(PS10-64) Effects of Alcohol Intoxication and Hostility Toward Women on Laboratory-Based Sexual Violence Proclivity

Abstract Text: Sexual violence (SV) is a pervasive public health problem that impacts 1 in 5 women and is associated with the development of extensive mental health problems. To guide intervention and prevention of this endemic issue, it is crucial to develop and refine etiological models of SV perpetration. The Confluence Model is one such framework that highlights interacting pathways that contribute to SV perpetration, including hostile masculinity and impersonal sex. A core component of hostile masculinity and established risk factor for SV perpetration is hostility toward women (HTW), which reflects adversarial beliefs that women are manipulative and deceitful. Similarly, it is well-established that alcohol is a contributing cause of men’s SV perpetration, and patterns of alcohol use have been implicated in both hostile masculinity and impersonal sex pathways. However, proximal alcohol use is not often explored within the Confluence Model, and extant studies which examine the acute effects of alcohol on laboratory-based SV proclivity rarely examine interactions with distal risk factors. To address these weaknesses, the present study examined the independent and interactive effects of HTW and acute alcohol intoxication on laboratory-based SV proclivity. We hypothesized that the well-established positive association between HTW and SV proclivity would be stronger in intoxicated, relative to sober, men. Male participants aged 21-35 (n = 101) were randomly assigned to consume a non-alcoholic or alcoholic beverage (target breath alcohol concentration = .10). Participants completed the HTW Scale, consumed their beverages, and completed the Sexual Imposition Paradigm, a validated laboratory analog of sexual aggression perpetration. After being informed that a female confederate, whom they believed was also a study participant, did not like to view sexual content, participants were given the choice to show her a sexually explicit or non-sexually explicit video. Choosing the sexually explicit video was operationalized as SV proclivity. Binary logistic regression analyses revealed a HTW x Beverage Condition interaction with a large effect size that was not statistically significant (b = -1.636, p = .073, OR = .195). Explication of this interaction revealed that HTW increased the likelihood of selecting the sexually explicit film among sober (OR = 4.286, p = .026, 95% CI [1.193, 15.397]) but not intoxicated (OR = .835, p = .777, 95% CI [.239, 2.915]), men. Overall, the interaction was characterized by heightened SV proclivity among all intoxicated men (i.e., regardless of their HTW) and sober men who endorsed high HTW. The present study replicates past work in showing that HTW increases SV proclivity among sober men; in fact, sober men who endorsed high, relative to low, HTW were 4 times more likely to select sexually explicit video. Importantly, the present study is among the first to provide evidence regarding the interaction of HTW and acute alcohol intoxication on SV proclivity using a validated behavioral paradigm. This evidence suggests that just one risk factor, high HTW or alcohol intoxication, is sufficient to heighten risk for SV perpetration. As such, both HTW and acute alcohol use should be targeted in SV prevention programs.