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Alcohol and Risky Sexual Behavior Among Heavy Drinking College Students

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An Erratum to this article was published on 15 October 2010

Abstract

Multiple event-level methodology was used to examine the relation between risky sexual behavior and alcohol use among sexually active, heavy drinking college students (N = 221). Using a structured timeline followback interview, participants reported their sexual, alcohol, and drug use behaviors over a 3-month period. Over 2,700 vaginal or anal sexual events were reported from 177 participants. Overall, condom use was not associated with heavy or non-heavy alcohol consumption among those reporting both sexual events concurrent with heavy drinking and when no alcohol was consumed. Results from multilevel regression analyses revealed a more complex pattern. Among women, but not men, less condom use was associated with steady versus casual sexual partners, but partner type interacted with alcohol consumption such that less condom use occurred when heavy drinking preceded sex with steady partners. At the event-level, alcohol consumption among heavy drinking college students leads to risky sexual behavior but the relation differs by gender and partner type.

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Notes

  1. For the final sample (N = 175), 534 sexual events concurrent with alcohol consumption were reported (57 events concurrent with drug-use only were excluded). Drugs were used in 76 (14%) of those events, most frequently (89%) marijuana use.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by grant R01-AA012418 from the National Institutes of Health. We thank the SURE Project team for help with data collection, Jamie R. Bolles for assistance with data entry, and Alecia M. Santuzzi, PhD, for her assistance with analyses.

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Correspondence to Lori A. J. Scott-Sheldon.

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An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10461-010-9831-8

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Scott-Sheldon, L.A.J., Carey, M.P. & Carey, K.B. Alcohol and Risky Sexual Behavior Among Heavy Drinking College Students. AIDS Behav 14, 845–853 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-008-9426-9

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