer need expectations across all categories of intimacy. Combined, these results suggest that young adult men and women have similar expectations regarding intimate exchanges, but gender and attachment orientation influence variations in these expectations.

Background: Sleep deprivation significantly impacts millions of hospitalized patients and is a critical factor in their recovery process. One major contributor to sleep disturbances is early morning blood draws. Objective: This study investigated the effect of delaying early morning blood draws by 2 h on both sleep quality and quantity. Methods: In this quasi‐experimental study, we recruited adult medical patients admitted to two similar acute medical units. Patients in one unit were assigned to have their routing morning blood draws at the usual time of 4:00 a.m., while those in the other unit had their blood draws delayed until 6:00 a.m. Primary outcomes of sleep quality and quantity were evaluated using two primary measures: the Richards–Campbell Sleep Questionnaire (RCSQ) and self‐reported sleep duration. Results: A total of 128 patients were included (64 in the 4:00 a.m. group and 64 in the 6:00 a.m. group). The timing of blood draws was significantly associated with sleep quality, with a higher mean sleep quality score in the 6:00 a.m. group of 63.7 (standard deviation [SD] = 21.8) compared with a mean of 53.2 (SD = 22.1) ( p = .006) in the 4:00 a.m. group. Additionally, the 6:00 a.m. group averaged 7.0 h of sleep (SD = 2.6), while the 4:00 a.m. group averaged 5.9 h (SD = 2.5) ( p = 0.02). Conclusions and Relevance: This study found that among hospitalized adult patients, later morning blood draw times were associated with better sleep quality and longer sleep duration compared with earlier morning blood draw times.

Background: Sexting is now widely acknowledged as a common sexual behavior among adolescents and young adults. However, the occurrence of abusive interactions, such as non-consensual sexting, warrants attention. Prevalence rates of non-consensual sexting vary between countries, influenced by gender and age. The present study examined the relationship between three facets of callous-unemotional (CU) traits (i.e., callousness, uncaring, and unemotional) and the sharing of non-consensual sexts across different relationship contexts (i.e., acquaintances, strangers, or partners). Method: Data were drawn from a cross-countries project encompassing 11 countries: Belgium, China, Czech Republic, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, Poland, Russia, Turkey, Uganda, and the USA. The sample comprised 6093 young adults (3682 girls; 2401 boys), aged 13 to 30 (M=20.35; SD=3.63). Results: Results from a logistic mixed-model indicate that CU traits predict non-consensual sexting, with high callousness and uncaring, and low unemotional traits associated with non-consensual sexting involving partners and strangers. Younger individuals and women were more likely to engage in all forms of non-consensual sexting compared to older individuals and men. Conclusions: It is important to promote sexual education programs to increase emotional self-awareness and challenge gender stereotypes in order to reduce adverse outcomes associated with sexting.

When a person chooses to interact with their phone instead of their partner (e.g., technoference, phubbing), it may diminish interactional quality, relationship satisfaction, and well‐being. However, much of the research on technology use in relationships has utilized self‐reports. We extend prior work by objectively measuring smartphone use in a sample of 247 adult participants (75% women; mean age = 30.87 years) to better understand the extent of use around one’s partner and the connection between this use and relational and personal well‐being. Participants completed an online baseline survey and 8 days of phone tracking and nightly time diaries. On average, participants used their smartphone during 27% of their time around their partner; 86% used their phone every day at least some around their partner. Linear regression modeling revealed that phone use around partner (not total daily phone use) predicted lower relationship satisfaction and coparenting quality, although effects were only significant for women. We also found that phone habits in general (i.e., both phone use around partner and total phone use) predicted greater depression and lower life satisfaction, with effects trending toward being stronger for women. Overall, our results suggest that one’s own phone use is connected—especially for women—to one’s own relational and personal well‐being. Our objective phone use and daily diary methods offer one potential model for studying the nuances of technoference and its effects on relational and personal well‐being. Future research should continue to explore both objective and subjective measures of device use within couples and families.

Calcium channel blocker (CCB) toxicity presents a significant mortality risk, highlighting the need for effective treatment strategies such as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). This study analyzes Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO) registry data to determine the mortality rate in adults treated with ECMO for CCB toxicity and identifies clinical predictors of mortality. A retrospective analysis of the ELSO registry from January 2016 to April 2023 was conducted, focusing on adults diagnosed with CCB toxicity (ICD-10 T46.1) who received ECMO. Data collected included patient demographics, ECMO details (mode, duration, type), pre-ECMO clinical indicators (pH, lactate levels, cardiac arrest incidence), and in-hospital mortality. The analysis employed descriptive statistics to profile the patient population, with independent t-tests and chi-square tests comparing survivors to nonsurvivors. Logistic regression identified mortality predictors, integrating multiple imputations to remedy missing data, thus ensuring the analysis’s integrity. The mortality rate for ECMO-treated CCB toxicity was 40.6%. Severe acidosis and the need for pre-ECMO renal replacement therapy were identified as key predictors of mortality. Further research is needed to determine if early ECMO initiation before a significant pH drop improves outcomes. Export