Sexual assault and alcohol use
Sexual assault refers to any physical attack involving forced or nonconsensual sexual activity. While alcohol consumption does not directly cause sexual assault, there is a strong correlation between the two. Research indicates that alcohol can impair cognitive functions, leading to disinhibition and inappropriate behaviors, which may increase the likelihood of sexual assault. Studies suggest that a significant number of sexual assaults involve alcohol consumption by either the perpetrator, the victim, or both, particularly among college students, where over 70% of assaults occur under the influence of alcohol.
The dynamics of sexual assault often reveal distinct patterns based on substance use, with mutual intoxication typically occurring between acquaintances, while assaults by sober perpetrators show different socio-economic backgrounds for victims. Psychological factors, such as expectations of power and perceptions of sexual interest, play a crucial role in the behavior of male perpetrators, especially those who drink heavily. Furthermore, alcohol can also serve as a tool for perpetrators to incapacitate victims. Addressing sexual assault in the context of alcohol use requires education on consent and responsibility, emphasizing that the onus lies solely on the perpetrator, regardless of circumstances involving alcohol. Prevention strategies continue to evolve, focusing on psychological treatment and educational programs to reduce the risk of sexual violence.
Sexual assault and alcohol use
DEFINITION: Sexual assault is a physical attack by means of forced or nonconsensual sex. Alcohol consumption does not cause sexual assault, but they are highly correlated. Alcohol-induced cognitive impairment disinhibits inappropriate behavior by making it more difficult to process inhibitory cues.
Prevalence
The prevalence of sexual assault, involving or not involving alcohol intoxication, cannot be accurately determined because it is often unreported. Estimates are based on reports from law enforcement and on random samples of crime victims, interviews with incarcerated rapists and others imprisoned for assault, interviews with victims who seek hospital treatment, general population surveys of women, and surveys of male and female college students.
Some research suggests that approximately one-half of all sexual assaults involve alcohol consumption by the perpetrator, the victim, or both; 34 to 74 percent occur when the perpetrator is under the influence of alcohol; and 30 to 79 percent are associated with the victim’s alcohol consumption. Other studies indicate that around 30 percent of all sexual assaults are committed by individuals who have been drinking, and on college campuses, over 70 percent of sexual assaults involve alcohol.
Findings suggest two distinct subtypes of sexual assault involving substance abuse: those involving mutual substance use and those in which only the perpetrator abused a substance. Assaults involving mutual substance abuse tend to occur between acquaintances rather than intimates, to originate outside the home, and to result in rape or attempted rape rather than sexual coercion. Women who were assaulted by a substance-using perpetrator but who did not use a substance themselves reported lower income, lower rates of employment, and the highest rates of partner physical aggression and injury. When assault occurs in close relationships, women whose partners abuse alcohol are up to six times more likely than other women to be assaulted by their partners.
Sexual assaults involving alcohol are more likely than other sexual assaults to occur between men and women who know each other but not well (for example, dates, acquaintances, and friends). These assaults also tend to occur at parties or in bars. The typical scenario involves a woman who is assaulted by a single man who uses verbal and physical pressure, which the woman attempts to resist.
Psychological Correlations
Men who report that they drink heavily are more likely than other men to report having committed sexual assault. A man’s behavior can be influenced by certain situations, such as when consensual sex is a possible outcome. Research demonstrates that when people have an expectation about a situation, they tend to more heavily observe cues that fit that expectation. Studies confirm that a man’s misperception of a woman’s degree of sexual interest is a significant predictor of sexual assault.
Many men expect to feel more powerful, disinhibited, and aggressive after drinking alcohol. Men with these expectations may feel more comfortable forcing sex when they are drinking because they can later justify that the alcohol made them act accordingly. Heavy drinkers may routinely use intoxication as an excuse for engaging in socially unacceptable behavior, including sexual assault. A perpetrator may also use alcohol to incapacitate the person assaulted. Furthermore, certain personality characteristics (such as impulsivity and antisocial behavior) may increase a man’s propensity both to drink heavily and to commit sexual assault.
Additionally, research indicates a clear link between post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), alcohol use disorder, and sexual assault. PTSD and experiencing sexual assault often increase alcohol consumption. Sexual assault may or may not lead to PTSD, but regardless, statistics show alcohol use increases following an assault. Although it is common, it is only a short-term solution. Therapy and treatment are critical.
Pharmacologic Correlations
Laboratory studies that examine alcohol’s effects on responses to sexual and aggressive stimuli have shown that alcohol consumption disrupts higher-order cognitive processes, including abstraction, conceptualization, planning, and problem-solving. As a result, alcohol consumption may lessen a perpetrator’s ability to generate nonaggressive solutions to sexual satisfaction.
Intoxication narrows the perceptual field of drinkers so that they focus on what is most important to them in a given situation. Hence, a perpetrator will focus only on social cues that indicate interest in sexual activity. Cognitive deficits lead to a focus on gratification, sense of entitlement, and anger, rather than on empathy and consequences. Once aggression is begun, it is difficult to stop. Alcohol’s effects on motor skills may limit the victim’s ability to resist effectively, thus heightening the likelihood of a completed assault.
Mitigation
Sexual assault and heavy drinking are separate issues. A perpetrator must recognize that sexual contact without consent is sexual violence, whether alcohol is involved or not. However, it is useful to focus on the use of alcohol in dating and sexual situations in models of alcohol’s role in sexual assault, rather than on general drinking patterns, because the level of alcohol consumption does not differ between perpetrators and non-perpetrators.
Research continues to investigate prevention methods for sexual assault. Offense-focused psychological treatment has shown some promise for educating and limiting sexual assault perpetrators, but further research is needed. Effective sex offender programs teach four principles of sexual consent: privilege, permission, justification/intent, and responsibility.
- Privilege: Sex is never a right; it is always a privilege.
- Permission: A person needs to be sober enough to know whether or not they have been given permission; and the other person must be capable, at the time, of giving permission. If someone is passed out, unconscious, or asleep, they are legally incapable of giving consent.
- Justification/Intent: No minimization of the use of aggression as a result of alcohol or drug use, stress, deviant arousal patterns, loss of control, or misunderstandings.
- Responsibility: The only person who ever is responsible for a sexual assault is the perpetrator.
Bibliography
Abbey, Antonia, et al. “Alcohol and Sexual Assault.” Alcohol Health and Research World, vol. 25, no. 1, 2001, pp. 43-51. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4484576.
“Alcohol Facts and Statistics.” National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 2024, www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohols-effects-health/alcohol-topics/alcohol-facts-and-statistics. Accessed 20 Sept. 2024.
"Alcohol & Sexual Assault." Butler University, 2024, www.butler.edu/well-being/counseling-services/alcohol-sexual-assault. Accessed 20 Sept. 2024.
Dawgert, Sarah. Substance Use and Sexual Violence: Building Prevention and Intervention Responses, A Guide for Counselors and Advocates. Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape, 2009.
LeBeau, Marc A., and Ashraf Mozayani, editors. Drug-Facilitated Sexual Assault: A Forensic Handbook. Academic, 2001.
Parker, Robert Nash, and Kevin J. McCaffree. Alcohol and Violence: The Nature of the Relationship and the Promise of Prevention. Lexington, 2013. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost).
Tyler, Nichola, et al. “Does Treatment for Sexual Offending Work?” Current Psychiatry Reports, vol. 23, no. 8, 1 July 2021, doi:10.1007/s11920-021-01259-3.