Study: Female Drinkers More Likely to Encounter Sexual AggressionApril 26, 2004
Research Summary
A study of women attending a medium-sized university in New York finds that college women were nine times more likely to experience sexual aggression on occasions when they drank five or more drinks, Health Day News reported April 14.The study showed that college women who drank moderately were three times more likely to be sexually victimized than if they hadn't had a drink at all. In addition, college women who drank heavily were seven times more likely to experience nonsexual aggression, while moderate drinkers were three times more likely to be accosted compared to days when they didn't drink.
"We're not saying that drinking per se is the only reason this is occurring," said R. Lorraine Collins, a senior research scientist at the University of Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions. "We're just saying the risk increases with alcohol intake, and with heavier drinking the risk is even greater."
This is the first study to analyze college women's daily drinking behavior and both sexual and nonsexual victimization over a period of weeks. Based on the findings, researchers recommended that college women reduce their alcohol consumption so that they would be more aware and more capable of resisting sexual and nonsexual victimization.
"We need to be able to understand our environment to defend against the perpetrators," said Karen Johnson, executive vice president of the National Organization for Women. "That means that if you're going out drinking that you go out with friends who are not drinking."
The report was published in the April 2004 issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.
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