Objective: To evaluate the empirical associations between alcohol use and risky sex at two levels of analysis. Global associations test whether individuals who engage in one behavior are more likely to engage in the other, whereas event-specific associations test whether the likelihood of engaging in one behavior on a given occasion varies as a function of engaging in the other on that same occasion. Methods: Studies examining the association between drinking and risky sex in samples of college students and youth were reviewed. Those published in the past 10 years and using event-level methodology or random sampling were emphasized. Results: Findings were generally consistent across levels of analysis, but differed across types of risky behaviors. Drinking was strongly related to the decision to have sex and to indiscriminate forms of risky sex (e.g., having multiple or casual sex partners), but was inconsistently related to protective behaviors (e.g., condom use). Moreover, the links among alcohol use, t...

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Alcohol use and risky sexual behavior among college students and youth: Evaluating the evidence

This article provides a review and synthesis of professional research literature on the types, extent and patterns of negative consequences produced by students' misuse of alcohol in college populations based on survey research conducted during the last two decades. Considerable evidence is available documenting a wide range of damage by some students' drinking done to themselves as well as to other individuals, although some types of consequences remain speculative. Damage and costs to institutions are likely to be substantial, but this claim remains largely an inference based on current studies. Drinking by males compared with that of females produces more consequences for self and others that involve public deviance, whereas females' drinking contributes equally with males to consequences that are personal and relatively private. Research on racial/ethnic background, time trends and developmental stages reveals patterns in student data on consequences of drinking, but these data are very limited in the literature. Evidence suggests there is only a modest correlation between students' self-perception of having a drinking problem and the many negative consequences of drinking that are reported.

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Surveying the damage: a review of research on consequences of alcohol misuse in college populations.

This review used quantitative and qualitative techniques to integrate the alcohol and aggression literature. The primary purpose of the review was to determine if a causal relation exists between alcohol and aggression. The main meta-analysis included 30 experimental studies that used between-subjects designs, male confederates, and male subjects who were social drinkers. Studies using other designs or subject populations were integrated with meta-analytic procedures when possible and summarized descriptively when not. The results of the review indicate that alcohol does indeed cause aggression. However, alcohol effects were moderated by certain methodological parameters.

https://psycnet.apa.org/journals/bul/107/3/341.pdf

Effects of alcohol on human aggression: an integrative research review

As the United States enters the second decade of the AIDS epidemic, it has become evident that the primary defense against the spread of this disease is prevention of the behaviors that result in HIV transmission. Recent behavioral research has focused on identification of potentially modifiable variables that may contribute to risk-taking behaviors. One factor that has been proposed as a contributor to sexual risk-taking is the use of alcohol or other drugs with sex (see Leigh, 1990a; Stall, 1988). Because alcohol and drugs are thought to interfere with judgment and decision-making, it has been suggested that their use in conjunction with sexual activity might increase the probability that risky behaviors will occur (e.g., Howard et al., 1988; USDHHS, 1991). In the last few years, a number of reports have appeared suggesting a link between alcohol or drug use and sexual behavior, such as unprotected intercourse, that is known to place an individual at higher risk for HIV infection.

In this paper we examine the evidence for and against the hypothesis that a causal relationship exists between alcohol and/or drug use and high-risk sexual behavior for HIV transmission. First, we review research that examines the link between substance use and high-risk behavior, while discussing the limitations of the research designs used to investigate this link. We then consider additional methodological concerns, including measurement and sampling issues, that affect interpretation of research findings. We end with a discussion of implications of these findings for AIDS prevention policies.

/pdf/substance-use-and-risky-sexual-behavior-for-exposure-to-hiv-43f8qv2ceb.pdf

Substance use and risky sexual behavior for exposure to HIV: Issues in methodology, interpretation, and prevention.

A meta-analysis was conducted on research investigating the effects of alcohol consumption and expectancy within the balanced-placebo design. Preliminary results indicated that both alcohol and expectancy have significant, although heterogeneous effects on behavior. Subsequent analyses were conducted to determine the factors responsible for the heterogeneity of effects. At the highest level of analysis, alcohol expectancy had strong effects on relatively deviant social behaviors and minimal effects on nonsocial behaviors. Alcohol consumption showed the opposite pattern of effects. The principal effects associated with alcohol expectancy involved increased alcohol consumption and increased sexual arousal in response to erotic stimuli. On the other hand, alcohol consumption led to significant impairment of information processing and motor performance, induced a specific set of physical sensations, resulted in general improvements of mood, and tended to increase aggression. Finally, across all studies it was observed that alcohol consumption and expectancy interacted no more frequently than would be expected by chance. These results have implications for both the theories and methods of contemporary alcohol research.

Social and behavioral consequences of alcohol consumption and expectancy: a meta-analysis.

The first problem we encounter in trying to analyze the relationship between alcohol use and crimes of violence is in the choice of a theoretical context. One possibility is to look at violent crime as a subset of deviant behavior and put it in this theoretical sociological context, if one such context is possible. On the other hand, we could look at it from the viewpoint of aggressive behavior in general and see violent crimes as a sample of such behavior, a sample biased in favor of extreme forms of aggressive behavior. I have chosen the latter approach, since a framework limited to sociological variables would leave out central explanatory factors that are not relevant on the aggregate sociological level of analysis. Much of the empirical and theoretical outcomes of research on deviance are applicable in the explanations, but the emphasis will be on the connections with research on aggressive behavior. The relevant sociological factors will be seen only as one set of variables in an explanatory framework that encompasses (and must encompass) research findings from several disciplines.

Kai Pernanen

Papers

Alcohol and Crimes of Violence