Browsing by Author "Davis, Heather A."

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    Alcohol use as a risk factor for bidirectional intimate partner violence among college students: Results from a daily diary study
    Shaw, Thomas J. (Virginia Tech, 2024-05-02)
    Background. Decades of research have found alcohol and negative affect (NA) are global and proximal risk factors for psychological and physical intimate partner violence (IPV), especially among college students. Despite recognition as the most common form of IPV, bidirectional psychological and physical IPV (i.e., instances where both partners are perpetrating and experiencing victimization) remains an understudied topic. Clarifying alcohol and NA’s influences on bidirectional IPV may inform the development of intervention programs. We hypothesized that the association between alcohol use (number of daily drinks and Heavy Episodic Drinking [HED]) and IPV would vary as a function of NA. Methods. Dating college students (N = 232; 67.7% women; 83.89% white) who drink alcohol completed daily surveys for 60 consecutive days assessing daily alcohol use, NA, and IPV perpetration and victimization. Generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) tested the within- and between-person associations and interactions between alcohol use, NA, and psychological and physical unidirectional and bidirectional IPV. Results. A significant interaction between NA and the number of drinks before unidirectional psychological IPV perpetration emerged, such that the alcohol-IPV association was weaker at lower levels of NA. A main effect of NA emerged as a proximal antecedent of unidirectional psychological victimization and bidirectional psychological IPV. Main effects of within- and between-person alcohol use were insignificant across other models. Conclusion. On days of low NA, college students were less likely to perpetrate psychological IPV after drinking. Future research should clarify whether positive affect weakens the alcohol-IPV association and assess additional moderators of this link.
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    Comorbid eating, depressive, and anxiety psychopathology is associated with elevated shame in women with food insecurity
    Davis, Heather A.; Kells, Meredith; Todorov, Sophia; Kosmas, Jacqueline; Wildes, Jennifer E. (Wiley, 2023-02)
    ObjectiveTo compare participants with current food insecurity and different psychopathology profiles on shame, guilt, anxiety, and depression using a cross-sectional design. MethodWomen with current food insecurity (n = 99; 54% White) were placed into four groups based on their endorsement of symptoms of psychopathology: eating disorder with depression/anxiety comorbidity (ED-C group; n = 17), depression/anxiety only (Depression/anxiety group; n = 34), eating disorder only (ED group; n = 12), and No-diagnosis group (n = 36). Groups were compared on self-report measures of shame, guilt, depression, and anxiety using analysis of covariance. ResultsThe presence of an eating disorder was associated with quadruple the risk of screening positive for comorbid depression and anxiety. The ED-C group reported elevated shame relative to the ED and No-diagnosis groups. The ED-C group reported the highest levels of anxiety, followed by the Depression/anxiety group, and the ED and No-diagnosis groups. DiscussionThe presence of an eating disorder with comorbidity among women with food insecurity is associated with heightened shame. Given shame's status as a transdiagnostic predictor of psychopathology, it may serve as a putative mechanism underlying the relationship between food insecurity and eating disorder comorbidity. Public Significance StatementWomen with food insecurity and an ED were more likely to also screen positive for depression and/or anxiety than women with food insecurity and no ED. Overlap between ED, depression, and anxiety was associated with elevated shame, a harmful, maladaptive emotion with negative psychosocial consequences.
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    Examining the role of urgency in predicting binge size in bulimia nervosa
    Davis, Heather A.; Smith, Gregory T. (Frontiers, 2023-05-31)
    Greater binge size within bulimia nervosa is associated with elevated distress and impairment. Theoretical models posit that emotion dysregulation predicts binge eating, but little research has investigated the potential for dispositional traits that reflect difficulty in emotion regulation to predict binge size among women with bulimia nervosa. Research supports that negative urgency, the tendency to act rashly when feeling distressed, is associated with binge eating behavior among individuals with bulimia nervosa. Relatively fewer studies have explored associations between binge eating and positive urgency, the tendency to act rashly when feeling extreme positive affect. The urgency traits may predict greater binge size within bulimia nervosa. The current study sought to examine negative urgency and positive urgency as predictors of test meal intake in a sample of 50 women, n = 21 with bulimia nervosa and n = 29 healthy controls. Dispositional levels of positive urgency, negative urgency, positive affect, and negative affect were measured prior to a laboratory binge eating paradigm. Participants in the bulimia nervosa group scored higher on negative urgency, positive urgency, and negative affect than participants in the control group. Across participants, lower levels of negative affect were associated with greater test meal intake. Elevated levels of positive urgency predicted significantly greater test meal intake, but only for participants with bulimia nervosa. No other dispositional traits predicted test meal intake when the interaction of positive urgency and group was included in the model. Findings suggest positive urgency is an underappreciated, but potentially important, risk factor for greater binge size in bulimia nervosa.