%0 Journal Article %J Addict Behav %D 2014 %T Alcohol intoxication and condom use self-efficacy effects on women's condom use intentions. %A Davis, Kelly Cue %A Masters, N Tatiana %A Eakins, Danielle %A Danube, Cinnamon L %A George, William H %A Norris, Jeanette %A Heiman, Julia R %K Adult %K Alcoholic Intoxication %K Central Nervous System Depressants %K Condoms %K Decision Making %K Ethanol %K Female %K Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice %K Humans %K Intention %K Safe Sex %K Self Efficacy %K Women %K Young Adult %X

Although research has consistently demonstrated that condom use self-efficacy significantly predicts condom use, there has been little investigation of whether acute alcohol intoxication moderates this relationship. Because alcohol intoxication is often associated with increased sexual risk taking, further examination of such moderating effects is warranted. Using a community sample of young heterosexual women (n=436) with a history of heavy episodic drinking, this alcohol administration experiment examined the effects of intoxication and condom use self-efficacy on women's condom negotiation and future condom use intentions. After a questionnaire session, alcohol condition (control, .10% target peak BAL) was experimentally manipulated between subjects. Participants then read and responded to a hypothetical risky sexual decision-making scenario. SEM analyses revealed that alcohol intoxication directly decreased women's intentions to use condoms in the future. Women with greater condom use self-efficacy had stronger intentions to engage in condom negotiation; however, this effect was moderated by intoxication. Specifically, the association between condom use self-efficacy and condom negotiation intentions was stronger for intoxicated women than for sober women. These novel findings regarding the synergistic effects of alcohol intoxication and condom use self-efficacy support continued prevention efforts aimed at strengthening women's condom use self-efficacy, which may reduce even those sexual risk decisions made during states of intoxication.

%B Addict Behav %V 39 %P 153-8 %8 2014 Jan %G eng %N 1 %R 10.1016/j.addbeh.2013.09.019 %0 Journal Article %J J Poverty %D 2014 %T Jezebel at the welfare office: How racialized stereotypes of poor women's reproductive decisions and relationships shape policy implementation. %A Masters, N Tatiana %A Lindhorst, Taryn P %A Meyers, Marcia K %X

Current welfare scholarship lacks an analysis of how caseworkers discuss sexuality-related issues with clients. Seventy-two of 232 transcribed welfare interviews in three states included discussion of reproductive decisions and relationships. Overall, caseworkers' language reflected negative myths regarding African American women's sexuality and motherhood. By virtue of their status as welfare recipients, regardless of their individual races, clients were placed into racialized myths through workers' talk. This analysis demonstrates that though not present in every welfare interview and often veiled in bureaucratic language, negative ideas about poor women's sexuality persist in welfare policy and are deeply embedded in its day-to-day implementation.

%B J Poverty %V 18 %P 109-129 %8 2014 Jan 1 %G eng %N 2 %R 10.1080/10875549.2013.833159 %0 Journal Article %J Arch Sex Behav %D 2014 %T Sexual victimization, alcohol intoxication, sexual-emotional responding, and sexual risk in heavy episodic drinking women. %A George, William H %A Davis, Kelly Cue %A Masters, N Tatiana %A Jacques-Tiura, Angela J %A Heiman, Julia R %A Norris, Jeanette %A Gilmore, Amanda K %A Nguyen, Hong V %A Kajumulo, Kelly F %A Otto, Jacqueline M %A Andrasik, Michele P %K Adult %K Alcoholic Intoxication %K Child %K Child Abuse, Sexual %K Crime Victims %K Ethanol %K Female %K HIV Infections %K Humans %K Libido %K Rape %K Risk %K Risk-Taking %K Sexual Behavior %K Unsafe Sex %K Young Adult %X

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.

%B Arch Sex Behav %V 43 %P 645-58 %8 2014 May %G eng %N 4 %R 10.1007/s10508-013-0143-8 %0 Journal Article %J J Sex Res %D 2014 %T Women's unprotected sex intentions: roles of sexual victimization, intoxication, and partner perception. %A Masters, N Tatiana %A George, William H %A Davis, Kelly Cue %A Norris, Jeanette %A Heiman, Julia R %A Jacques-Tiura, Angela J %A Gilmore, Amanda K %A Nguyen, Hong V %A Kajumulo, Kelly F %A Otto, Jacqueline M %A Stappenbeck, Cynthia A %K Adult %K Adult Survivors of Child Abuse %K Alcoholic Intoxication %K Child %K Female %K Humans %K Intention %K Sex Offenses %K Social Perception %K Unsafe Sex %K Young Adult %X

Sexually victimized women may make sexual decisions differently than nonvictimized women. This study used an eroticized scenario and laboratory alcohol administration to investigate the roles of victimization history, intoxication, and relationship context in women's perceptions of a male partner and their subsequent intentions for unprotected sex. A community sample of 436 women completed childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and adolescent/adult sexual assault (ASA) measures. After random assignment to an alcohol or control condition, participants read and projected themselves into a sexual scenario that depicted the male partner as having high or low potential for a lasting relationship. Participants rated their perceptions of his intoxication, sexually transmitted infection (STI) risk level, and anticipated reactions to insistence on condom use. They then indicated their likelihood of allowing the partner to decide how far to go sexually (abdication) and of engaging in unprotected sex. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses revealed that intoxication predicted greater unprotected sex likelihood indirectly via abdication. CSA and ASA predicted partner perceptions, which in turn predicted unprotected sex likelihood. These findings indicate that, compared to their nonvictimized counterparts, sexually victimized women may respond differently in sexual encounters partly as a function of their perceptions of partners' STI risk and anticipated reactions to condom insistence.

%B J Sex Res %V 51 %P 586-98 %8 2014 %G eng %N 5 %R 10.1080/00224499.2012.763086 %0 Journal Article %J J Adolesc %D 2013 %T Multidimensional characterization of sexual minority adolescents' sexual safety strategies. %A Masters, N Tatiana %A Beadnell, Blair %A Morrison, Diane M %A Hoppe, Marilyn J %A Wells, Elizabeth A %K Adolescent %K Bisexuality %K Female %K Homosexuality, Female %K Homosexuality, Male %K Humans %K Male %K Minority Groups %K Safe Sex %K Sexual Behavior %K Sexually Transmitted Diseases %K Surveys and Questionnaires %K Transgender Persons %X

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.

%B J Adolesc %V 36 %P 953-61 %8 2013 Oct %G eng %N 5 %R 10.1016/j.adolescence.2013.07.008 %0 Journal Article %J J Sex Res %D 2013 %T Sexual scripts among young heterosexually active men and women: continuity and change. %A Masters, N Tatiana %A Casey, Erin %A Wells, Elizabeth A %A Morrison, Diane M %K Adolescent %K Adult %K Female %K Heterosexuality %K Humans %K Interpersonal Relations %K Male %K Sexual Behavior %K Young Adult %X

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.

%B J Sex Res %V 50 %P 409-20 %8 2013 %G eng %N 5 %R 10.1080/00224499.2012.661102