Effects of Alcohol on Women’s Risky Sexual Decision Making During Social Interactions in the Laboratory

Abstract

This experiment examined the effects of alcohol on women’s sexual decision making during a laboratory social interaction with a potential dating partner. Participants completed an assessment of sex-related alcohol expectancies, were randomly assigned to consume alcohol, no alcohol, or a placebo, and then interacted with a male confederate. Stronger sex-related alcohol expectancies and actual alcohol consumption significantly increased women’s sexual relationship interest in their interaction partner, which in turn was associated with lower ratings of partner sexual risk. Lower ratings of partner sexual risk predicted increased intention to engage in unprotected sex. These findings demonstrate alcohol consumption’s causal effects on sexual risk judgments made during analogue social interactions, delineate the indirect effects of alcohol expectancies and alcohol consumption on sexual risk decisions, and provide support for a Cognitive Mediation Model of women’s sexual decision making. These findings can inform empirically based intervention programs designed to reduce the sexual risk taking of women.

Keywords

drinking behavior sexual risk taking risk assessment cognitive appraisal

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abbey

Buck

P. O.

Zawacki

Saenz

(2003). Alcohol’s effects on perceptions of a potential date rape. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 64, 669–677.

Abbey

Saenz

Buck

P. O.

(2002). The cumulative effects of acute alcohol consumption, individual differences and situational perceptions on sexual decision making. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 66, 82–90.

Abbey

Zawacki

Buck

P. O.

(2005). The effects of past sexual assault perpetration and alcohol consumption on men’s reactions to women’s mixed signals. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 24, 129–155.

Abbey

Zawacki

McAuslan

(2000). Alcohol and sexual perception. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 61, 688–697.

Agocha

V. B.

Cooper

M. L.

(1999). Risk perceptions and safer-sex intentions: Does a partner’s physical attractiveness undermine the use of risk-relevant information?. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25, 751–765.

Ajzen

(1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 179–211.

Ajzen

Fishbein

(1980). Understanding attitudes and predicting social behavior. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Bandura

(1986). Social foundations of thought and action. A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Brown

J. L.

Vanable

P. A.

(2007). Alcohol use, partner type, and risky sexual behavior among college students: Findings from an event-level study. Addictive Behaviors, 32, 2940–2952.

10.

Browne

M. W.

Cudeck

(1993). Alternative ways of assessing model fit. In Bollen

Long

(Eds.), Testing structural equation models (pp. 136–162). Newbury Park, NJ: Sage.

11.

Bryan

Schmiege

S. J.

Broaddus

M. R.

(2007). Mediational analysis in HIV/AIDS research: Estimating multivariate path analytic models in a structural equation modeling framework. AIDS and Behavior, 11, 365–383.

12.

Catania

J. A.

Kegeles

S. M.

Coates

T. J.

(1990). Towards an understanding of risk behavior: An AIDS risk reduction model (ARRM). Health Education Quarterly, 17, 53–72.

13.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2007). HIV/AIDS surveillance report, 2005 (Rev. ed., Vol 17, pp. 1–46). Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

14.

Cooper

M. L.

(2006). Does drinking promote risky sexual behavior? A complex answer to a simple question. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 15, 19–23.

15.

Corbin

W. R.

Fromme

(2002). Alcohol use and serial monogamy as risks for sexually transmitted diseases in young adults. Health Psychology, 21, 229–236.

16.

Davis

K. C.

Norris

George

W. H.

Martell

Heiman

J. R.

(2006). Rape-myth congruent beliefs in women resulting from exposure to violent pornography: Effects of alcohol and sexual arousal. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 21, 1208–1223.

17.

Dermen

Cooper

M. L.

(1994). Sex-related alcohol expectancies among adolescents: II. Prediction of drinking and sexual situations. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 8, 161–168.

18.

Ditto

P. H.

Pizarro

D. A.

Epstein

E. B.

Jacobson

J. A.

MacDonald

T. K.

(2006). Visceral influences on risk-taking behavior. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 19, 99–113.

19.

Eastwick

P. W.

Finkel

E. J.

(2008). Sex differences in mate preference revisited: Do people know what they initially desire in a romantic partner?. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94, 245–264.

20.

Faul

Erdfelder

Lang

A. G.

Buchner

(2007). G*Power 3: A flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences. Behavior Research Methods, 39, 175–191.

21.

Fisher

J. D.

Fisher

W. A.

(2000). Theoretical approaches to individual-level change in HIV risk behavior. In Peterson

J. L.

DiClemente

R. J.

(Eds.), Handbook of HIV prevention: AIDS prevention and mental health. (pp. 3–55). New York, NY: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.

22.

Fromme

D’Amico

E. J.

Katz

E. C.

(1999). Intoxicated sexual risk taking: An expectancy or cognitive impairment explanation?. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 60, 54–63.

23.

George

W. H.

Davis

K. C.

Norris

Heiman

J. R.

Stoner

S. A.

Schacht

R. L.

Kajumulo

K. F.

(2009). Indirect effects of acute alcohol intoxication on sexual risk-taking: The roles of subjective and physiological sexual arousal. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 38, 498–513.

24.

George

W. H.

Dermen

K. H.

Nochajski

T. H.

(1989). Expectancy set, self-reported expectancies and predispositional traits: Predicting interest in violence and erotica. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 50, 541–551.

25.

George

W. H.

Marlatt

G. A.

(1986). The effects of alcohol and anger on interest in violence, erotica, and deviance. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 95, 150–158.

26.

George

W. H.

Stoner

S. A.

(2000). Understanding acute alcohol effects on sexual behavior. Annual Review of Sex Research, 11, 92–124.

27.

Giancola

Zeichner

(1997). The biphasic effects of alcohol on human physical aggression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 106, 598–607.

28.

Hammer

Fisher

Fitzgerald

Fisher

(1996). When two heads aren’t better than one: AIDS risk behavior in college-age couples. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 26, 375–397.

29.

Hennessy

Fishbein

Curtis

Barrett

D. W.

(2007). Evaluating the risk and attractiveness of romantic partners when confronted with contradictory cues. AIDS and Behavior, 11, 479–490.

30.

Hines

Snowden

Graves

(1998). Acculturation, alcohol consumption and AIDS-related risky sexual behavior among African-American women. Women and Health, 27, 17–35.

31.

Hoyle

R. H.

(Ed.). (1995). Structural equation modeling. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

32.

Lazarus

R. S.

(1991). Progress on a cognitive motivational relational theory of emotion. American Psychologist, 46, 819–834.

33.

Leigh

B. C.

Vanslyke

J. G.

Hoppe

M. H.

Rainey

D. T.

Morrison

D. M.

Gillmore

M. R.

(2008). Drinking and condom use: Results from an event-based daily diary. AIDS and Behavior, 12, 104–112.

34.

Lewis

J. E.

Miguez-Burbano

M.-J.

Malow

R. M.

(2009). HIV risk behavior among college students in the United States. College Student Journal, 43, 475–491.

35.

Lowenstein

G. L.

(1996). Out of control: Visceral influences on behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 65, 272–292.

36.

MacDonald

T. K.

Fong

G. T.

Zanna

M. P.

Martineau

A. M.

(2000). Alcohol myopia and condom use: Can alcohol intoxication be associated with more prudent behavior?. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 605–619.

37.

MacDonald

T. K.

Zanna

M. P.

Fong

G. T.

(1996). Why common sense goes out the window: Effects of alcohol on intentions to use condoms. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22, 763–775.

38.

Maisto

S. A.

Carey

M. P.

Carey

K. B.

Gordon

C. M.

(2002). The effects of alcohol and expectancies on risk perception and behavioral skills relevant to safer sex among heterosexual young adult women. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 63, 476–485.

39.

Maisto

S. A.

Carey

M. P.

Carey

K. B.

Gordon

C. M.

Schum

J. L.

(2004). Effects of alcohol and expectancies on HIV-related risk perception and behavioral skills in heterosexual women. Experimental & Clinical Psychopharmacology, 12, 288–297.

40.

Maisto

S. A.

Carey

M. P.

Carey

K. B.

Gordon

C. M.

Schum

J. L.

Lynch

K. G.

(2004). The relationship between alcohol and individual differences variables on attitudes and behavioral skills relevant to sexual health among heterosexual young adult men. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 33, 571–584.

41.

Marczinski

C. C.

Fillmore

M. T.

(2005). Alcohol increases reliance on cues that signal acts of control. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 13, 15–24.

42.

Marlatt

G. A.

Rohsenow

(1980). Cognitive processes in alcohol use: Expectancy and the balanced placebo design. In Mello

N. K.

(Ed.), Advances in substance abuse: Behavioral and biological research (pp. 159–199). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.

43.

Martin

Sayette

(1993). Experimental design in alcohol administration research: Limitations and alternatives in the manipulation of dosage set. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 54, 750–761.

44.

Murphy

S. T.

Monahan

J. L.

Miller

L. C.

(1998). Inference under the influence: The impact of alcohol and inhibition conflict on woman’s sexual decision-making. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24, 517–528.

45.

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. (2005). Recommended council guidelines on ethyl alcohol administration in human experimentation. Retrieved from http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/resources/researchresources/job22.htm

46.

Norris

Davis

K. C.

George

W. H.

Martell

Heiman

J. R.

(2004). Victim’s response and alcohol-related factors as determinants of women’s responses to violent pornography. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 28, 59–69.

47.

Norris

Masters

Zawacki

(2004). Cognitive mediation of women’s sexual decision making: The influence of alcohol, contextual factors, and background variables. Annual Review of Sex Research, 15, 258–296.

48.

Norris

Stoner

Hessler

Zawacki

Davis

George

Abdallah

D. A.

(2009). Sexual arousal and assertive condom request as mediators of alcohol and sexual sensation seeking effects on women’s unprotected sex intentions. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 23, 14–22.

49.

Norris

Stoner

Hessler

Zawacki

George

Morrison

Davis

K. C.

(2009). Cognitive mediation of alcohol’s effects on women’s in-the-moment sexual decision making. Health Psychology, 28, 20–28.

50.

Parks

K. A.

Herquembourg

A. L.

Dearing

R. L.

(2008). Women’s social behavior when meeting new men: The influence of alcohol and childhood sexual abuse. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 32, 145–158.

51.

Rosenstock

I. M.

(1974). The health belief model and preventive health behavior. Health Education Monographs, 2, 354–386.

52.

Santelli

Brener

Lowry

Bhatt

Zabin

(1998). Multiple sex partners among US adolescents and young adults. Family Planning Perspectives, 30, 271–275.

53.

Sayette

M. A.

Breslin

Wilson

Rosenblum

G. D.

(1994). An evaluation of the balanced placebo design in alcohol administration research. Addictive Behaviors, 19, 333–342.

54.

Sheeran

Abraham

Orbell

(1999). Psychosocial correlates of heterosexual condom use: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 125, 90–132.

55.

Stoner

Norris

George

Morrison

Zawacki

Davis

Hessler

D. M.

(2008). Women’s condom use assertiveness and sexual risk-taking: Effects of alcohol intoxication and adult victimization. Addictive Behaviors, 33, 1167–1176.

56.

Testa

Fillmore

M. T.

Norris

Abbey

Curtin

J. J.

Leonard

K. E.

Hayman

L. W.

Jr. (2006). Understanding alcohol expectancy effects: Revisiting the placebo condition. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 30, 339–348.

57.

Testa

Livingston

J. A.

Collins

R. L.

(2000). The role of women’s alcohol consumption in evaluation of vulnerability to sexual aggression. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 8, 185–191.

58.

Testa

VanZile-Tamsen

Livingston

J. A.

Buddie

A. M.

(2006). The role of women’s alcohol consumption in managing sexual intimacy and sexual safety motives. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 67, 665–674.

59.

Zawacki

Norris

Hessler

D. M.

Morrison

D. M.

Stoner

S. A.

George

W. H.

Abdallah

D. A.

(2009). Effects of relationship motivation, partner familiarity, and alcohol on women’s risky sexual decision making. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35, 723–736.