Prospective Risk for Incapacitated Rape Among Sexual Minority Women: Hookups and Drinking

ABSTRACT

Sexual minority women (SMW), including lesbian and bisexual women, are at greater risk for heavy drinking and sexual victimization than heterosexual women. Risk factors for alcohol-related sexual victimization, such as incapacitated rape (IR), include frequent heavy drinking and hookups among heterosexual women, but it is less clear whether these risk factors extend to SMW. This current study was designed to address this gap. In a national sample of SMW (N = 1,057), logistic regressions were used to test whether heavy drinking and hookups in the first year of the study were risk factors for IR during the second year. After controlling for history of prior sexual victimization, subsequent IR was predicted by an interaction between heavy drinking and the number of male hookup partners. Specifically, more frequent heavy drinking was associated with increased risk for subsequent IR, but only among SMW who reported more than one male hookup partner, indicating exposure to more potential perpetrators. When examined separately, this finding held for bisexual women, but was not significant for lesbian women, likely because they reported fewer male hookup partners. Overall, findings from this longitudinal study highlight that in combination, heavy drinking and hookups with multiple men elevate risk for IR.

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Funding

This research was funded in part by grants from the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism R01 AA018292 (PI: Kaysen) and T32 AA007455 (PI: Larimer). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.