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Research
30-Year Sexual Offender Recidivism Study
All Gender Health Online
Compulsive Sexual Behavior Research
Multi-state Recidivism Study
Roots of Sexual Abuse
Sexual Compulsivity and HIV Risk
Somali Women's Initiative for Sexual Health Rebecca Swinburne Romine, PhD, is the principal investigator for this retrospective study of participants in Sexual Offender treatment at the Program in Human Sexuality. For over thirty years, PHS has provided treatment to over 700 individuals. The size of this sample allows for descriptive analysis not generally possible for community-based treatment programs. This study examined the characteristics of the individuals seen at this program and explored survival rates. Current analysis is focused on predicting re-offense for non-contact offenders. Michael Miner, PhD, and S. Margretta Dwyer, MA, are also working on this project. This study is funded by the National Institutes of Health and consists of two parts. The first part investigated the characteristics and sexual behavior of male partners of transgender women and men. The second part, launched in January of 2012, incorporates findings from part one in the evaluation of an online intervention to prevent the spread of HIV and promote the sexual health of transgender people as well as the population at large. Walter Bockting, PhD, is the principal investigator; the project researchers include Bean Robinson, PhD, Jamie Feldman, MD, PhD, Michael Miner, PhD, Eli Coleman, PhD, Chris Hoefer (project coordinator), Cesar Gonzalez, PhD, Rebecca Swinburne Romine, PhD, Stephanie Hengst, Melinda Marsolek, Keith Horvath, PhD (epidemiology), and David Valentine, PhD (anthropology). In September 2009, this study received a grant supplement to develop a virtual coach to personalize prevention messages for participants during the online intervention. This supplemental funding also enhances the research team by enabling the addition of Aaron Doering, PhD, and Charles Miller, PhD (curriculum and instruction). The virtual coach is now being evaluated as part of the main trial of AGHO, which will run through early 2013. Eli Coleman, PhD, is the principal investigator for these research projects focused on better defining, diagnosing, and treating compulsive sexual behavior. Two of these studies are designed to examine the evidence for validity and reliability for the Compulsive Sexual Behavior Inventory (CSBI). Compulsive Sexual Behavior Surveys The The goal of this research is to provide comparison groups for the groups on which we have already collected data. Previous groups have included men seen at our clinic for concerns related to compulsive sexual behavior and Hispanic men who have sex with men (MSM) involved in an online study of HIV risk. By collecting data from individuals outside of these groups, this research can help determine if online and offline data collection techniques are equivalent, and get a sense of what degree of compulsive sexual behavior is seen in the community at large. Additional researchers on this project include Michael Miner, PhD, Nancy Raymond, MD, and Rebecca Swinburne Romine, PhD. Compulsive Sexual Behavior Chart Review The goal of this project is to collect information on Compulsive Sexual Behavior Inventory (CSBI) scores among men treated for compulsive sexual behavior at the Center for Sexual Health clinic. Researchers reviewed client charts and are beginning the data analysis process to establish clinical norms for comparison with the community samples we are collecting. Additional researchers on this project include Michael Miner, PhD, Nancy Raymond, MD, and Rebecca Swinburne Romine, PhD. Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM-IV The aim of this project is to validate a structured clinical interview for the diagnosis of compulsive sexual behavior. This project involved administering the interview to individuals with and individual without compulsive sexual behavior. The researchers are currently analyzing the data they collected, with the goal of publication. Additional researchers on this project include Nancy Raymond, MD, Michael Miner, PhD, and Rebecca Swinburne Romine, PhD. Michael Miner, PhD, is a co-principal investigator of this study which is funded by the National Institute of Justice of the U.S. Department of Justice. This study is the first comprehensive investigation of risk assessment procedures and their predictive validity with samples of American sex offenders. The principal aim of this study is to examine how well the Adam Walsh Act (AWA) classification categories predict sexual offender recidivism compared with the Static-99, an actuarial risk assessment instrument. Additional study goals include using Static-99 scores to further examine the risk distribution of Tier III (high risk) offenders as defined by the AWA, determining whether other extant classification schemes accurately predict recidivism, and determining whether type of notification (e.g. aggressive, passive, Internet) is related to recidivism. Finally, extensive examination of the degree to which sex offense recidivism varies with offender age will be conducted. Study data will be collected from five states including Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Florida, and South Carolina. It is expected that this research will inform policy development and implementation and ultimately lead to improved community protection. Researchers include Michael Miner, PhD, Christine Mathiowetz, and Scott Vries. Michael Miner, PhD, is the lead investigator of this CDC-funded study. The study will apply attachment theory to identify the unique and shared risk factors for adolescents perpetrating child sexual abuse, sexual assault, and other non-sexual internalizing problems. It is a multi-method, cross-sectional study of 300 adolescent males who have sexually abused children, sexually assaulted peers or adults, and committed non-contact sexual, or have mental health issues but no history of illegal sexual behavior. Participants are recruited from agencies in both urban and rural Minnesota. Data is collected through available records, interviews, and a computer-administered questionnaire. Data collection was completed in late 2010 and the team is analyzing data and preparing a number of manuscripts for publication. The team published an important article in the Journal of Sexual Aggression which describes the roles of anti-social behavior and psychopathy traits in perpetration of child sexual abuse and sexual aggression. Additional researchers on the grant include Dianne Berg, PhD, Bean Robinson, PhD, Morgan Paldron, MA, Angie Lewis-Dmello, and Rebecca Swinburne Romine, MA Michael Miner, PhD, is the principal investigator on a grant from the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH) to study sexual compulsivity. The aim of this grant it to gather the empirical data needed to clarify the characteristics of sexual compulsivity and how it leads to increased levels of HIV sexual risk behavior. This is the first investigation to explore underlying factors drawn from the various conceptualizations of sexual compulsivity and will advance the understanding of this theoretical construct. The findings of this study will further a nuanced approach to the development of interventions and allow for targeting the Sexual compulsivity, or high levels of sexual behavior combined with a perceived lack of control, is strongly associated with unprotected sex and other HIV sexual risk behaviors. This association has been robust across populations, but particularly strong in men who have sex with men (MSM). This research project builds on previous research conducted at PHS which found that sexual compulsivity is associated with sero-discordant unprotected anal intercourse in HIV-positive MSM even after controlling for other known correlates (e.g., condom use self-efficacy, intentions to practice safer sex, etc.). However, while the association between sexual compulsivity and unsafe sex has considerable empirical support, the manner in which sexual compulsivity confers this increased risk, and therefore how to best influence such processes in order to reduce risk, is as yet, unknown. Sexual compulsivity has been conceptualized as an addictive disorder, an impulsive disorder, and as a compulsive disorder. Others have questioned the existence of sexual compulsivity as a definable disorder and attribute the increased sexual behavior to high sex drive. Common across all conceptualizations are four factors: negative affect, sexual arousal, behavioral inhibition, and cognitive control. These factors influence HIV risk by interfering with the ability to manage one's sexual impulses, which would lead to multiple sexual encounters, and through impairments in the ability to consider multiple reinforcement contingencies and to consider the long-term consequences of pleasurable behavior which interferes with condom use. This study will provide needed empirical data to clarify the characteristics of sexual compulsivity and how it leads to increased levels of HIV sexual risk behavior. A multi-method strategy will allow the research team to characterize sexual compulsivity and to provide needed empirical data to identify, and therefore help address, the underlying mechanisms that influence unsafe sexual behavior. The research team includes project coordinator Cathy Strobel and co-investigators Angus MacDonald, III, PhD (U of M Department of Psychology), Rebecca Swinburne Romine, PhD, Nancy Raymond, MD, and Erick Janssen, PhD (Kinsey Institute). This study will be the first to examine HIV-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of Somali women with the ultimate goal of meeting the critical need to reduce HIV and STD transmission among African-born Americans in Minnesota (and the U.S.) as African-born Americans have the highest HIV/AIDS rates of any ethnic group. Interviews will be conducted in either English or Somali by the project's bilingual Somali staff who will recruit participants through personal contacts as well as from Somali gathering places. The project has been funded by the University’s Program in Health Disparities Research, the University’s IDEA Multicultural Research Award, and the Minnesota Medical Foundation’s UCare Fund. The information gathered from this study will be used to secure additional funding to further study the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to HIV/STD transmission and prevention within the Somali community. Ultimately the group will translate this knowledge to develop the first HIV counseling and testing intervention for Somali women. The study researchers include Bean Robinson, PhD, principal investigator; Amira Ahmed, BA, founder and executive director at Midwest Community Development Inc.; Jennifer Connor, PhD, co-investigator; Shanda Hunt, BA, project coordinator; Fatah Ahmed, BA, interviewer and recruiter; and Meyran Omar, translator. The project’s Community Advisory Board assists and advises the research team in study development, recruitment, and data analysis and interpretation.
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