Women's condom use assertiveness and sexual risk-taking: Effects of alcohol intoxication and adult victimization

Abstract

This experiment examined relationships among adulthood victimization, sexual assertiveness, alcohol intoxication, and sexual risk-taking in female social drinkers (N = 161). Women completed measures of sexual assault and intimate partner violence history and sexual assertiveness before random assignment to 1 of 4 beverage conditions: control, placebo, low dose (.04%), or high dose (.08%). After drinking, women read a second-person story involving a sexual encounter with a new partner. As protagonist of the story, each woman rated her likelihood of condom insistence and unprotected sex. Victimization history and self-reported sexual assertiveness were negatively related. The less sexually assertive a woman was, the less she intended to insist on condom use, regardless of intoxication. By reducing the perceived health consequences of unprotected sex, intoxication indirectly decreased condom insistence and increased unprotected sex. Findings extend previous work by elucidating possible mechanisms of the relationship between alcohol and unprotected sex -perceived health consequences and situational condom insistence -and support the value of sexual assertiveness training to enhance condom insistence, especially since the latter relationship was robust to intoxication.Correspondence to: Susan A. Stoner. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. Control and Prevention, 2007). Because the risk of heterosexual transmission of HIV can be greatly reduced through consistent use of latex condoms (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, 2006), a major focus of HIVprevention efforts directed toward heterosexual women has been to strengthen sexual assertiveness, particularly condom negotiation and refusal of unprotected sex (Sikkema et al., 1995; Weinhardt et al., 1998). Survey research has suggested that higher sexual assertiveness is associated with lower sexual risk behavior (Noar, Morokoff, & Redding, 2002;Zamboni, Crawford, & Williams, 2000;Somlai et al., 1998) NIH Public Access Alcohol Intoxication and Condom UseA large number of studies have found a relationship between alcohol use and sexual risk-taking, particularly nonuse of condoms (Cooper, 2002). Most studies finding such a relationship have used survey methodologies assessing the global association between these variables. For example, in one study, level of alcohol consumption was found to be correlated with inconsistent condom use in HIV-infected injection drug users with a history of alcohol problems, and inconsistent condom use was more common for women than for men, statistically control...

Will It Help? Identifying Socialization Discourses That Promote Sexual Risk and Sexual Health Among African American Youth

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Substance Abuse, Violence, and HIV in Women: A Literature Review of the Syndemic

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