Alcohol's role in men's use of coercion to obtain unprotected sex

Abstract

Past sexual victimization has been identified as a predictor of women's sexual risk-taking. In order to develop effective prevention and treatment programs, research is needed that examines perpetrators' characteristics. Thus, the goal of this study was to examine predictors of men's willingness to use coercive strategies to obtain sex without a condom. Male college students (n = 72) completed a survey that assessed past sexual assault perpetration, hostility, past misperception of women's sexual cues, usual alcohol consumption, and usual condom use. One month later, they participated in an alcohol administration study and watched a video about a couple in a consensual sexual situation. Participants were asked to evaluate how justified they would be in using a variety of coercive strategies to make the woman have unprotected sex. In hierarchical multiple regression analyses, there was a significant main effect of past perpetration such that men who had previously committed sexual assault felt more justified using coercive strategies to obtain unprotected sex than did nonperpetrators. Acute alcohol consumption did not have a main effect; however, it interacted with hostility and misperception. Among participants who consumed alcohol prior to watching the video, the greater their preexisting hostility, the more justified they felt in using coercion. Similarly, the more frequently drinkers had misperceived women's sexual intentions in the past, the more justified they felt in using coercion. Based on these findings, several specific suggestions are made for prevention and treatment programs, including targeted communication skills and normative feedback interventions.

Figure 1

The effects of acute alcohol consumption and hostility on justification for using coercive strategies to have sex without a condom. Note: The no alcohol group includes sober and placebo participants because no differences were found between them.

Figure 2

The effects of acute alcohol consumption and misperception on justification for using coercive strategies to have sex without a condom. Note: The no alcohol group includes sober and placebo participants because no differences were found between them.