A Daily Assessment of Restricted Food Consumption and Alcohol Intoxication as Predictors of Sexual Violence

Project Summary
Alcohol-involved sexual violence (SV) is a common and detrimental experience for young adult women.
To supplement SV prevention strategies aimed at perpetrators of SV–who always assume full responsibility for
the occurrence of SV–risk reduction programs that target women’s drinking have been developed and
implemented. While promising, these programs have limited efficacy and research that examines novel
predictors of women’s SV victimization using innovative approaches is needed to address the limitations of
these risk reduction programs and associated research. It is commonly advised that people eat a calorie-rich
meal ahead of a night of drinking to prevent adverse alcohol-related consequences. However, sociocultural
pressures to approximate a thin body type and to drink alcohol in social settings encourage women to engage
in alcohol-motivated restricted eating (AMRE) on drinking days. Nearly one in two young adult women (~45%)
engage in AMRE and are motivated to do so to account for the calories consumed through alcohol or to
enhance the intoxicating effects of alcohol. Indeed, women who engage in AMRE are significantly more likely
to binge drink and become intoxicated than women who do not. Among other negative outcomes that have
been investigated (e.g., getting injured, blacking out), it is likely that women who engage in AMRE and
frequently become more intoxicated are at an increased risk of experiencing SV because of their proximity to
perpetrators, but not studies to date have examined this possibility. Drawing on these findings, the central
hypotheses in the present study are that the interactive effect of engaging in AMRE and drinking alcohol is
likely to increase proximal alcohol intoxication and SV victimization. In addition, we expect that this interactive
effect between AMRE and alcohol use will predict more SV victimization through increases in acute
intoxication. To test these hypotheses, a community sample of 80 young adult women will complete daily
measures of AMRE, alcohol use, intoxication, and SV victimization over 56 days using electronic daily diaries
(EDD). Efforts will be made to recruit women across sexual orientations and racial and ethnic identities to
ensure a representative sample is achieved. Participants will complete self-report measures of the previous
day’s engagement in AMRE, alcohol consumption, intoxication, and experiences of SV (i.e., any form of
unwanted sexual contact). This innovative approach to the study of SV risk factors will address limitations in
scope and methodology of existing literature and will expand our understanding of the consequences of
engaging in AMRE to a novel adverse outcome, namely SV victimization. Results from this study will inform the
development of more comprehensive and effective SV risk reduction programs, and in turn, help to reduce
rates of AMRE, intoxication, and SV victimization in young adult women.

Grant Number: 5F31AA031626-02
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: Amanda Baildon