Sensation Seeking and Alcohol Expectancies Regarding Sexual Aggression as Moderators of the Relationship Between Alcohol Use and Coercive Condom Use Resistance Intentions

Public Health Significance Statement This study found that alcohol intoxication increases young men's intentions to use coercion to resist condom use when those men also engage in more sensation seeking behaviors and expect that alcohol will make them behave in a more sexually coercive manner. Objective: Despite condoms' effectiveness at preventing sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unplanned pregnancy, coercive condom use resistance (CUR; i.e., using coercive tactics to resist condom use with a partner who wants to use one) is relatively common. However, research has not examined how risk factors, including alcohol use, alcohol expectancies related to sexual coercion, and sensation seeking, may interact to predict coercive CUR. The present study used an alcohol administration experiment to assess sensation seeking and alcohol expectancies as moderators of the relationship between acute alcohol intoxication and intentions to perpetrate coercive CUR during a hypothetical scenario. Method: Single, young, heterosexual men (N = 313) were randomly assigned to a control, placebo, low (BrAC = .04%), or high dose alcohol condition (BrAC = .08%). Participants then read and projected themselves into a sexually explicit stimulus story and indicated the likelihood that they would perpetrate coercive CUR. Results: Findings indicated that intoxication interacted with expectancies and sensation seeking to predict coercive CUR intentions, such that alcohol intoxication was associated with greater coercive CUR intentions only among participants who reported greater sensation seeking and stronger alcohol expectancies. Conclusions: Both alcohol expectancies and myopia play a key role in coercive CUR intentions, especially among sensation seeking individuals. Thus, intervention programs should evaluate men's alcohol use, alcohol expectancies, and sensation seeking behaviors as possible targets to reduce the perpetration of coercive CUR.