RT Article
T1 Associations Among Emotion Regulation, COVID Stress, Alcohol Use, and Intimate Partner Aggression Among College Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic
JF Journal of family violence
VO 39
IS 8
SP 1545
OP 1556
A1 Hammett, Julia F.
A2 Ross, Brennah V.
A2 Peddle, Anna
A2 Jaffe, Anna E.
A2 Duckworth, Jennifer C.
A2 Blayney, Jessica A.
A2 Stappenbeck, Cynthia A.
LA English
YR 2024
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1908361018
AB PurposeIntimate partner aggression (IPA) increased after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Following the Vulnerability-Stress-Adaptation (VSA) model, the current study examined associations among emotion regulation (ER) difficulties (an enduring vulnerability), COVID stress (a current stressor), alcohol use (a maladaptive coping strategy), and physical, psychological, and cyber IPA perpetration during the first eight months of the pandemic.MethodParticipants were 215 college students in current relationships from three universities across the US.ResultsResults of generalized linear models controlling for pre-COVID IPA perpetration showed a main effect of ER difficulties on physical IPA perpetration (b = 0.56, p < .001), an ER difficulties X COVID stress X alcohol use interaction on psychological IPA perpetration (b = 0.01, p = .03), and an ER difficulties X COVID stress interaction on cyber IPA perpetration (b = − 0.02, p = .02). Specifically, when ER difficulties and alcohol use were low, individuals with high levels of COVID stress were at higher risk of perpetrating psychological IPA relative to individuals with low levels of COVID stress. However, the association between COVID stress and psychological IPA perpetration was not statistically significant when ER difficulties and alcohol use were high. Similarly, when ER difficulties were low, individuals with high levels of COVID stress were at higher risk for perpetrating cyber IPA relative to individuals with low levels of COVID stress. However, when ER difficulties were high, the association between COVID stress and cyber IPA perpetration was not statistically significant.ConclusionsThe current findings tentatively implicate COVID stress as a critical correlate of IPA perpetration and suggest that individuals who have fewer existing vulnerabilities (i.e., ER difficulties) and maladaptive processes (i.e., alcohol use) should not be overlooked.
K1 Intimate partner aggression
K1 Alcohol use
K1 COVID stress
K1 Emotion regulation
DO 10.1007/s10896-023-00601-y