Two defining elements of college life are sex and alcohol, mixing the two, as everyone knows, is very dangerous.  According to a study in the July, 2002 Journal of Studies on Alcohol (Maisto, Carey et al), just an environment in which the two are mixed can be dangerous.  The study examined sexual scenarios involving alcohol to identify what factors lead to risky sexual behavior.  The two factors investigated were actual intoxication level and the individual’s sexual expectations in an environment where alcohol is present.  As one might expect, actual intoxication did affect the decision making process.  However, what the subjects perceived was expected from a sexual situation when the participants are intoxicated (researchers labeled this variable: “sexual expectations”) also had a strong effect.  In other words, intoxication and unsafe sexual expectations are equally dangerous and can lead to risky sexual behavior.

            The war against Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) provide the reasoning for the study performed at Syracuse University, in an attempt to identify what factors lead to unsafe sex. The expansion of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and other STDs has occurred most rapidly among young adults and college students (Maisto, Carey et al, 2002).  While HIV transmission has dropped in homosexual males and intravenous drug users in the past decade, one of the hardest hit demographics has been heterosexual young women.  This experiment was specifically designed to target young women to hold gender and age variables constant.  HIV prevention research is predominantly concerned with the transmission of the virus, thus the experiment focuses on condom usage, one common preventive measure against STDs.

            Scientists investigated their claim that the more intoxicated the subjects became the more likely they would be to agree to sex without a condom.  The study involved 102 women between the ages of 21-30 who the researchers determined to be sexually active and moderate to heavy drinkers.  The participants were first asked to complete a survey that approximated the likelihood of the woman engaging in risky sexual behavior and assessed the woman’s sexual expectations.  Then the women were divided into three groups.  One was given alcoholic beverages to establish a Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) of .08, the legal driving limit (about 2 drinks).  The second group was given tonic and flat tonic poured from a vodka bottle (to simulate a mixed drink) with limes soaked in vodka and vodka rubbed on the rim, to lead the participants to believe they were consuming alcohol but in actuality were provided only a very limited amount.  A final group was given water to compare results with the other groups.  After that they interacted in seven role plays of sexual scenarios, two involving condom-less sex.  The participants then rated each session, including whether they believed they would have sex in the presented situation.  The results were compared to the survey to assess the effect of the alcohol on the decision making process.

            The women in the alcohol consuming group rated the “likelihood of having sex with the male actor without a condom” dramatically higher than the women in either the tonic or water drinking groups.  However, there was a similar distinction in the alcohol and tonic groups for the women determined to have unsafe sexual expectations.  This distinction was not present in the water group, implying that since the women perceived they were intoxicated, their sexual expectations came into play.  Thus the study shows the obvious variable, intoxication, as well as the more vague concept of sexual expectations as the two factors leading to risky sexual behavior.

            The researchers were surprised that alcohol did not have a much more significant impact than an individual’s sexual expectations in an environment where alcohol is present, but they hypothesized that this was due to the low amount of alcohol used in the experiment.  Though a BAC of .08 is the legal driving limit, regular party-goers and bar/club hoppers could easily consume much higher amounts.  Though more evidence is needed to determine the effects of higher amounts of alcohol on decision making regarding sex, the discovery that sexual expectations have as much of an impact as low amounts of alcohol is significant.

            Any rational college student knows that becoming sexually involved while intoxicated is not safe.  What many may not know is that it is not just the alcohol but also our perceptions of alcohol that lead to this dangerous situation.  With the prevalence of HIV and STDs on college campuses, and their transmission rates only climbing, students must not just be careful with the amount of alcohol they drink but also with what they believe about alcohol and the environment they are in.  From one angle it seems frightening that we must now monitor our thoughts to keep us safe.  The other side, though, is that all we have to do to slow the expansion of HIV is to think differently.

 

Reference:

Maisto, S.A., Carey, M.P., Carey, K.B., and Gordon, C.M.  2002.  “The effects of alcohol and expanctancies on risk perception and behavior skills relevant to safer sex among heterosexual young adult women.”  Journal of Studies on Alcohol.  Iss. 63 pg. 476