Use of drinking protective behavioral strategies in association to sex-related alcohol negative consequences: The mediating role of alcohol consumption.

Abstract

Alcohol use has been implicated as a risk factor for sexual negative consequences, such as unprotected sexual intercourse. The present research was conducted to examine the relationship between drinking protective behavioral strategies and consensual sex-related alcohol negative consequences, and whether this relationship varied by gender. Additionally, typical number of drinks during sexual behavior was evaluated as a potential mediator of this association. Heavy drinking, sexually active college students (N = 297, 50.2% female) completed self-report measures of drinking protective behavioral strategies, alcohol consumption, and sex-related alcohol negative consequences. Findings indicated that women who used drinking protective behavioral strategies more frequently were less likely to experience sex-related alcohol negative consequences whereas this relationship was not significant for men. For women, this relationship was mediated by the typical number of drinks consumed during sexual behavior. The current research demonstrates that use of drinking protective behavioral strategies is related to a reduction in women's sex-related risks when drinking. Findings are discussed in terms of alcohol myopia theory. Implications for interventions aimed to reduce higher risk sexual behavior among college students are discussed. Keywordsalcohol; alcohol-related problems; protective behavioral strategies; sexual behavior; sexual risk taking Please send correspondence concerning this article to Melissa A. Lewis, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Box 354944, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195. Phone: 206-221-6932 Fax: 206-616-1705 lewisma@u.washington.edu. Publisher's Disclaimer: The following manuscript is the final accepted manuscript. It has not been subjected to the final copyediting, fact-checking, and proofreading required for formal publication. It is not the definitive, publisher-authenticated version. The American Psychological Association and its Council of Editors disclaim any responsibility or liabilities for errors or omissions of this manuscript version, any version derived from this manuscript by NIH, or other third parties. The published version is available at www.apa.org/journals/adb NIH Public Access (ACHA, 2008;Henshaw, 1998). The use of alcohol and other substances appears to be related to sex-related risks. Previous research indicates that young adults who report substance abuse are at greater risk for STIs (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2007) and unprotected sex when drinking (Hingson, Heeren, Winter, & Wechsler, 2005). Because of the negative consequences associated with alcohol-related sexual risk taking behaviors, it is critical to identify factors that may decrease these consequences. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between drinking protective behavioral strategies (PBS) and consensual sexrelated alcohol negative consequences among college students, and whether this relationship varied by gende...

A Dual-Process Examination of Alcohol-Related Consequences Among First-Year College Students

“…The specific manner in which protective behaviors influence drinking and consequences remains somewhat unclear. Previous work examining the unique association between protective behaviors and consequences has used both global measures of protective behaviors (Delva et al, 2004;Martens et al, 2004) and different subscales that include drinking protective behaviors (e.g., Ray et al, 2012) and more general harm-reduction items (Lewis et al, 2010). In the present study, protective behaviors are uniquely conceptualized as either drinking specific or general, non-drinking specific.…”

Alcohol Mixed with Energy Drink Use and Sexual Risk-Taking: Casual, Intoxicated, and Unprotected Sex

“…Gender differences in self-protective sexual behavior may reflect dyadic power imbalances that limit women's ability to negotiate safer sex, 54 particularly in drinking situations that undermine self-protective strategies. 46,52 While some previous studies have failed to find a significant link between alcohol use and unprotected sex, 17 others have found that the connection between drinking and condom use is to some extent conditioned by gender. 19,54,59 However, in the present analysis, no gender/ AmED interaction was found for any of the three sexual risktaking outcomes; the relationships between AmED use and sexual risk-taking were robust across gender.…”

“…Many drinkers routinely use protective strategies to limit alcohol consumption (e.g., spacing drinks and avoiding drinking games) 44,45 or to ameliorate the consequences, sexual or otherwise, of impaired decision-making (e.g., carrying a ''just in case'' condom when partying, or employing a ''friends don't let friends hook up drunk'' buddy monitoring system). 46,47 AmED users may perceive less need to use such protective strategies, since they anticipate that the caffeine they consume will to some degree counteract the effects of the accompanying alcohol.…”

“…Given this context, compensatory vigilance plays a larger role in women's sexual decision-making than it does for their male peers. 46,52 To the extent that AmED use undermines women's perceived need for such protective behavioral strategies, its global association with risky sex should thus be stronger for women than for men.…”

Sexual Assault History and Its Association With the Use of Drinking Protective Behavioral Strategies Among College Women

“…Women with a sexual assault history drink more in general and also engage in more heavy episodic drinking (Miller & Downs, 1995;Ullman, 2003;Wilsnack et al, 2004), putting them at increased risk for sexual re-assault (Gidycz et al, 2007;Testa et al, 2010). The use of drinking protective behavioral strategies (PBS; e.g., alternating alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks) has been associated with decreased alcohol use and risk of alcohol-related negative consequences (Dimeff et al, 1999;Kulesza et al, 2010;Larimer & Cronce, 2007;Lewis et al, 2010Lewis et al, , 2011. Although preliminary evidence suggests that a sexual assault history is associated with not using drinking PBS (Palmer et al, 2010), it is not known whether different types of sexual assault (i.e., childhood vs. adolescent/adult assault and the perpetrators' tactics) differentially predict the use of PBS subtypes.…”