Alicia M. Selvey-Bouyack

Childhood emotional abuse is related to mental health disorders, yet little is known about mechanisms underlying this association. We examined daily stressors as mediators of this link. Longitudinal data from college students were collected across two studies (ns = 306 and 362). Both samples were primarily White, heterosexual, and women. In Study 1, participants completed a measure of current stressors and psychological adjustment two weeks after completing a measure of childhood trauma. In Study 2, participants completed a baseline measure of childhood trauma, 14 days of stressor exposure surveys, and then a distress measure. Greater childhood emotional abuse was related to experiencing more total and interpersonal stressors, and stressors were related to poorer mental health. Indirect effects of both stressors were significant. Early adversity may bring about more stressors in adulthood, which might explain why survivors of childhood emotional abuse report poorer mental health as adults.

Background: Research on the relation between sexual assault (SA) and romantic functioning has yielded inconsistent results. The goals of the current studies were to examine this association while addressing limitations of past research; assessing revictimization, multiple victimization, and assault timing; and examining whether this association was moderated by neuroticism, attachment orientations, or perceived partner responsiveness. Design and Methods: College students (Study 1; N = 437) and community members (Study 2; N = 566) completed measures assessing SA, romantic functioning, attachment, neuroticism, and partner responsiveness. Study 2 used a mixed-methods approach. Data were collected via online surveys in psychology courses (Study 1) and on Prolific (Study 2). Results: In Study 1, SA was not associated with romantic functioning and this association was not moderated by attachment or neuroticism. In Study 2, SA survivors reported significantly poorer relationship quality and less partner trust, but not less sexual satisfaction. However, significant effects were small. Partner responsiveness did not moderate these associations, and revictimization, multiple victimizations, and assault recency were not related to poorer functioning. In qualitative data, the most common response was that the SA had not affected participants’ relationships. Conclusions: Relationships may be one area in which SA survivors demonstrate resilience.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of brief, self-guided web-based interventions for decreasing distress among U.S. college students during the pandemic. Three randomized controlled trials were conducted during the spring (Study 1), summer (Study 2), and fall (Study 3) 2020 terms, and were combined into one sample to increase power (N = 775). We evaluated a web-based intervention that focused on increasing present control that had been shown to be effective in several studies prior to the pandemic (e.g., Nguyen-Feng et al., 2017). This intervention was compared to an active comparison condition (psychoeducation about and reminders to engage in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-recommended stress management techniques) in Study 1, to a waitlist comparison in Study 2, and to both comparison conditions in Study 3. Participants were undergraduate psychology students at two campuses of a midwestern state university system. Outcomes-perceived stress (primary); depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms (secondary); and boredom (tertiary)-were assessed at pretest and posttest (and 3-week follow-up in Study 3). Differences across conditions were significant for perceived stress, stress symptoms, and boredom (but not depression or anxiety). Contrary to hypotheses, the Present Control and CDC stress management interventions were equally effective. Both were more effective than no intervention (between-group ds = -0.27 and -0.42). Both interventions were more effective for students with higher baseline stress levels. Completion and adherence rates were high for both conditions. Results suggest that very brief, self-guided stress management interventions can be effective in reducing stress among college students. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Survivors of childhood maltreatment (CM) are at increased risk of revictimization, including intimate partner violence (IPV). While research has established some mediators of this link, less is known about the process of stay-leave decision-making among CM survivors in abusive partnerships and how these decision-making processes may inform the CM-IPV link. Certain populations of revictimized women are understudied, such as low-income African American women, despite the fact that they experience higher rates of CM and IPV than their White counterparts. The present study is an investigation of stay-leave decision-making among a low-income sample of 121 African American women with recent IPV exposure. Severity of CM, by both type of maltreatment and cumulative maltreatment, was examined as related to salience of distinct stay-leave decision-making factors. Stay-leave decision-making factors were then tested as mediators of the relation between CM and severity of IPV. Using multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA), experience of physical neglect was found to be especially associated with more consideration of poor social support, while other specific forms of CM were not differently associated with individual stay-leave decision-making factors. Using bootstrapping analyses, associations were found between greater severity of CM and three specific stay-leave factors: concerns related to social embarrassment, poor social support, and financial problems. Further, social embarrassment emerged as the most salient mediator of the relations between CM and three forms of IPV (i.e., physical abuse, nonphysical abuse, and controlling behaviors). The implications of these findings for clinical intervention and future research for this high-risk population are discussed.