Citation

Noel NE, Daniels KA, Ogle RL, Maisto SA, Lee A J, Ehlke SJ, Carroll MG. Addict. Behav. 2015; 47: 61-65.

Affiliation

University of North Carolina Wilmington, United States.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.addbeh.2015.03.022

PMID

25879711

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Alcohol administration studies assessing alcohol's deleterious effects on women's threat perception and response in potential sexual assault situations usually employ a moderate to high dose (.07% BAC or more) and measure alcohol's effects specifically on women's sexual decisions. The current study used a low dose (.03%, equivalent to about 1-2 drinks) to assess women's projected decisions on a different risky behavior: decisions to continue drinking and to drink higher amounts in a series of ecologically-valid sexual risk situations.

METHODS: Young adult women (n=17; M age=21.8, SD=1.3, range 21-25) participated in a three-session double-blind within subjects 2 (type of scenario)×3( beverage) experiment, responding each time to 6 vignettes with an attractive man who was either Familiar or had Just Met her. In each session participants consumed a beverage (alcohol, placebo or water, random order) and projected emotional reactions and drinking decisions (likelihood and amount) in each of the 6 scenarios.

RESULTS: Regardless of beverage, women predicted greater happiness, drinking likelihood, and drinking amount with "Familiar" men. However, there was also an interaction: they projected increased subsequent amounts in the.03% BAC (vs. water and placebo) condition differentially in the "Familiar" scenarios.

CONCLUSION: When the woman is Familiar with the man in a risky sexual situation, just one drink may increase subsequent projected alcohol amount over that originally intended. Implications include a low dose as a possible prime for more drinking, increasing sexual assault risk.

Language: en