Just a dare or unaware? Outcomes and motives of drugging (“drink spiking”) among students at three college campuses.

Abstract

Objective: Drugging (administering a drug to someone without their knowledge or consent) is acknowledged as a problem in "watch your drink" campaigns. However, research on this phenomenon is nascent. Prior research has primarily focused on drugging as a means of sexual assault, and has not addressed drugging more generally. Method: Survey data from 6,064 students at 3 universities was used to explore drugging among those who had drugged someone (or knew someone who had) and those who had been drugged. Results: More than 1 in 13 students reported being drugged (462 students, 7.8% of the sample, reported 539 incidents), and 83 students (1.4%) reported 172 incidents of drugging someone. Participants' perceptions of why people drug others varied by gender. Women were much more likely to mention sex or sexual assault as a motive, while men were more likely to mention having fun as a motive. Participants also mentioned getting others more drunk or high and getting someone to relax as motives. It is possible that some motives (e.g., "to 'loosen' me up") could be euphemisms for more coercive or sexual motives not directly stated. Outcomes for those drugged were also gendered, with female victims experiencing more negative outcomes, including sexual assault, blacking out, and getting sick. Although over 4 out of 5 of victims reported negative outcomes, a small number of (mostly male) victims said they enjoyed being drugged. Conclusions: To design interventions to prevent the negative consequences of drugging, the full context of drugging must be better understood.

Doing Things Differently

“…Coker et al (2016), in their survey of 959 American women aged 18–24, found that 7.8% of college women and 8.5% of noncollege women had experienced drugging victimization in their lifetimes. These rates were similar to those uncovered by Swan et al (2016) in their study of drugging among male and female students on three college campuses. They found that 7.8% ( n = 462) of their sample had experienced at least one incident of drugging victimization since the start of the academic year, accounting for a total of 539 separate drugging incidents.…”

“…They found that 7.8% ( n = 462) of their sample had experienced at least one incident of drugging victimization since the start of the academic year, accounting for a total of 539 separate drugging incidents. Combining the three-campus data used by Swan et al (2016) with an additional year of data from one of the campuses, Lasky et al (2017) found that 6.16% of undergraduates had been drugged in the past academic year, with 20% experiencing more than one drugging victimization. There were a total of 574 separate drugging incidents, with recurring victims experiencing 42% of all drugging incidents.…”

“…Specific lifestyles and routine activities associated with college students have been shown to be positively correlated with an increased risk of drugging victimization. Additionally, two studies have documented the occurrence of recurring drugging victimization (Lasky et al, 2017; Swan et al, 2016), pointing to a next logical step in drugging research: uncovering the specific lifestyle and routine activity factors that distinguish single-time drugging victims from recurring drugging victims. The percentage of recurring drugging victims uncovered in past studies highlights the importance of further investigation into the “once bitten, twice shy” hypothesis and the possible relationship between recurring victimization and behavioral changes (or lack thereof).…”

“…Coker, Follingstad, Bush, and Fisher (2016) estimated that 1 in 13 college women had ever experienced at least one incident in which they knew or suspected that someone put a drug into their drink without their knowledge. Swan et al (2016) also reported an estimated 1 in 13 prevalence of drugging victims in their study of male and female college students at three universities. Lasky, Fisher, Henriksen, and Swan (2017) found that college students who binge drink, are Greek life members, and are first-year undergraduates have higher rates of drugging victimization compared to other groups of college students.…”

Sinsice İşlenen Bir Suç: Madde ile Kolaylaştırılmış Cinsel Saldırılar ve Fail Tipolojisi

“…Bu yanıtlar cinsiyetlere göre farklılaşmaktadır. MKCS olgusunun mağduru olmuş ya da bu olaya tanık olan kadınlar, faillerin cinsellik ya da cinsel saldırı amacıyla içeceklere madde karıştırdığını düşünürken erkekler faillerin eğlence amaçlı bu davranışı gerçekleştirdiğini öne sürmektedir (22).…”