Date Approved

8-25-2025

Embargo Period

8-25-2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D. Psychology

Department

Clinical Psychology

College

College of Science & Mathematics

Advisor

Meredith Jones, Ph.D.

Committee Member 1

DJ Angelone, Ph.D.

Committee Member 2

Kathrine Gotham, Ph.D.

Committee Member 3

Tiffany Marcantonio, Ph.D.

Committee Member 4

Joanna Petrides, Psy.D, MBS

Keywords

dating violence;red zone;risk factors;socioecological model;victimization

Disciplines

Psychology | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Abstract

College students experience dating violence (DV) victimization at alarmingly high rates, which is associated with a variety of negative outcomes (Brewer & Thomas, 2019; Choi et al., 2017; Leemis et al., 2022). To implement effective prevention programming, it is important to understand the risk factors associated with DV victimization on college campuses. Further, college students report the highest rates of one type of DV victimization—sexual victimization—during the fall semester, also known as the “red zone” (Carey et al., 2018, Cranney, 2015). This study utilized the socioecological model to understand which individual-, relationship-, and community-level risk factors were associated with DV victimization during the fall semester. Students completed two surveys to assess their experiences prior to and during the fall semester. Gender, class-year, prior victimization, alcohol use, relationship status, Greek life involvement, and residence type were all significantly predictive of DV victimization during the fall semester. This study offers novel findings about the red zone of violence on college campuses, suggesting that the factors that increase DV victimization risk during the fall semester may be more complex than previously thought.

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