Date Approved

2015

Degree Type

Open Access Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department or School

Psychology

Committee Member

Tamara Loverich

Committee Member

James Todd

Committee Member

Natalie Dove

Committee Member

Ian Lambie

Abstract

In order to identify important predictors of high-risk and aggressive sexual behavior, this study examined the relationships between problematic sexual behavior, aberrant sexual experiences, family environment, parental monitoring, delinquency, and peer relatedness. Participants were 344 college students who completed the Comprehensive Sexual Experience Survey (CSES), an online questionnaire. High-risk behaviors, including possible victimization, were predicted by aberrant sexual experiences, family environment, delinquency, and parental monitoring. Regression analyses indicated that aggressive sexual behavior was associated with aberrant sexual experiences and delinquency. Examination of data across genders indicated significant differences between them, including men’s earlier initiation of masturbation and pornography use, higher rates of exhibitionism and fetishistic arousal, and a significantly stronger relationship between aberrant sexual experiences and aggressive sexual behavior. Aberrant sexual experience, including early knowledge and initiation of sexual behavior, emerged as the prevailing predictive factor across genders for high risk sexual behavior. Results also included useful findings regarding the initiation of normative sexual behaviors, paraphilic behavior, pornography use, sexual pleasure, and the functions of sexual behavior. Findings provide foundational information highlighting normative sexual development in a college population, the role of aggression in sexual behavior, and key gender differences in predictive models of problematic sexual behavior

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