Citation

George WH, Davis KC, Norris J, Heiman JR, Stoner SA, Schacht RL, Hendershot CS, Kajumulo KF. Arch. Sex. Behav. 2009; 38(4): 498-513.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, 98195-1525, USA. bgeorge@u.washington.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10508-008-9346-9

PMID

18431618

PMCID

PMC3571090

Abstract

Three experiments supported the idea that alcohol fosters sexual risk-taking in men and women, in part, through its effects on sexual arousal. In Experiment 1, increasing alcohol dosage (target blood alcohol levels of .00, .04, .08%) heightened men's and women's risk-taking intentions. Alcohol's effect was indirect via increased subjective sexual arousal; also, men exhibited greater risk-taking than women. In Experiment 2, an extended dosage range (target blood alcohol levels of .00, .06, .08, .10%) heightened men's risk-taking intentions. Alcohol's effect again was indirect via subjective arousal. Physiological sexual arousal, which was unaffected by alcohol, increased risk-taking via increased subjective arousal. In Experiment 3, alcohol increased women's risk-taking indirectly via subjective arousal, but alcohol-attenuated physiological arousal had no effect on risk-taking. Implications for alcohol myopia theory and prevention interventions are discussed.

Language: en