Clinical Research Directory

Alcohol & Men's Sexual Risk Behaviors

This project extends the investigators' previous research regarding the intersecting risks of alcohol, sexual risk behavior (SRB), and sexual aggression (SA) in male drinkers who have sex with women by examining the mediating and moderating roles of both intrapersonal and interpersonal emotional factors. While independent streams of research consistently document alcohol's role in SRB and SA, the investigators' work has demonstrated that these behaviors are related, and that alcohol exacerbates their likelihood both independently and synergistically. The researchers' investigations focus on a particular type of SRB: men's resistance to condom use with female partners who want to have protected sex. Condom use resistance (CUR) is common and normative among young male drinkers, with up to 80% of men reporting engaging in CUR. Of particular concern, research demonstrates that up to 42% of men report using coercive CUR tactics such as emotional manipulation, deception, condom sabotage, and force to obtain unprotected sex. Investigators will evaluate hypotheses that distal and proximal emotional and alcohol factors influence in-the-moment SRB/CUR intentions as well as daily alcohol use and SRB/CUR. The investigators will also examine whether the relationships among assessed variables are similar across experimental and naturalistic settings. That is, investigate the extent to which men's responses in the lab parallel their real-world drinking and SRB/CUR behaviors, particularly regarding self and partner emotions, empathy, and interpersonal stress.