Alcohol's effects on women's risk detection in a date-rape vignette.

UNLABELLED Researchers have established that alcohol is a risk factor for date rape for both victims and perpetrators. OBJECTIVE The authors tried to experimentally address the link between alcohol consumption and women's risk detection abilities in a risky sexual vignette. PARTICIPANTS The authors recruited 42 women from undergraduate classrooms at a large midwestern university and randomly assigned them to drink an alcoholic (.04 blood alcohol content) or a placebo beverage. METHODS Participants completed self-report inventories and listened to a date-rape audiotaped vignette, which began with consensual sexual behavior and culminated in date rape, and the authors asked them to determine if and when the man should refrain from making further sexual advances. RESULTS Student's t tests and Pearson r correlations showed that women who consumed alcohol and exhibited high levels of rape myth acceptance showed a significant decrease in risk recognition (p = .000 and .001, respectively). CONCLUSION These findings highlight the significance of even small amounts of alcohol on behavior and cognition in women who are self-reported experienced drinkers.