RIA: Principal Investigator - Maria Testa, PhD

Principal Investigator

Social Psychology

Primary Research Areas

Sexual assault; partner violence; women’s sexual behavior; college drinking.

Current Projects

Alcohol and Couples Communication Study (funded by NIAAA). Investigation of how acute alcohol consumption influences the communication behaviors of men and women in a married or cohabiting relationship (in collaboration with Kenneth E. Leonard, PhD, and Brian M. Quigley, PhD).

Men’s Alcohol Use and Perpetration of Sexual Aggression (funded by NIAAA). Investigation of the impact of men's alcohol consumption on the perpetration of sexual aggression among young college students (in collaboration with Kenneth E. Leonard, PhD, and Kathleen A. Parks, PhD).

Study of Health and Adult Relationship Experiences (funded by NIAAA). Examination of personality, health behaviors (such as smoking and drinking), attention and memory skills, and intimacy and conflict in relationships. (in collaboration with Principal Investigator Kenneth E. Leonard, PhD, Brian M. Quigley, PhD, and Rebecca J. Houston, PhD).

Video Vignettes: Measuring Risk Perception in Alcohol Related Sexual Assaults (funded by NIAAA). Development of a new computerized video vignette measure to assess women’s ability to perceive risks for sexual assault during heterosexual drinking situations (in collaboration with Principal Investigator Kathleen A. Parks, PhD, and Co-investigators Ronda L. Dearing, PhD, and Amy Hequembourg, PhD).

On-going Research

Alcohol, HIV Risk Behaviors, and Sexual Victimization (funded by NIAAA and the NIH Director's Office of Research on Women's Health). Examining interrelationships among alcohol use, HIV sexual risk behaviors, and sexual victimization. The sample consisted of 1014 women, 18-30 years old, selected through random digit dialing of households in the Buffalo metropolitan area.

Changes in Women’s HIV Risk Following Alcohol Treatment (funded by NIAAA). Evaluation of the extent to which women’s alcohol use and other variables are related to HIV risk-related behavior before and after entry into substance abuse treatment (in collaboration with Principal Investigator Kurt H. Dermen, 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 Jennifer Livingston, PhD and Kurt H. Dermen, PhD).

Representative and Recent Publications

Testa, M., Hoffman, J. H., & Livingston, J. A. (2011). Intergenerational transmission of sexual assault vulnerability as mediated via parenting. Child Abuse and Neglect, 35, 363-371.

Testa, M., Hoffman, J. H., Livingston, J. A., & Turrisi, R. (2010). Preventing college women’s sexual victimization through parent-based intervention: A randomized controlled trial. Prevention Science, 11, 308-318. DOI: 10.1007/s11121-010-0168-3

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. Abstract

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

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.

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., 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.

Testa, M., VanZile-Tamsen, C., Livingston, J. A., & Buddie, A. (2006). The role of women's alcohol consumption in managing sexual intimacy and sexual safety motives. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 67, 665-674.

Testa, M., VanZile-Tamsen, C., & Livingston, J. A. (2005). Childhood sexual abuse, relationship satisfaction, and sexual risk taking in a community sample of women. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 73, 1116-1124.

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., Livingston, J. A., & Leonard, K. E. (2003). Women’s substance use and experiences of intimate partner violence: A longitudinal investigation. Addictive Behaviors, 28, 1649-1664.

Testa, M., Livingston, J. A., VanZile-Tamsen, C., & Frone, M. R. (2003). The role of women’s substance use in vulnerability to forcible and incapacitated rape. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 64, 756-764.

Testa, M., Quigley, B. M., & Leonard, K. E. (2003). Does alcohol make a difference? Within-participants comparison of incidents of partner violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 18, 735-743.