# Proximal Effects of Alcohol on Same-Sex Intimate Partner Violence

> **NIH NIH R01** · GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $151,659

## Abstract

Research indicates that stress and its concomitant negative mental health and physical health outcomes are
direct results of pandemic episodes1. Stress related to COVID-19 is no exception2 3 4. We argue that this stress –
which we term COVID-19 stress – is temporally and proximally related to increases in HED and IPV
perpetration in sexual and gender minority (SGM) couples. This focus on SGM couples is purposeful. Because
the COVID-19 pandemic poses greater economic, social, and personal challenges for SGM people 5, they must
cope with both COVID-19 stress and well-established minority stressors 6. Thus, they are more likely to engage
in maladaptive coping behaviors, including HED and IPV, relative to cisgender, heterosexual people.
There are myriad weaknesses in the rigor of research on HED and/or IPV in SGM couples, which include: (1)
few studies which distinguish between sex assigned at birth, sexual orientation, and gender identity; (2)
inadequate sample sizes of gender minorities; (3) poor operational definitions, and thus weak measurement, of
HED and IPV; and (4) dependence on cross-sectional study designs which cannot model the temporal relation
between relevant risk factors and HED or IPV perpetration. Our team is uniquely positioned to address these
weaknesses via two aims: (1) evaluate the impact of COVID-19 stress and SGM stress on HED and IPV
perpetration, and (2) evaluate a brief, low-resource intervention to mitigate the effects of these stressors.
These aims will be achieved by using a longitudinal measurement burst daily diary design that includes four 14-
day bursts with three 14-day intervals between each burst. During Intervals #2 and #3, participants will be
randomly assigned to receive (1) two daily CBT-based text messages that focuses on emotion regulation,
distress tolerance skills, and/or alcohol reduction strategies, (2) two daily text messages that serve as an
attention control, or (3) no text messages. Our sample of 240 couples will be comprised of 120 couples in which
both partners identify as cisgender and a sexual minority and 120 couples in which at least one partner
identifies as a gender minority, meaning one’s gender identity is non-congruent with the sex they were
assigned at birth. Effects will be examined within an Actor-Partner Interdependence Modeling framework,
which will allow for valid analysis of both partners’ intersecting identities as well as risk and resilience factors
at the individual- and couple-level.
Expansion of the parent grant via the proposed urgent competitive revision has high potential to inform how
pandemic stress contributes to etiological models of alcohol-related IPV perpetration in SGM couples and
inform a culturally-sensitive, low burden, and easy to disseminate intervention to mitigate these effects critical
during a pandemic when access to care is limited. As such, this project has high potential to impact public
health, particularly in vulnerable SGM communities during a pandemic...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10201337
- **Project number:** 3R01AA025995-03S1
- **Recipient organization:** GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Dominic Parrott
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $151,659
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2018-05-01 → 2023-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10201337

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10201337, Proximal Effects of Alcohol on Same-Sex Intimate Partner Violence (3R01AA025995-03S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10201337. Licensed CC0.

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