Evidence Against Alcohol as a Proximal Cause of Sexual Risk Taking Among College Students

Abstract

Studies have suggested that drinking leads to promiscuity and sexual risk taking. This claim, however, has not remained unchallenged, and several investigations have suggested this relationship may be at best limited to a narrow band of sexual behavior or at worst entirely spurious. An on-line survey about two discrete sexual events: one with intercourse, one without college students (a smaller subsample was used to examine crucial hypotheses) completed by 216 (148 female). Within-subjects analyses yielded no evidence indicating that condom use was less prevalent when alcohol was consumed regardless of relationship status (casual or romantic partners). Alcohol was consumed more often during noncoital events. Among females, intercourse events showed higher levels of arousal and perceived benefits and lower perceived costs and internal conflict than noncoital events, suggesting a rather rational decision-making process even when under the influence. Stable personality and behavioral dimensions (sociosexuality, impulsivity/sensation seeking, sociability, and usual drinking) provided a better explanation for sexual risk taking than acute alcohol effects.

The author thanks William Rawson for his help in the development of the survey and in the creation of the web-based data collection application.

Notes

Note: McNemar tests of association for non-independent samples.

∗p < .05; ∗∗p < .01; ∗∗∗p < .001.

Support made possible in part by the Vermont Genetics Network through grant number P20 RR 16462 from the BRIN program of the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of NCRR or NIH.