Alcohol and Sexual Communication Among Couples in the Laboratory

Summary

Intimate Partner Sexual Violence (IPSV) is a significant and understudied public health problem among couples, yet little is known about factors that contribute to IPSV perpetration. This proposal aims to determine the acute effect of alcohol and sexual communication on IPSV. In this study, 240 couples who drink alcohol will be recruited from the Metro-Denver area. Upon arrival to the laboratory, a trained research assistant will check the participant's ID, verify that they adhered to the pre-session guidelines, administer a breath test to ensure a breath alcohol content (BrAC) of 0.00 and conduct a field sobriety test. They will also obtain informed consent for each member of the couple separately. Female participants will take a pregnancy test to ensure a negative result. All participants will complete measures to reverify eligibility criteria and be weighed to determine their correct alcohol dose. Partners will separately complete a baseline survey measuring demographic factors, alcohol use, sexual communication, and daily experiences. After completing the survey, participants will be assigned a beverage condition (alcohol or no-alcohol control) and couples will be randomly assigned to a communication condition (direct verbal or indirect verbal). Participants will be seated in a room separate from their partner, where they will drink an alcoholic or no-alcohol control beverage. Upon reaching a breath alcohol content (BrAC) of .07, or immediately after drinking in the No-Alcohol control condition, participants will complete a laboratory assessment of sexual violence. The main hypotheses are: (1) one's alcohol use will increase IPSV toward partners who are also drinking, (2) one's alcohol use will increase IPSV among partners who use indirect, relative to direct, communication, and (3) actor alcohol use will increase IPSV toward partners who are also drinking and use indirect, relative to direct, communication.

Conditions

• Alcohol Intoxication
• Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)
• Communication

Interventions

OTHER

Direct Communication

Participants assigned to receive direct communication about their sexual preferences from their partner.

OTHER

Indirect Communication

Participants assigned to receive indirect communication about their sexual preferences from their partner.

DRUG

Alcohol (Ethanol)

Participants assigned to moderate alcohol dose condition (target BrAC .10%) with the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) approved alcohol administration procedures.

OTHER

No-Alcohol Control

Participants assigned to a no-alcohol control beverage.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

  collaborator NIH

• University of Colorado, Denver

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

FACTORIAL

Eligibility

Min Age

21 Years

Max Age

65 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-04-18

Primary Completion

2028-02-29

Completion

2028-02-29

Countries

• United States

Study Locations