Women with a history of sexual victimization often have higher rates of alcohol consumption and sexual risk-taking than women with no history of sexual victimization. One explanation proposed for these associations is the self-medication hypothesis which says that women with sexual victimization histories engage in drinking and risky sexual behavior to cope with distress or to increase positive affect. Although popular wisdom and research studies link alcohol and sexual risk-taking, sexual assault victims often experience difficulty with sexual intimacy. Specific motives to consume alcohol in order to cope with or further enhance sexual behaviors have not been examined. Further, it is not known how a history of sexual assault would impact sex-related drinking motives and whether these motives would mediate the association between sexual assault history and both alcohol consumption and risky sexual behavior. We are currently in the process of recruiting undergraduate women through the University of Washington Psychology Department’s Online Subject Participation Pool. Women are asked to complete a forty-five minute online survey about their drinking patterns, history of sexual experiences and sexual assault, and endorsements of sex-related drinking motives. Data collection will be complete at the end of winter quarter, after which we will conduct mediation analyses using bootstrapping to test our hypotheses that sex-related drinking motives will mediate the relationship between a history of sexual victimization and both alcohol consumption and sexual risk-taking. We expect that these motives will partially mediate the relationships between a history of sexual victimization and both alcohol consumption and sexual risk-taking. Results will help inform effective interventions tailored toward survivors of sexual assault.

Women in the US are at risk for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV/AIDS when they engage in sexual risk behaviors (SRB), especially failure to use a condom during sexual intercourse. Women face unique pressures when the decision whether or not to have protected sex is made, and deal with these pressures using a variety of coping strategies. This ongoing study is designed to investigate the hypothesis that women who use coping strategies based on avoidance (e.g., escaping, forgetting, ignoring stressors) in their everyday lives are more likely to have sex without a condom. The study also examines the hypothesis that women who generally use coping strategies based on problem solving (e.g., confronting, planning for, and working to resolve stressors) are less likely to have sex without a condom. We recruited women from the University of Washington Psychology Department’s Online Subjects Pool. Data have been collected from 327 women during fall 2013 and winter 2014 quarters. Participants completed an online survey including a measure of coping strategies (i.e., Coping Strategy Indicator), read a hypothetical sexual scenario, and responded to questions about their intentions to engage in unprotected sex. Data were analyzed using linear regressions and we predicted a relationship between coping strategies and intention to use a condom. We predicted that those who reported using more avoidance coping strategies would be more likely to have unprotected sex, and those who reported using more problem solving coping strategies would be less likely to have unprotected sex. If a relationship between coping strategy and failure to use a condom is established, then interventions focused on teaching new coping strategies could be implemented to help decrease sexual risk behaviors and increase women’s sexual health.

This study tests environmental field samples for markers of chemical contamination to show how pollution has affected our environment. EPA regulatory methods for inorganics, volatiles, and semi-volatiles were performed on environmental field samples in order to designate contamination. Methods include several stages of analysis. Inorganic methods were used to monitor sites of storm water runoff to ensure no pollutants are leaking into the environment. These include conductivity, turbidity, and total suspended solids analyses. Volatile methods were performed to ensure no gasoline leaked from various underground gas storage tanks. Finally, semi-volatile procedures were conducted to ensure no oil contamination has affected the environment from oil spills or leaking oil on pavements. Results were positive for chemical compounds that leaked into the environment and therefore caused contamination; including BTEX, a common compound found in gasoline, 8270, common compounds found in oil spills, and turbidity. Based on these results, sites have either been shut-down or marked for clean-up by the EPA. These projects can vary from ecological restoration to satisfying regulations for the clean-up of abandoned military installations. For instance, a military site may leave behind an unknown drum of waste and therefore needs it tested for compounds before disposal. The purpose of this research was to gain insight on the methods used for these types of environmental clean-ups. Further investigation of this topic can include how the implications of CO2 emissions are affecting the ozone and how nitrates leaking into the environment are affecting native fish populations.