NCJ Number
177917
Journal
Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume: 14 Issue: 6 Dated: June 1999 Pages: 603-625
Date Published
1999
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This study analyzed the role of alcohol in sexual assaults experienced by a national sample of female college students.
Abstract
The sample was representative of U.S. higher education enrollment by institution location and subject ethnicity and income, but northeast and southwest institutions were overrepresented, and the institutions in the west were underrepresented. Of the 3,187 women surveyed, more than half (54.2 percent) had experienced some form of sexual victimization and were included in the present study. The study included female victims of attempted rape and completed rape as well as less severe forms of sexual victimization, such as sexual contact and sexual coercion. All students were asked about sexual assault and characteristics of a specific incident if they had such an experience. An initial regression analysis was calculated with demographics (e.g., victim age, income), offender aggression, victim resistance, victim-offender relationship, type of social situation, victim and offender preassault alcohol use, and the victim alcohol abuse propensity measures as predictors of sexual victimization severity, the dependent variable. The findings show that victim alcohol abuse propensity and both victim and offender alcohol use prior to attack were directly associated with more severe sexual victimization of women, as measured by the Sexual Experiences Survey. The study findings suggest that alcohol use plays both direct and indirect roles in the outcomes of sexual assaults. Rape and alcohol abuse prevention efforts can benefit from incorporating information about alcohol's role in various assault contexts. 5 tables, 1 figure, and 41 references