Men's Sexual Risk Behaviors: Alcohol, Sexual Aggression, and Emotional Factors

Summary

Although correct, consistent condom use can greatly reduce sexually transmitted infections and unplanned pregnancies, resistance of condom use is common among young adults. Young men's alcohol intoxication and sexual aggression history are predictive of greater condom use resistance and other sexual risk behaviors (e.g., unprotected sex). Moreover, emotional factors may play a role in these associations, suggesting a promising avenue for continued research. This project builds upon our prior research through investigation of the emotional mechanisms involved in young men's alcohol-related sexual risk behavior. This research addresses a critical knowledge gap and advances the field through the use of multiple methods designed to evaluate distal and proximal emotional factors implicated in alcohol-related sexual risk. Male drinkers aged 21-30 who use condoms inconsistently (N = 420) will first complete a screening procedure followed by a baseline survey that will assess relevant constructs, including emotional traits, emotion dysregulation tendencies, and alcohol expectancies. They will then complete a 30-day daily diary assessment of their daily emotional states, daily coping motives pertaining to drinking and sex, and daily drinking and sexual risk behaviors to evaluate daily relationships among these factors. The same participants will complete an in-lab experiment assessing in-the-moment effects of alcohol intoxication and provocation on emotional states and sexual risk intentions. Statistical analyses will be used to examine the daily influence of emotional states and coping motives on alcohol consumption and sexual risk behaviors and the experimental effects of alcohol intoxication and provocation on emotional states and other mediators, as well as sexual risk intentions. Moderating effects of emotion dysregulation tendencies will also be examined, and the linkages between event-level and experimental relationships will be investigated. This research is both significant and innovative in that it will address the public health concern of men's sexual risk behaviors, including condom use resistance; will evaluate the role of emotional processes in men's alcohol-related sexual risk; and will use multiple methods to gather complementary types of data that will elucidate the mechanisms underlying alcohol-related sexual risk behaviors and provide an empirical evidence base from which to develop and inform prevention and intervention programs.

Conditions

• Sexual Behavior
• Alcohol Drinking
• Sexual Aggression
• Emotions

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

High provocation manipulation

Participants will engage in a laboratory task and will then report their emotions following the task.

BEHAVIORAL

Low provocation manipulation

Participants will engage in a laboratory task and will then report their emotions following the task.

BEHAVIORAL

Alcoholic beverage

Participants will consume an alcoholic beverage (vodka mixed with fruit juice) that is the equivalent of 3-4 standard alcoholic drinks based on their body weight.

BEHAVIORAL

Non-alcoholic beverage

Participants will consume a nonalcoholic beverage (fruit juice) that is the isovolemic equivalent of 3-4 standard alcoholic drinks based on their body weight.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

  collaborator NIH

• Georgia State University

  collaborator OTHER

• Arizona State University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Kelly Davis, PhD · Arizona State University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

SINGLE

Model

FACTORIAL

Eligibility

Min Age

21 Years

Max Age

30 Years

Sex

MALE

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2019-03-07

Primary Completion

2023-07-05

Completion

2023-07-05

Countries

• United States

Study Locations