(PS12-D78) Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia: Risk or Protective Factor in the Association Between Fear of Intimacy, Alcohol Intoxication, and Sexual Aggression?

The ongoing high rates of sexual aggression, the perpetration of nonconsensual sexual acts, suggest the need to identify novel risk and protective factors, in conjunction with established risk factors such as alcohol intoxication (Koss et al., 2022). Fear of intimacy refers to the inhibited capacity to share personally significant thoughts and feelings due to anxiety (Descutner & Thelen, 1991) and is a predictor of alcohol-involved sexual aggression (Neilson et al., 2022). Respiratory sinus arrythmia (RSA), an index of parasympathetic nervous activation, is proposed to be a physiological indicator of emotion regulation, with higher rates of RSA suggesting more adaptive emotion regulation (Beauchaine  et al., 2015). The purpose of this study was to leverage an alcohol administration paradigm and sexual aggression proxy to investigate the moderating role of RSA on the association between fear of intimacy and sexual aggression.

Method: Cisgender men (N = 101; M = 24.72, 57.8% White) completed an assessment of resting (i.e., tonic) RSA, followed by the Fear of Intimacy Scale. Participants were then randomized to an alcohol condition [alcohol condition (.10%gm) vs. control] and instructed to read a sexual aggression proxy scenario. Participants then reported their intentions to perpetrate nonconsensual sex. Moderation analyses were utilized to examine the interaction of fear of intimacy and RSA on nonconsensual sex intentions, with past sexual aggression perpetration included as a covariate. Due to limited power and preliminary analyses indicating no differences in nonconsensual sex intentions across beverage condition, alcohol intoxication was also modeled as a covariate.

Results: There was a significant, two-way interaction between RSA and fear of intimacy on nonconsensual sex intentions (B = 1.21, p < .05). Examination of simple slopes indicated that fear of intimacy was positively associated with nonconsensual sex intentions only for men whose RSA was one or two standard deviations above the mean [b = .02, 95% CI (.01, .03); b = .03, 95%CI (.01, .05), respectively].

Conclusion: Higher levels of RSA facilitated the relation between fear of intimacy and nonconsensual sex intentions. It is possible that rather than modulate dysregulated emotions, among men who wish to engage in sexual aggression, high levels of RSA may promote pursuit of sexual aggression as a goal. Future research is needed to replicate these results with larger samples.