Women's drinking decisions in sexually risky situations: Effects of a low level of intoxication

Alcohol administration studies assessing alcohol's deleterious effects on women's threat perception and response in potential sexual assault situations usually employ a moderate to high dose (.07% BAC or more) and measure alcohol's effects specifically on women's sexual decisions. The current study used a low dose (.03%, equivalent to about 1-2 drinks) to assess women's projected decisions on a different risky behavior: decisions to continue drinking and to drink higher amounts in a series of ecologically-valid sexual risk situations.

Young adult women (n=17; M age=21.8, SD=1.3, range 21-25) participated in a three-session double-blind within subjects 2 (type of scenario)×3( beverage) experiment, responding each time to 6 vignettes with an attractive man who was either Familiar or had Just Met her. In each session participants consumed a beverage (alcohol, placebo or water, random order) and projected emotional reactions and drinking decisions (likelihood and amount) in each of the 6 scenarios.

Regardless of beverage, women predicted greater happiness, drinking likelihood, and drinking amount with "Familiar" men. However, there was also an interaction: they projected increased subsequent amounts in the .03% BAC (vs. water and placebo) condition differentially in the "Familiar" scenarios.

When the woman is Familiar with the man in a risky sexual situation, just one drink may increase subsequent projected alcohol amount over that originally intended. Implications include a low dose as a possible prime for more drinking, increasing sexual assault risk.