Alcohol Consumption,History of Sexual Assault in Adolescence,and Revictimization in a Sample of University Students in the Western United States

Abstract

This study evaluated alcohol consumption as a moderator of the association between adolescent sexual assault and risk of sexual assault in college. It was hypothesized that sexual assault in adolescence would be associated with higher risk of college victimization and that this association would be moderated by alcohol consumption. Predominantly female and European-American university students (N = 201) completed self-report measures of alcohol consumption and sexual assault victimization in adolescence and since enrolling in college at a medium-sized university in the Western United States. Controlling for effects of age and gender, there was a significant interaction between alcohol consumption variables (i.e., typical weekly alcohol consumption and binge drinking) and adolescent sexual assault, such that the greatest risk for sexual assault in college was incurred by the heaviest drinkers with the greatest frequencies of adolescent sexual assault. This study highlights the importance of considering past victimization history in concert with alcohol consumption in efforts to prevent sexual victimization in college.

Keywords

sexual assault trauma history undergraduates binge drinking alcohol

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abbey

(2002). Alcohol-related sexual assault: A common problem among college students. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, Supplement, 14, 118-128.

Ahrens

C. E.

Campbell

Ternier-Thames

N. K.

Wasco

S. M.

Sefl

(2007). Deciding whom to tell: Expectations and outcomes of rape survivors’ first disclosures. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 31, 38-49.

Black

M. C.

Baile

K. C.

Breiding

M. K.

Smith

S. G.

Walters

M. L.

Merick

M. L. T.

. . . Stevens

M. R.

(2011). The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS): 2010 summary report. Atlanta, GA: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Borges

A. M.

Banyard

V. L.

Moynihan

M. M.

(2008). Clarifying consent: Primary prevention of sexual assault on a college campus. Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community, 36, 75-88.

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.

Carey

K. B.

Durney

S. E.

Shephardson

R. L.

Carey

M. P.

(2015a). Incapacitated and forcible rape of college women: Prevalence the first year. Journal of Adolescent Health, 56, 678-680.

Carey

K. B.

Durney

S. E.

Shephardson

R. L.

Carey

M. P.

(2015b). Precollege predictors of incapacitated rape among female students in their first year of college. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 76, 829-837.

Casey

E. A.

Lindhorst

T. P.

(2009). Toward a multi-level, ecological approach to the primary prevention of sexual assault: Prevention in peer and community contexts. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 10, 91-114.

DeCou

C. R.

Cole

T. T.

Lynch

S. M.

Wong

M. M.

Matthews

K. C.

(2017). Assault-related shame mediates the association between negative social reactions to disclosure of sexual assault and psychological distress among female undergraduates. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 9, 166-172.

10.

Filipas

H. H.

Ullman

S. E.

(2006). Child sexual abuse, coping responses, self-blame, posttraumatic stress disorder, and adult sexual revictimization. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 21, 652-672.

11.

Gidycz

C. A.

Orchowski

L. M.

Berkowitz

A. D.

(2011). Preventing sexual aggression among college men: An evaluation of a social norms and bystander intervention program. Violence Against Women, 17, 720-742.

12.

Hayes

A. F.

(2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

13.

Hayes-Smith

R. M.

Levett

L. M.

(2011). Student perceptions of sexual assault resources and prevalence of rape myth attitudes. Feminist Criminology, 5, 335-354.

14.

Humphrey

J. A.

White

J. W.

(2000). Women’s vulnerability to sexual assault from adolescence to young adulthood. Journal of Adolescent Health, 27, 419-424.

15.

Kamimura

Ngoc Trinh

Nguyen

Yamawaki

Bhattacharya

. . . Olson

L. M.

(2016). Bystander attitudes to prevent sexual assault: A study of college students in the United States, Japan, India, Vietnam, and China. The Journal of Sex Research, 53, 1131-1138.

16.

Koss

M. P.

Abbey

Campbell

Cook

Norris

Testa

. . . White

(2006). The sexual experiences short form victimization (SES-SFV). Tucson: University of Arizona.

17.

Koss

M. P.

Abbey

Campbell

Cook

Norris

Testa

. . . White

(2007). Revising the SES: A collaborative process to improve assessment of sexual aggression and victimization. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 31, 357-370.

18.

Krahé

Berger

Vanwesenbeeck

Bianchi

Chliaoutakis

Fernández-Fuertes

A. A.

. . . Vicario-MolinaZygadło

(2015). Prevalence and correlates of young people’s sexual aggression perpetration and victimisation in 10 European countries: A multi-level analysis. Culture, Health & Sexuality: An International Journal for Research, Intervention and Care, 17(6), 682-699.

19.

Krebs

C. P.

Lindquist

C. H.

Warner

T. D.

(2007). The Campus Sexual Assault (CSA) Study: Final report. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice.

20.

Lauritsen

J. L.

Davis Quinet

K. F.

(1995). Repeat victimization among adolescents and young adults. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 11, 143-166.

21.

McCauley

H. L.

(2015). College sexual assault: A call for trauma-informed prevention. Journal of Adolescent Health, 56, 584-585.

22.

Mouilso

E. R.

Fischer

(2012). A prospective study of sexual assault and alcohol use among first-year college women. Violence and Victims, 27, 78-94.

23.

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. (2003). Task force on recommended questions of the National Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism: Recommended sets of alcohol consumption questions. Retrieved from http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/research/guidelines-and-resources/recommended-alcohol-questions

24.

Parks

K. A.

Fals-Stewart

(2004). The temporal relationship between college women’s alcohol consumption and victimization experiences. Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, 28, 625-629.

25.

Peter-Hagene

L. C.

Ullman

S. E.

(2014). Social reactions to sexual assault disclosure and problem drinking: Mediated effects of perceived control and PTSD. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 29, 1418-1437.

26.

Peterson

Z. D.

Voller

E. K.

Polusny

M. A.

Murdoch

(2011). Prevalence and consequences of adult sexual assault of men: Review of empirical findings and state of the literature. Clinical Psychology Review, 31, 1-24.

27.

Read

J. P.

Colder

C. R.

Merrill

J. E.

Ouimette

White

Swartout

(2012). Trauma and posttraumatic stress symptoms predict alcohol and other drug consequence trajectories in the first year college. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 80, 426-439.

28.

Scarce

(1997). The spectacle of male rape. Male on male rape: The hidden toll of stigma and shame. New York, NY: Insight Books.

29.

Senn

C. Y.

Eliasziw

Barata

P. C.

Thurston

W. E.

Newby-Clark

I. R.

Radtke

Hobden

K. L.

(2015). Efficacy of a sexual assault resistance program for university women. New England Journal of Medicine, 372, 2326-2335.

30.

Senn

C. Y.

Gee

S. S.

Thake

(2011). Emancipatory sexuality education and sexual assault resistance: Does the former enhance the latter? Psychology of Women Quarterly, 35, 72-91.

31.

Sinozich

Langton

(2014). Rape and sexual assault victimization among college-age females, 1995-2013. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.

32.

Skewes

M. C.

Blume

A. W.

(2015). Ethnic identity, drinking motives, and alcohol consequences among Alaska Native and non-Native college students. Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse, 14, 12-28.

33.

Stemple

Meyer

I. H.

(2014). The sexual victimization of men in America: New data challenge old assumptions. American Journal of Public Health, 104, 19-26.

34.

Testa

Hoffman

J. H.

(2012). Naturally occurring changes in women’s drinking from high school to college and implications for sexual victimization. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 73, 26-33.

35.

Testa

Livingston

J. A.

(2009). Alcohol consumption and women’s vulnerability to sexual victimization: Can reducing women’s drinking prevent rape? Substance Use and Misuse, 44, 1349-1376.

36.

Testa

VanZile-Tamsen

Livingston

J. A.

(2007). Prospective prediction of women’s sexual victimization by intimate and nonintimate male perpetrators. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 75, 52-60.

37.

Tjaeden

Thoennes

(2006). Extent, nature, and consequences of rape victimization: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice.

38.

Turchik

J. A.

(2012). Sexual victimization among male college students: Assault severity, sexual functioning, and health risk behaviors. Psychology of Men and Masculinity, 13, 243-255.

39.

Untied

A. S.

Orchowski

L. M.

Mastroleo

Gidycz

C. A.

(2012). College students’ social reactions to the victim in a hypothetical sexual assault scenario: The role of victim and perpetrator alcohol use. Violence and Victims, 27, 957-972.

40.

Walker

Archer

Davies

(2005). Effects of rape on men: A descriptive analysis. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 34, 69-80.

41.

World Health Organization. (2002). World report on violence and health. Geneva, Switzerland: Author.