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Alcohol and Sexual Assault

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Abstract

Conservative estimates of sexual assault prevalence suggest that 25 percent of American women have experienced sexual assault, including rape. Approximately one-half of those cases involve alcohol consumption by the perpetrator, victim, or both. Alcohol contributes to sexual assault through multiple pathways, often exacerbating existing risk factors. Beliefs about alcohol's effects on sexual and aggressive behavior, stereotypes about drinking women, and alcohol's effects on cognitive and motor skills contribute to alcohol-involved sexual assault. Despite advances in researchers' understanding of the relationships between alcohol consumption and sexual assault, many questions still need to be addressed in future studies.
Alcohol and Sexual Assault
Antonia Abbey, PhD; Tina Zawacki, MA; Philip O. Buck, MA;
A. Monique Clinton, MA; and Pam McAuslan, PhD
Source: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
Alcohol Health and Research World
Volume 25, Number 1, 2001
INTRODUCTION
Alcohol's Role in Sexual Assault
Sexual assault
1
of adolescent and adult women has been called a silent epidemic,
because it occurs at high rates yet is rarely reported to the authorities (Koss 1988).
Several reasons contribute to the underreporting of sexual assault cases. Many victims
do not tell others about the assault, because they fear that they will not be believed or
will be derogated, which, according to research findings, is a valid concern (Abbey et al.
1996b). Other victims may not realize that they have actually experienced legally
defined rape or sexual assault, because the incident does not fit the prototypic scenario
of "stranger rape." For example, in a study by Abbey and colleagues (1996b), a woman
wrote, "For years I believed it was my fault for being too drunk. I never called it 'rape'
until much more recently, even though I repeatedly told him 'no'."
This article summarizes current knowledge about alcohol's role in sexual assault and
discusses questions that remain to be answered by future research. Alcohol's
contribution to sexual assault cannot be discussed without also describing the general
characteristics of sexual assault; thus, this article alternates between providing
information about sexual assault in general and contrasting this information with
findings regarding alcohol-involved sexual assaults.
PREVALENCE
The Prevalence of Sexual Assault and Alcohol-Involved Sexual Assault
The prevalence of sexual assault, both involving and not involving alcohol use, cannot
be accurately determined, because it is usually unreported. Estimates of sexual assault
prevalence have been based on a variety of sources, including police reports, national
random samples of crime victims, interviews with incarcerated rapists, interviews with
victims who seek hospital treatment, general population surveys of women, and surveys
of male and female college students (Crowell and Burgess 1996). In such studies, the
estimates' adequacy varies with the sources of information used. Most researchers
agree that the most reliable estimates derive from studies using multi-item scales-that
is, measures containing several questions describing behaviors which constitute sexual
assault in simple, nonlegal language (Koss 1988).
Based on such measures, conservative estimates suggest that at least 25 percent of
American women have been sexually assaulted in adolescence or adulthood and that
18 percent have been raped. Furthermore, at least 20 percent of American men report
having perpetrated sexual assault and 5 percent report having committed rape (Crowell
and Burgess 1996; Spitzberg 1999; Tjaden and Thoennes 2000). Due to their
accessibility, college student surveys tend to employ the most thorough measures of
sexual assault by including the largest number of behaviorally specific questions. These
studies suggest that approximately 50 percent of college women have been sexually
assaulted, and 27 percent have experienced rape or attempted rape; in contrast, 25
percent of college men have committed sexual assault, and 8 percent have committed
rape or attempted rape (Crowell and Burgess 1996; Koss 1988; Spitzberg 1999).
At least one-half of all violent crimes involve alcohol consumption by the perpetrator,
the victim, or both (Collins and Messerschmidt 1993). Sexual assault fits this pattern.
Thus, across the disparate populations studied, researchers consistently have found
that approximately one-half of all sexual assaults are committed by men who have been
drinking alcohol. Depending on the sample studied and the measures used, the
estimates for alcohol use among perpetrators have ranged from 34 to 74 percent
(Abbey et al. 1994; Crowell and Burgess 1996). Similarly, approximately one-half of all
sexual assault victims report that they were drinking alcohol at the time of the assault,
with estimates ranging from 30 to 79 percent (Abbey et al. 1994; Crowell and Burgess
1996). It is important to emphasize, however, that although a woman's alcohol
consumption may place her at increased risk of sexual assault, she is in no way
responsible for the assault. The perpetrators are legally and morally responsible for
their behavior.
Finally, alcohol consumption by perpetrators and victims tends to co-occur--that is,
when one of them is drinking, the other one is generally drinking as well (Abbey et al.
1998; Harrington and Leitenberg 1994). Rarely is only the victim drinking alcohol. This
finding is not surprising, because in social situations (e.g., in bars or at parties), drinking
tends to be a shared activity. However, this finding complicates researchers' efforts to
disentangle the unique effects of alcohol consumption on the perpetrators' versus the
victims' behavior.
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CHARACTERISTICS
Common Characteristics of Non-Alcohol-Involved and Alcohol-Involved Sexual
Assaults
Sexual assault occurs most commonly among women in late adolescence and early
adulthood, although infants, as well as women in their 80s, have been raped (Crowell
and Burgess 1996). Most sexual assaults that are reported to the police occur between
strangers. These assaults, however, represent only a small proportion of all sexual
assaults. At least 80 percent of sexual assaults occur among persons who know each
other (Crowell and Burgess 1996).
Several studies in various populations have attempted to identify "typical"
characteristics of sexual assault. Among college students, a typical sexual assault
occurs on a date, at either the man's or the woman's home, and is preceded by
consensual kissing. In addition, the assault involves a single assailant who uses no
weapon, but twists the woman's arm or holds her down. The woman, who believes that
she has clearly emphasized her nonconsent, tries to resist through reasoning and by
physically struggling (Koss 1988).
In a representative community sample, the typical sexual assault scenario involved a
woman who was assaulted by a single assailant who was either an acquaintance or a
friend and who used both verbal and physical pressure, which the woman tried to resist
(Sorenson et al. 1987).
Although alcohol-involved and non-alcohol-involved sexual assaults share many
characteristics, some differences exist. For example, sexual assaults involving alcohol
consumption are more likely than other sexual assaults to occur between men and
women who do not know each other well (e.g., strangers, acquaintances, or casual
dates as opposed to steady dates or spouses). Furthermore, alcohol-involved sexual
assaults tend to occur at parties or in bars, rather than in either person's home (Abbey
et al. 1996a).
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RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ALCOHOL COMSUMPTION AND
SEXUAL ASSAULT
Investigating the Relationship Between Alcohol Consumption and Sexual Assault
Although alcohol consumption and sexual assault frequently co-occur, this
phenomenon does not prove that alcohol use causes sexual assault. Thus, in some
cases, the desire to commit a sexual assault may actually cause alcohol consumption
(e.g., when a man drinks alcohol before committing a sexual assault in order to justify
his behavior). Moreover, certain factors may lead to both alcohol consumption and
sexual assault. For example, some fraternities encourage both heavy drinking and
sexual exploitation of women (Abbey et al. 1996b). In fact, many pathways can prompt
a man to commit sexual assault, and not all perpetrators are motivated by the same
factors (Seto and Barbaree 1997). This article, therefore, describes several different
ways in which alcohol consumption by the perpetrator and the victim can encourage
sexual assault.
Methods for Investigating Alcohol's Role in Sexual Assault
Researchers have used two main approaches to examine alcohol's role in sexual
assault:
(1) Surveys of victims and perpetrators of sexual assault, and
(2) Laboratory studies that examine alcohol's effects on human behavior.
Each approach has its strengths and limitations.
Surveys
Sexual assault is a particularly private, personal crime, and it is impossible for
researchers to observe or fully simulate sexual assault. Thus, interviews with
victims and perpetrators serve as the primary source of information regarding
the circumstances under which the sexual assault occurred. Even the best-
constructed surveys, however, have some limitations. When studies are
conducted years after the sexual assault occurred, a person's recall may be
inaccurate, especially when the person was intoxicated at the time of the
assault. Moreover, some participants may provide a somewhat distorted
account of the events in order to avoid personal embarrassment. Finally, the
surveys conducted to date vary in quality (e.g., sample size and validity of
measures). This article focuses on only the findings of surveys that used large,
representative samples and measures with established reliability and validity.
Laboratory Studies
Laboratory studies are investigations in which participants consume either an
alcoholic or a nonalcoholic beverage before their sexual or aggressive behavior
is measured. The primary strength of this methodology is that it allows
researchers to establish cause and effect for a certain behavior, because the
participants are randomly assigned to the alcohol or nonalcohol condition. The
major disadvantage of these studies is that for obvious ethical reasons,
researchers cannot study directly the variable of interest (i.e., sexual assault).
Instead, they must use proxy measures that may not accurately represent
sexual assault experiences. For example, some investigators have used the
participants' responses to pornography as a proxy for sexual assault. Other
researchers have asked participants to read and respond to stories about
sexual assault. Although it is important to understand how people react to
sexual assault victims and perpetrators, responses to a story may not reflect
how people would behave if actually in a sexual assault situation.
Summary
In summary, surveys of victims and perpetrators cannot unequivocally
demonstrate a cause-effect relationship between alcohol consumption and
sexual assault, whereas laboratory studies cannot measure actual responses to
sexual assault. Consequently, researchers must conduct both types of studies.
Similar results obtained with both approaches increase confidence in the
studies' conclusions. The explanations of alcohol's role in sexual assault
reviewed in the following section have been examined in studies using such
complementary methodologies. Much more research on this topic is needed,
however, and specific suggestions for future research are presented at the end
of the article.
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ALCOHOL'S CONTRIBUTION TO SEXUAL ASSAULT
Pathways Through Which Alcohol Contributes to Sexual Assault
Distal and Proximal Influences
Theoretical explanations of sexual assault and of alcohol's role in sexual assault
consider both distal and proximal influences. Distal factors are influences that are
temporally far removed from the assault; in contrast, proximal factors are influences that
are temporally close to the assault.
Distal predictors of sexual assault include personality characteristics, attitudes, and
general life experiences of both the perpetrator and the victim. When examining alcohol
as a distal factor, researchers focus on the relationship between the perpetrator's and
the victim's long-term alcohol consumption patterns (e.g., regular heavy drinking) and
sexual assault history as well as on beliefs about alcohol's effects (i.e., expectancies)
that may encourage alcohol-involved sexual assault.
Proximal models of sexual assault focus on characteristics of the specific situations in
which sexual assault occurs, such as whether alcohol consumption occurs, whether the
setting is in an isolated area, and what the relationship is between the perpetrator and
the victim. This section discusses both of these approaches (also see table).
Perpetrators' Personality Characteristics, Attitudes, and Experiences
Several studies that compared the characteristics of men who had committed
sexual assault with those who had not noted the following differences (Seto and
Barbaree 1997):
With respect to personality traits, men who had committed sexual assault were
more hostile toward women and lower in empathy compared with other men.
With respect to attitudes, men who had committed sexual assault were more
likely than other men to endorse traditional stereotypes about gender roles--for
example, that men are responsible for initiating sex and women are responsible
for setting the limits.
Perpetrators of sexual assault also were more likely to endorse statements that
have been used to justify rape--for example, "women say 'no' when they mean
'yes'" and "women enjoy forced sex."
Finally, men who had committed sexual assaults were more likely to hold
adversarial beliefs about relationships between men and women (e.g., "all's fair
in love and war") and to consider the use of force in interpersonal relationships
acceptable.
With respect to their personal experiences, sexual assaulters were more likely
than other men to have experienced abuse or violence as a child, to have been
delinquent in adolescence, to have peers who viewed forced sex as
acceptable, and to have had early and frequent dating and sexual experiences.
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Heavy alcohol consumption also has been linked to sexual assault perpetration. In
studies involving two different subject groups (i.e., incarcerated rapists and college
students), men who reported that they drank heavily
2
were more likely than other men
to report having committed sexual assault (Abbey et al. 1994; Koss and Dinero 1988).
General alcohol consumption could be related to sexual assault through multiple
pathways.
First, men who often drink heavily also likely do so in social situations that
frequently lead to sexual assault (e.g., on a casual or spontaneous date at a
party or bar).
Second, heavy drinkers may routinely use intoxication as an excuse for
engaging in socially unacceptable behavior, including sexual assault (Abbey et
al. 1996b).
Third, certain personality characteristics (e.g., impulsivity and antisocial
behavior) may increase men's propensity both to drink heavily and to commit
sexual assault (Seto and Barbaree 1997).
Certain alcohol expectancies have also been linked to sexual assault. For example,
alcohol is commonly viewed as an aphrodisiac that increases sexual desire and
capacity (Crowe and George 1989). Many men expect to feel more powerful,
disinhibited, and aggressive after drinking alcohol. To assess the influence of such
expectancies on perceptions of sexual behavior, Norris and Kerr (1993) asked sober
college men to read a story about a man forcing a date to have sex. Study participants
reported that they would be more likely to behave like the man in the story when they
were drunk, rather than when they were sober, suggesting that they could imagine
forcing sex when intoxicated. Furthermore, college men who had perpetrated sexual
assault when intoxicated expected alcohol to increase male and female sexuality more
than did college men who perpetrated sexual assault when sober (Abbey et al. 1996b).
Men with these expectancies may feel more comfortable forcing sex when they are
drinking, because they can later justify to themselves that the alcohol made them act
accordingly (Kanin 1984).
Attitudes about women's alcohol consumption also influence a perpetrator's actions
and may be used to excuse sexual assaults of intoxicated women. Despite the
liberalization of gender roles during the past few decades, most people do not readily
approve of alcohol consumption and sexual behavior among women, yet view these
same behaviors among men with far more leniency (Norris 1994). Thus, women who
drink alcohol are frequently perceived as being more sexually available and
promiscuous compared with women who do not drink (Abbey et al. 1996b). Sexually
assaultive men often describe women who drink in bars as "loose," immoral women
who are appropriate targets for sexual aggression (Kanin 1984; Scully 1991). In fact,
date rapists frequently report intentionally getting the woman drunk in order to have
sexual intercourse with her (Abbey et al. 1996b).
Victims' Personality Characteristics, Attitudes, and Experiences
Parallel to research on perpetrators, numerous studies have compared the personality
characteristics, attitudes, and life experiences of women who were sexually assaulted
with those of other women. Overall, those analyses found only few significant effects
and explain only small amounts of variance, indicating that women's personal
characteristics are not strong predictors of victimization.
Some differences exist, however, among women who have been victims of sexual
assault and those who have not. Women who have been sexually assaulted are more
likely than are other women to have experienced childhood sexual abuse, to have
frequent sexual relationships, and to be heavy drinkers (Abbey et al. 1996a; Koss and
Dinero 1989). Explanations of these findings focus on the long-term effects of childhood
victimization (Wilsnack et al. 1997).
Some victims of childhood sexual abuse cope with the resulting stress and negative
emotions through early and frequent sexual relations and heavy drinking. These women
may also be more likely to drink alcohol in potential sexual situations as a means of
coping with their ambivalent feelings about sex. In turn, drinking in potential sexual
situations increases women's risk of being sexually assaulted, both because sexually
assaultive men may view them as easy targets and because the women may be less
able to resist effectively.
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Situational Factors
Sexual assault involves both sexual behavior and aggression; accordingly, researchers
must consider situational influences (i.e., cues) relevant to both behaviors, such as the
location or social situation in which the assault occurs. These cues may differ
somewhat depending on the type of sexual assault (i.e., stranger sexual assault versus
date sexual assault). In the case of sexual assaults that occur among strangers or
people who have just met, men who drink heavily may frequent settings, such as bars
and parties, where women also tend to drink heavily and where a man can easily find
an intoxicated woman to target for a possible sexual assault. In these situations, alcohol
may give men the "liquid courage" required to act on their desires and may reinforce
their stereotypes about drinking women. For example, an incarcerated rapist
interviewed by Scully (1991) stated that, "Straight, I don't have the guts to rape. I could
fight a man but not that." (p. 124)
Alcohol consumption is also used by date rapists to excuse their behavior. For example,
62 percent of the college date rapists interviewed by Kanin (1984) felt that they had
committed rape because of their alcohol consumption. These rapists did not see
themselves as "real criminals," because real criminals used weapons to assault
strangers. In fact, some men may purposely get drunk when they want to act sexually
aggres-ive, knowing that intoxication will provide them with an excuse for their socially
inappropriate behavior.
As described earlier, at least 80 percent of all sexual assaults occur during social
interaction, typically on a date. The fact that sexual assault often happens in situations
in which consensual sex is a possible outcome means that a man's interpretation of the
situation can influence his responses. Consequently, additional situational factors are
relevant to these types of sexual assaults. For example, American men are socialized
to be the initiators of sexual interactions. Consequently, if a man is interested in having
sex with a woman, he is likely to feel that he should make the first move. Initial sexual
moves are usually subtle in order to reduce the embarrassment associated with
potential rejection. Both men and women are used to this indirect form of establishing
sexual interest and usually manage to make their intentions clear and save face if the
other person is not interested (Abbey et al. 1996b). However, because the cues are
subtle and sometimes vague, miscommunication can occur, particularly if
communication skills are impaired by alcohol use.
As male-female interaction progresses, a woman who has been misperceived as being
interested in sex may realize that her companion is reading more into her friendliness
than she intended. However, she may not feel comfortable giving a direct message of
sexual disinterest, because traditional female gender roles emphasize the importance
of being nice and "letting men down easy." The man, in turn, may not take an indirect
approach to expressing sexual disinterest seriously. Research on the power of
stereotypes, expectancies, and self-fulfilling prophecies demonstrate that when people
have an expectation about a situation or another person, they tend to observe and
recall primarily the cues that fit their hypothesis and to minimize or ignore the cues that
contradict their hypothesis. Consequently, when a man hopes that a woman is
interested in having sex with him, he will pay most attention to the cues that fit his
expectation and disregard cues that do not support his expectation. Studies with both
perpetrators and victims have confirmed that the man's misperception of the woman's
degree of sexual interest is a significant predictor of sexual assault (Abbey et al. 1996a,
1998).
The process just described can occur even in the absence of alcohol use. However,
alcohol consumption can exacerbate the likelihood of misperception, thereby increasing
the chances of sexual assault. Before describing these dynamics, the laboratory
research findings on alcohol's effects on aggressive and sexual behavior should be
reviewed.
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TABLE 1
Summary of Explanations for Alcohol-Related Sexual Assault,
Including Distal Factors, Which Are Temporarily Removed From the
Assault, and Personal Factors, Which Are Temporarily Close to the
Assault
Factors
Perpetrators Victims
Distal
Factors
General, heavy
alcohol
consumption
Alcohol
expectancies about
sex, aggression,
and disinhibition
Stereotypes about
drinking women
being sexually
available and
appropriate targets
General,
heavy alcohol
consumption
Childhood
sexual abuse
Situational
Factors
Heavy drinkers
spend time in bars
and and at parties
Drinking is used as
an excuse for
socially
unacceptable
behavior
Alcohol's cognitive
impairments
enhance
misperception of
the woman's
friendly cues as
sexual
Alcohol's cognitive
impairments
facilitate an
aggressive
response if the man
feels he has been
"led on"
Heavy
drinkers
spend time in
bars and and
at parties
Alcohol's
motor
impairments
reduce ability
to evaluate
risk
Alcohol's
motor
impairments
reduce ability
to resist
effectively
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General Research on Alcohol's Effects on Aggressive and Sexual Behavior
To determine which alcohol effects are attributable to alcohol's pharmacology and
which are attributable to culturally learned beliefs, researchers have utilized the
balanced placebo design or some of its recent modifications (Martin and Sayette 1993;
Rohsenow and Marlatt 1981). In the standard balanced placebo study, participants are
randomly assigned to one of the following four groups:
Participants who expect and receive an alcoholic beverage
Participants who expect an alcoholic beverage but receive a nonalcoholic
beverage
Participants who expect a nonalcoholic beverage but receive an alcoholic
beverage
Participants who expect and receive a nonalcoholic beverage.
With this experimental design, effects that occur only in participants who received an
alcoholic beverage, whether or not they expected it, can be considered to result from
alcohol's pharmacological actions. Conversely, effects that occur only in participants
who expect to receive alcohol, whether or not they actually consume an alcoholic
beverage, can be considered to result from alcohol expectancies.
Researchers who have examined the pharmacological versus psychological effects of
alcohol have come to different conclusions depending on whether the variable of
interest in the outcome was aggression or sexuality. The effects of alcohol on
aggression appear to be principally pharmacological. Thus, in studies using the
balanced placebo design, alcohol's effects were usually observed in the participants
who consumed alcohol, but not in the participants who only expected to consume
alcohol (Ito et al. 1996). In addition, aggressiveness increased with the alcohol dose
(Taylor and Chermack 1993).
Most investigators agree that alcohol's effects on aggressive behavior are mediated by
alcohol-induced cognitive deficits. Alcohol consumption disrupts higher order cognitive
processes -- including abstraction, conceptualization, planning, and problem-solvin --
making it difficult for the drinker to interpret complex stimuli. Thus, when under the
influence of alcohol, people have a narrower perceptual field and can attend only to the
most obvious (i.e., salient) cues in a given situation (Taylor and Chermack 1993). In
aggression-inducing situations, the cues that usually inhibit aggressive behavior (e.g.,
concerns about future consequences or a sense of morality) are typically less salient
than feelings of anger and frustration. Therefore, when a person is intoxicated,
inhibitory cues are ignored or minimized, making aggression seem like the most
reasonable response.
In contrast, studies of alcohol's influence on sexual behavior have found more
psychological effects. In men, high alcohol doses generally reduce physiological sexual
responding, whereas low and moderate alcohol doses increase subjective sexual
arousal. Many studies have demonstrated that men who believe they have consumed
alcohol experience greater physiological and subjective sexual arousal in response to
erotic materials depicting consensual and forced sex than do men who believe they
have consumed a non-alcoholic beverage, regardless of what they actually drank
(Crowe and George 1989).
Fewer studies have examined alcohol's effects on sexual behavior in women, and the
results have been inconsistent. This finding is generally explained in terms of society's
negative messages regarding women's alcohol consumption and sexuality (Norris
1994). Thus, sexual behavior and drunken excess are considered less acceptable in
women than in men, and unlike men, women must be concerned about being labeled
as loose, or promiscuous. In addition, women are concerned about their increased
vulnerability to sexual and nonsexual aggression when intoxicated. Consequently,
women's expectancies about alcohol's sexual effects are less positive than men's
expectancies, because the social costs associated with alcohol use and sexual
behavior are greater for women.
In summary, research suggests that alcohol exerts its effects on aggressive behavior
principally through its pharmacological effects on cognitive processing, whereas
alcohol's effects on sexual behavior occur through pharmacological processes as well
as psychological expectancies. Crowe and George (1989) summarized the literature by
arguing that expectancies reduce "inhibitory conflict, enabling alcohol-induced cognitive
impairments to disinhibit behavior. As inebriation increases, therefore, inhibition is
reduced both by expectancies and by increasing inability to process inhibitory cues." (p.
383)
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Alcohol's Effects in Sexual Assault Situations
Abbey and colleagues (1994, 1996b) have developed a model to explain the role of
alcohol in sexual assaults perpetrated by acquaintances. The model suggests that
alcohol acts at two distinct points during the interaction between the perpetrator and the
victim to increase the likelihood of sexual assault.
The first point is during the early stages of the interaction, when the man is evaluating
the likelihood that his companion wants to have sex with him. This evaluation is an
ongoing process. During a date or other social interaction, many points occur at which a
man evaluates the potential sexual meaning of a female companion's verbal or non-
verbal cues. Alcohol can contribute to the misperception of the woman's cues in such a
way that the man perceives her as being more encouraging than she really is because
of alcohol's effects on his cognitive functioning. The woman experiences the same
cognitive deficits as the man does if the woman also consumes alcohol. Thus, if she
feels that she has made it clear that she is not interested in sex at this point, alcohol
consumption will make her less likely to process the man's cues indicating that he has
misread her intentions.
This model is difficult to test directly, however, because researchers must rely on
participants' retrospective recall of sexual assault situations. Nevertheless, a study
among college men found that increased alcohol consumption in social situations
increased the participants' misperceptions of women's cues (Abbey et al. 1998). The
extent of such misperceptions, in turn, was related to the frequency with which the men
committed sexual assault. In a parallel study among college women, drinking in
situations in which men misperceived the women's sexual intentions increased the
likelihood that the women became victims of a sexual assault (Abbey et al. 1996a). In
addition, Testa and Livingston (1999) found that women who had been drinking prior to
being sexually assaulted reported that their intoxication made them take risks that they
normally would avoid. For example, the women felt comfortable accepting a ride home
from a party with a man they did not know well or letting an intoxicated man into their
apartment.
The second point at which alcohol plays a role in sexual assault is when the man forces
sex on a woman against the woman's wishes. Alcohol is not necessary in this scenario,
because some men feel entitled to force sex on women if they feel that they have been
"led on" or teased (Abbey et al. 1994). The cognitive deficits associated with alcohol
consumption, however, can enhance a man's likelihood of behaving aggressively,
because an intoxicated man may have more difficulty generating non-aggressive
solutions to gaining sexual satisfaction. Thus, when a man is intoxicated, he can more
easily focus on his immediate sexual gratification, sense of entitlement, and anger,
rather than on his internalized sense of appropriate behavior, future regret, the victim's
suffering, or the possibility that he will be punished for his actions.
Furthermore, in laboratory studies, intoxicated men tend to retaliate strongly when they
feel threatened, and once they begin behaving aggressively, they can only be stopped
with great difficulty (Taylor and Chermack 1993). Accordingly, if an intoxicated man
feels that his female companion has implicitly agreed to sex, he may perceive any
resistance as a threat and thus become aggressive in retaliation. The effect of his
aggressive behavior is further exacerbated if the woman is intoxicated, because
alcohol's effects on motor skills may limit her ability to resist effectively (Koss and
Dinero 1989).
To support the aforementioned hypotheses, researchers must demonstrate that sexual
assaults involving intoxicated perpetrators and/or intoxicated victims are more likely
than other sexual assaults to include extreme levels of forced sex, more violent
behavior, and more injuries to the victim. In fact, some studies indicate that completed
rapes (as opposed to attempted rapes) are more common among intoxicated victims
than among sober victims, suggesting that intoxicated women are less able than sober
women to resist an assault effectively (Abbey et al. 1996b; Harrington and Leitenberg
1994).
Surprisingly, recent studies focusing on alcohol consumption among men have not
confirmed that drinking men are more likely to successfully commit rape, as opposed to
attempt rape but fail in their efforts. Nonetheless, more serious victim injuries have
been associated with alcohol consumption by the perpetrator (Martin and Bachman
1998; Ullman et al. 1999). These studies, however, suffer from serious methodological
limitations with respect to measuring the perpetrators' alcohol consumption. The
investigators assessed only whether the perpetrators consumed any alcohol before the
assault and did not determine how much alcohol the perpetrators consumed or how far
in advance of the assaults the drinking occurred.
Consequently, the studies did not provide conclusions as to how intoxicated the
perpetrators were at the times of the assaults. For example, men who had consumed
only one drink several hours before the assault may not have been intoxicated at all.
Conversely, men who were extremely intoxicated may have experienced sexual and
motor impairments that made sexual assault completion unlikely.
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RESEARCH
Suggestions for Future Research
1. Further Research Using Surveys and Laboratory Studies
As noted earlier in this article, investigators have used two distinct research
methodologies to gather information about alcohol's role in sexual assault: (1) surveys
of victims and perpetrators and (2) laboratory studies. Further research using both
methodologies would enable investigators to describe more accurately the
characteristics of alcohol-involved sexual assault and to test potential causal
mechanisms.
Several limitations exist in current surveys of sexual assault. First, most researchers
only collect data at one point in time, making it impossible to distinguish which beliefs or
experiences came first, those relating to alcohol use or those relating to sexual
experiences.
For example, Wilsnack and colleagues (1997) found that heavy drinking can be both an
antecedent and a consequence of sexual assault. Long-term prospective studies that
follow the same group of people for several years are needed to determine whether
heavy drinking precedes the sexual assault or vice versa.
Similarly, such prospective studies must measure other alcohol-related factors (e.g.,
alcohol expectancies and usual alcohol consumption in social situations) before and
after a sexual assault occurs in order to demonstrate whether these factors are causes
or consequences of sexual assault.
2. Additional Interaction Among Researchers
Second, sexual assault researchers and alcohol researchers must interact more closely
to identify causes contributing to alcohol-involved sexual assault. For example, sexual
assault researchers have identified numerous personality and attitudinal variables that
predict sexual assault perpetration (Crowell and Burgess 1996). Similarly, alcohol
researchers have examined personality and situational variables related to sexual and
aggressive behavior in the laboratory (Taylor and Chermack 1993).
Additional research is needed, however, to determine the extent to which some of the
concepts examined in laboratory studies of alcohol's effects on aggression and
sexuality help explain alcohol-involved sexual assault. For example, if intoxication
encourages sexual assault through its effects on cognitive skills, do individual
differences in general cognitive functioning relate to alcohol-involved sexual assault
perpetration? Alternatively, impulsivity has been linked to both aggression and sexual
assault; however, researchers have not yet investigated whether impulsive sexual
assault perpetrators respond more aggressively when drinking.
3. Increased Awareness of the Alcohol Literature
Third, most sexual assault researchers are not well versed in the alcohol literature;
accordingly, their measurements of alcohol consumption are often inadequate. For
example, study participants often are asked only the simple dichotomous question, "Did
you drink alcohol?" To better assess perpetrators' and victims' level of intoxication and
the resulting impairment, investigators must ask additional questions about the number
of drinks consumed, the time period in which they were consumed, the person's normal
drinking level and drinking pace, and the degree of subjective intoxication.
Although no set of retrospective self-report items allows researchers to calculate a
person's blood alcohol concentration precisely, more detailed questions, such as the
ones listed, will enable scientists to address more complex hypotheses about alcohol's
role in sexual assault, such as the following:
Is the perpetrator's level of intoxication linearly related to the level of force used
or is the relationship more complex such that at the highest levels of
intoxication, cognitive and motor skills are so impaired that the level of force
declines?
When a woman drinks more or faster than usual, does she increase her risk of
being sexually assaulted?
Additionally, because in most alcohol-involved sexual assaults both the perpetrator and
the victim drink, the independent influences of the perpetrator's and the victim's alcohol
consumption are difficult to examine. At a minimum, researchers must acknowledge
this problem (Martin and Bachman 1998). Ideally, investigators should conduct studies
with large enough samples to allow analyses of the separate effects of perpetrators'
and victims' alcohol consumption.
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4. Qualitative Research
Fourth, qualitative research will enable researchers to understand more fully the
mechanisms through which alcohol contributes to sexual assault -- for example, by
addressing the following types of questions:
How often do men select a woman as a target because she has been drinking,
and what strategies do the men use to isolate and control her?
Does alcohol's role differ in sexual assaults among strangers, acquaintances,
casual dates, and steady dating partners?
When a man is drinking alcohol, does he miss cues indicating that the woman
is not interested in sex or does he simply not care about her feelings?
What is the role of peer pressure in encouraging men both to drink heavily and
to force sex?
What types of warning signs occur (and which of those signs do women tend to
observe) before a sexual assault, and do intoxicated women notice fewer cues
or interpret them as less threatening than do sober women?
What types of environmental factors encourage alcohol-induced sexual
assault? Is it more common at certain types of bars or parties?
Detailed interviews with victims and perpetrators from different ethnic and cultural
backgrounds are needed to better understand which pathways are most common under
what circumstances.
5. Laboratory Research
Finally, because even the best-constructed prospective interview study allows for
alternative causal explanations, further laboratory research also is needed. In such
studies, researchers can randomly assign participants to groups receiving alcoholic or
nonalcoholic beverages, thereby insuring that differences in the participants' behavior
result from alcohol consumption, rather than from other factors, such as personality
characteristics or environmental circumstances.
A major challenge is to develop reasonable yet ethical proxies for sexual assault that
can be used in the laboratory. Furthermore, most laboratory studies currently
conducted on alcohol include only men. Consequently, more laboratory research with
female participants is needed to increase understanding of alcohol's effects on
women's sexual perceptions and behavior and to allow for direct comparisons of men's
and women's responses. Such studies do not always need to simulate sexual assault to
inform theory about it. Laboratory research that examines the processes through which
alcohol exacerbates miscommunication between women and men and influences the
cognitive and affective responses of women and men to sexual disagreements can help
guide prevention programs.
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TABLE 2
Glossary
Acquaintance rape: Rape committed by someone that the victim
knows, such as an acquaintance, friend, co-worker, date, or
spouse. Most rapes are acquaintance rapes.
Alcohol expectancies: A person's beliefs about the effects that
alcohol consumption will have on himself or herself as well as on
other people.
Alcohol expectancy set: The practice in laboratory research of
telling participants that they have consumed alcohol, regard-less
of what the participants actually are given to drink.
Alcohol-involved rape: Rape in which the perpetrator, the victim,
or both are under the influence of alcohol at the time of the
incident.
Attempted rape: An act that fits the definition of rape, in terms of
the strategies used, but does not result in penetration.
Childhood sexual abuse: Sexual abuse that occurs to a child
(the term "child" is generally defined as age 13 or younger).
Date rape: Rape committed by someone that the victim is dating.
Among college students, approximately one-half of all rapes are
committed by a date.
Marital rape: Rape committed by the victim's spouse. Marital rape
often is committed in association with verbal and physical abuse.
Rape: A sexual assault involving some type of penetration (i.e.,
vaginal, oral, or anal) due to force or threat of force; lack of
consent; or inability of the victim to provide consent due to age,
intoxication, or mental status. Rape laws vary by State; however,
the aforementioned description conforms to the definition used at
the Federal level and by most States.
Sexual assault: The full range of forced sexual acts, including
forced touching or kissing; verbally coerced intercourse; and
vaginal, oral, and anal penetration. Researchers typically include
in this category only acts of this nature that occur during
adolescence or adulthood; in other words, childhood sexual abuse
is defined separately. Both men and women can be sexually
assaulted and can commit sexual assault. The vast majority of
sexual assaults, however, involve male perpetrators and female
victims.
Stranger rape: Rape committed by someone that the victim does
not know. Less than 20 percent of rapes are committed by
strangers, although most people believe that stranger rape is the
prototypical rape.
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