RIA: Principal Investigator - Jennifer A. Livingston, PhD

Principal Investigator

Educational Psychology

Primary Research Areas

Adolescent substance use and sexual risk behavior, effects of alcohol on women’s risk perception and response to sexual aggression, sexual assault prevention.

Current Projects

Sexual Harassment and Alcohol Use Among Adolescent Girls: A Pilot Study (funded by RIA Research Development Program). This pilot study involves conducting focus group interviews with adolescent girls ages 14 - 17 years, to explore their perceptions of cross-gendered peer sexual harassment and its relation to alcohol use and risky dating.

Adolescent alcohol use, sexual assault and STD/HIV risk (funded by NIAAA). This research will explore the factors associated with adolescent girls’ initiation of alcohol use and sexual risk behavior and will examine the timing of onset of these risk behaviors in relation to experiencing negative sex-related outcomes (in collaboration with Mentors Maria Testa, PhD and Michael Windle, PhD).

On-Going Research

Alcohol and Women’s Responses to Sexual Aggression (funded by NIAAA). Examination of the impact of alcohol on women’s ability to recognize and respond to risk of sexual aggression (in collaboration with Principal Investigator Maria Testa, PhD).

Preventing Alcohol-related STD/HIV and Assault (funded by NIAAA). Investigation of whether reducing alcohol use among young women may help prevent STD/HIV infection and sexual assault (in collaboration with Principal Investigator Maria Testa, PhD and Co-investigator Kurt H. Dermen, PhD).

Representative and Recent Publications

Livingston, J. A., Hequembourg, A. L., & Testa, M. (in press). Sexual victimization of adolescents. In R. J. R. Levesque (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Adolescence. New York: Springer.

Testa, M., Livingston, J. A., & VanZile-Tamsen, C. (2011). Advancing the study of violence against women using mixed methods: Integrating qualitative methods into a quantitative research program. Violence Against Women, 17, 236-250.

Bay-Cheng, L. Y., Livingston, J. A., & Fava, N. (2010). Adolescent girls’ assessment and management of sexual risks: Insights from focus group research. Youth & Society. [Online early release.] Retrieved Feb. 11, 2011 from http://yas.sagepub.com/content/early/2010/
10/05/0044118X10384475.abstract

Livingston, J. A., Testa, M., Hoffman, J. H., & Windle, M. (2010). Can parents prevent heavy episodic drinking by allowing teens to drink at home? Addictive Behaviors, 35, 1105-1112.

Testa, M., Hoffman, J. H., & Livingston, J. A. (2010). Alcohol and sexual risk behaviors as mediators of the sexual victimization-revictimization relationship, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 78, 249-259.

Testa, M., & Livingston, J. A., (2009). Alcohol consumption and women's vulnerability to sexual victimization: Can reducing women’s drinking prevent rape? Substance Use & Misuse, 44, 1349-1376.

Livingston, J. A., Hequembourg, A., Testa, M., & VanZile-Tamsen, C. (2007). Unique aspects of adolescent sexual victimization experiences. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 31, 331-343.

Livingston, J. A., Testa, M., & VanZile-Tamsen, C. (2007). The reciprocal relationship between sexual victimization and sexual assertiveness. Violence Against Women, 13, 298-313.

Testa, M., Livingston, J. A., & Hoffman, J. H. (2007). Does sexual victimization predict subsequent alcohol consumption? A prospective study among a community sample of women. Addictive Behaviors, 32, 2926-2939.

Testa, M., VanZile-Tamsen, C., & Livingston, J. A. (2007). Prospective prediction of women's sexual victimization by intimate and non-intimate male perpetrators. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 75, 52-60.

Livingston, J. A., Buddie, A. M., Testa, M., & VanZile-Tamsen, C. (2004). The role of sexual precedence in verbal sexual coercion. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 28, 287-297.

Testa, M., VanZile-Tamsen, C., Livingston, J. A., & Koss, M. P. (2004). Assessing women’s experiences of sexual aggression using the Sexual Experiences Survey: Evidence for validity and implications for research. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 28, 256-265.

Livingston, J. A., & Testa, M. (2000). Qualitative analysis of women’s perceived vulnerability to sexual aggression in a hypothetical dating context. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 17, 729-741.