Antonia Abbey

Antonia Abbey

Research interest(s)/area of expertise

As a social psychologist, I am broadly interested in person-environment interactions. I have a longstanding interest in women's health and preventing violence against women. Most of my recent research focuses on understanding the etiology of men’s sexual aggression, alcohol’s role in sexual assault and sexual assault measurement using experimental and survey research methods.  

I integrate theoretical models from social psychology, alcohol studies, developmental psychology, stress and coping research and criminal justice to address the following issues:

• What psychosocial factors increase men's likelihood of being sexually aggressive? What is alcohol's role in sexual aggression? How does how alcohol's "in the moment" psychological and pharmacological effects interact with personality, attitudes and past experience to increase some men’s likelihood of being sexually aggressive toward women?
• What psychosocial factors enhance and hinder women's recovery from sexual assault victimization? What is alcohol's role?
• How does intoxication influence adolescents' and young adults' sexual risk taking?
• How do people decide if someone else is sexually attracted to them? What factors affect the accuracy of these judgments?
• Women's health and health-related behavior
• Substance abuse prevention for adolescents and young adults

Teaching interests

• Undergraduate: Health Psychology (PSY 2410), Psychology of Gender (PSY 3250)
• Graduate: Health Psychology I (PSY 8300), Interdisciplinary Research Methods (PSY 7470), Social Psychological Theory and Research on Close Relationships (PSY 7645), Psychology of Women and Gender (PSY 8600)

Education

• Ph.D. in Social Psychology, Northwestern University, August 1982
• M.A. in Social Psychology, Northwestern University, June 1980
• B.A. in Psychology, University of Michigan, December 1975

Awards and grants

Awards, editorial positions and recent scientific panels

• Elected to the Wayne State University Academy of Honors, Spring 2020
• Editor, Psychology of Violence, 2018-2024
• The Bonnie R. Strickland and Jessica Henderson Daniel Distinguished Mentoring Award from the Society for the Psychology of Women Division 35 of the American Psychological Association, 2016
• Board of Governors Distinguished Faculty Fellow, Wayne State University, 2015
• Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award; Social Sciences, Education, and Business; Wayne State University, 2014
• Ad Hoc Member of National Institutes of Health Risk Prevention and Intervention for Addiction Study Section, October 2014
• External Consultant to the Department of Defense in the development of the 2014-2016 Sexual Assault Prevention Strategy, released May, 2014
• Invited Participant, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism’s Workshop “Toward Effective Interventions for Alcohol-Related Sexual, Physical, and Intimate Partner Violence: Where We Are, What is Needed, How to Get There,” September 2012
• Consulting Editor of the Year, Psychology of Violence, 2010-2011
• External Member of the Sexual Violence Prevention Portfolio Review, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sponsored by the Office of the Associate Director for Science, September, 2011

Recent funding

• Alcohol's Effects on Affective, Cognitive, and Behavioral Responses in a Virtual Reality Dating Simulation. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), September 22, 2021 - August 31, 2026
• Alcohol's Role in Sexual Assault: Development of Virtual Reality Simulation Proxy. NIAAA, July 10, 2012 - June 30, 2015
• Alcohol's Role in Etiology of Sexual Assault Perpetration in a Community Sample. NIAAA, May 20, 2007 - July 31, 2011
• Alcohol's Role in AIDS Risk Reduction for Young Adults. NIAAA, September 26, 2000 - August 31, 2005
• Prospective Analyses of Alcohol's Role in Sexual Assault. NIAAA, September 1, 1998 - August 31, 2002

News mentions

• Column: What the sexual assault charges against Sean Combs, the Alexander brothers and others reveal

Selected publications

• Koss, M.P., Anderson, R.A., Peterson, Z.D., Littleton, H., Abbey, A., Kowalski R., Thompson, M., Canan, S. White, J., McCauley, H., Orchowski, L., Fedina, L., Lopez, E., & Allen, C. (2024). The Revised Sexual Experiences Survey Victimization Version (SES-V): Conceptualization, modifications, items, and scoring. Journal of Sex Research, 61(6), 839-867. doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2024.235840
• Anderson, R.E., Peterson, Z.D., Canan, S.N., Abbey, A., McCauley, H., Orchowski, L.M., Fedina. L., Littleton, L., & Koss, M.P. (2024). Words can hurt: A taxonomy of verbal pressured sexual exploitation in the SES-V. Journal of Sex Research, 61(6), 882-896. doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2024.2358414
• Anderson, R. E., Peterson, Z.D., Koss, M. P. Abbey, A., Orchowski L., Thompson, M. P., Kowalski, R., & Littleton, H. L. (2024). Preliminary evidence of validity for the verbally pressured and illegal sexual exploitation modules of the Sexual Experiences Survey-Victimization. Journal of Sex Research, 61(6), 922-935. doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2024.2362264
• Abbey, A. (2023). Alcohol and men's sexual assault perpetration against women: How is our understanding hampered by limitations in existing experimental analogues? In D. DiLillo, S.J. Gervais, and D. McChargue (Eds.) Alcohol and sexual violence, Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, Volume 68, (pp. 139-171). Springer Press. doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-24426-1_6
• Abbey, A., McDaniel, M.C., Jilani, Z. (2022). Alcohol and men's sexual aggression: Review of research and implications for prevention. In L.M. Orchowski and A.D. Berkowitz (Eds.). Engaging boys and men in sexual assault prevention: Theory, research, and practice (pp. 183-210). Elsevier Inc.
• Abbey, A., Helmers, B. R., Jilani, Z., McDaniel, M. C., & Benbouriche, M. (2021). Assessment of men’s sexual aggression against women: An experimental comparison of three versions of the sexual experiences survey. Psychology of Violence, 11, 253-263. doi.org/10.1037/vio0000378
• Abbey, A., & Helmers, B.R. (2020). Sexual aggression analogues used in alcohol administration research: Critical review of their correspondence to alcohol-involved sexual assaults. Alcoholism Clinical and Experimental Research, 44, 1514-1528. doi:10.1111/acer.14388
• Helmers, B.R., Jacques-Tiura, A.J., & Abbey, A. (2019). Associations between young adult men's patterns of alcohol use and sexual behavior: A latent profile analysis of two independent samples. Addictive Behavior, 90, 20-26. doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2018.10.005
• Pegram, S.E., & Abbey, A. (2019). Associations between sexual assault severity and psychological and physical health outcomes: Similarities and differences among African American and Caucasian survivors. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 34, 4020-4040. doi:10.1177/0886260516673626
• Abbey, A., Pegram, S.E., Woerner, J., & Wegner, R. (2018). Men’s responses to women’s sexual refusals: Development and construct validity of a virtual dating simulation of sexual aggression. Psychology of Violence, 8, 87-99. doi:10.1037/vio000078
• Woerner, J., & Abbey, A., Helmers, B.R., Pegram, S.E., & Jilani, Z. (2018). Predicting men's immediate reactions to a simulated date's sexual rejection: The effects of hostile masculinity, impersonal sex, and hostile perceptions of the woman. Psychology of Violence, 8, 349-357. doi:10.1037/vio0000172
• Woerner, J., Abbey, A., Pegram, S.E., & Helmers, B.R. (2018). The effects of alcohol intoxication and sexual interest on men's sexual persistence and hostility in a dating simulation. Aggressive Behavior, 44, 537-547. doi:10.1002/ab.21773
• Pegram, S.E., & Abbey, A., Helmers, B.R., Benbouriche, M., Woerner, J., & Jilani, Z. (2018). Men who sexually assault drinking women: Similarities and differences with men who sexually assault sober women and nonperpetrators. Violence Against Women, 24, 1327-1348. doi:10.1177/1077801218787927
• Pegram, S.E., & Abbey, A., Woerner, J., & Helmers, B.R. (2018). Partner type matters: Differences in cross-sectional predictors of men’s sexual aggression in casual and steady relationships. Violence and Victims, 33, 902-917. doi:10.1891/0886-6708.VV-D-17-00080
• Pierce, J., Abbey, A., & Wegner, R. (2018). Mediators of the association between childhood emotional maltreatment and young adult men’s life satisfaction. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 33, 595-616. doi:10.1177/0886260515609584
• Graham, K., Bernards, S., Abbey, A., Dumas, T.M., & Wells, S. (2017). When women do not want it: Young female bargoers’ experiences with and responses to sexual harassment in social drinking contexts. Violence Against Women, 23, 1419-1441. doi:10.1177/1077801216661037
• Woerner, J., & Abbey, A. (2017). Positive feelings after casual sex: The role of gender and traditional gender role beliefs. Journal of Sex Research, 54, 717-727. doi:10.1080/00224499.2016.1208801
• Wegner, R., & Abbey, A. (2016). Individual differences in men's misperception of women's sexual intent: Application and extension of the confluence model. Personality and Individual Differences, 94, 16-20. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2015.12.027 (PMC4730390)
• Jacques-Tiura, A.J., Abbey, A., Wegner, R., Pierce, J., Pegram, S.E., & Woerner, J. (2015). Friends matter: Protective and harmful aspects of male friendships associated with past year sexual aggression in a community sample of young men. American Journal of Public Health, 105, 1001-1007. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2014.302472 (PMC4386539)
• Wegner, R., Abbey, A., Pierce, J., Pegram, S.E., & Woerner, J. (2015). Sexual assault perpetrators’ justifications for the actions: Relationships to rape supportive attitudes, incident characteristics, and future perpetration, Violence Against Women, 21, 1018-1037. doi:10.1177/1077801215589380 (PMC4491036)
• Abbey, A., & Wegner, R. (2015). Using experimental paradigms to examine alcohol’s role in man’s sexual aggression: Opportunities and challenges in the selection of proxies. Violence Against Women, 21, 975-996. doi:10.1177/1077801215589378 (PMC4490968)
• Swartout, K.M., Koss, M.P., White, J.W., Thompson, M.P., Abbey, A., Bellis, A.L. (2015). Trajectory analysis of the campus serial rapist assumption. Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics, 169, 1148-1154. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2015.0707.
• Hayman, L.W., McIntyre, R., & Abbey, A. (2015). The bad taste of social ostracism: The effects of exclusion on the eating behaviors of African American women. Psychology and Health, 30, 518-533. doi: 10.1080/08870446.2014.983923
• Abbey, A., Wegner, R., Woerner, J., Pegram, S.E., & Pierce, J. (2014). Review of survey and experimental research that examine the relationship between alcohol consumption and men’s sexual aggression perpetration. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 15, 265-282. doi:10.1177/1524838014521031 (PMID24776459; PMC4477196)
• Wegner, R., Pierce, J., & Abbey, A. (2014). Relationship type and sexual precedence: Their associations with perpetrators and sexual assault characteristics. Violence Against Women, 20, 1360-1382. doi:10.1177/1077801214552856 (PMID25288595; PMC4467962)
• Graham, K., Bernards, S., Osgood, D.W., Parks, M., Abbey, A., Felson, R.B., Saltz, R.F., & Wells, S. (2013). Apparent motives for aggression in the social context of the bar. Psychology of Violence, 3, 218-232. doi: 10.1037/a0029677
• White, J.W., Yuan, N.P., Cook, S.L., & Abbey, A. (2013). Ethnic minority women’s experiences with intimate partner violence: Using community-based participatory research methods to ask the right questions. Sex Roles, 69, 226-236. doi:10.1007/s11199-012-0237-0
• Abbey, A., Wegner, R., Pierce, J., & Jacques-Tiura, A.J. (2012). Patterns of sexual aggression in a community sample of young men: Risk factors associated with persistence, desistance, and initiation over a one year interval. Psychology of Violence, 2, 1-15. doi:10.1037/a0026346
• Abbey, A., Jacques-Tiura, A.J., & LeBreton, J. (2011). Risk factors for sexual aggression in young men: An expansion of the confluence model. Aggressive Behavior, 37, 1-15. doi:10.1002/ab.20399
• Abbey, A. (2011). Alcohol and dating risk factors for sexual assault: Double standards are still alive and well entrenched. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 35, 362-368. doi:10.1177/0361684311404150
• Ceballo, R., Abbey, A., & Schooler, D. (2010). Perceptions of women's infertility: What do physicians see? Fertility and Sterility 93, 1066-1073. doi:10.1016/j.fertnstert.2008.11.019
• Abbey, A., Jacques-Tiura, A., & Parkhill, M.R. (2010). Sexual assault among diverse populations of women: Common ground, distinctive features, and unanswered questions. H. Landrine & N. Russo (Eds.) Handbook of diversity in feminist psychology (pp. 391-425). NY: Springer Publishing Co.
• Jacques-Tiura, A.J., Tkatch, R., Abbey, A., & Wegner, R. (2010). Disclosure of sexual assault: Characteristics and implications for posttraumatic stress symptoms among African American and Caucasian survivors. Journal of Trauma and Dissociation, 11, 174-192 doi:10.1080/15299730903502938
• Purdie, M.P., Abbey, A., & Jacques-Tiura, A.J. (2010). Perpetrators of intimate partner sexual violence: Are there unique characteristics associated with making partners have sex without a condom? Violence Against Women, 16, 1086-1097. doi:10.1177/1077801210382859

Courses taught by Antonia Abbey

Winter Term 2025 (future)

• PSY3250 - Psychology of Gender

Fall Term 2024

• PSY8300 - Health Psychology I

Winter Term 2023

• PSY3250 - Psychology of Gender

Fall Term 2022

• PSY8300 - Health Psychology I

Winter Term 2022

• PSY3250 - Psychology of Gender