Alcohol Myopia, Sexual Arousal & HIV/AIDS Risk-Taking

William H. George, Ph.D., Principal Investigator
Jeanette Norris, Ph.D., Co-Investigator
Julia Heiman, Ph.D., Co-Investigator
Jane Simoni, Ph.D., Co-Investigator
Kelly Cue Davis, Ph.D., Research Scientist
Susan Stoner, Ph.D., Research Scientist
Kelly Forrest Kajumulo, MPH, Research Coordinator
Rebecca Schacht, Graduate Research Assistant
Christian Hendershot, Graduate Research Assistant

Abstract:
Alcohol has emerged as a critical cofactor in sexually transmitted HIV infection. Yet we still lack an understanding of how in-the-moment forces – such as acute intoxication and sexual arousal – affect a person’s decision to engage in risky sexual behaviors. Our long-term goal is to illuminate the role played by intoxication and arousal in decision-making related to sexually transmitted diseases. With alcohol and arousal, perhaps there exist heretofore-uninvestigated biphasic effects that would clarify paradoxical evidence of alcohol-induced genital suppression and disinhibited sexual outcomes. Consideration of arousal may expand our understanding of alcohol and risky outcomes. The specific aims are (1) to examine the linkages among alcohol, arousal, and risky sex; (2) to evaluate the viability of the alcohol myopia model for explaining postdrinking sexuality; (3) to investigate alcohol impairment of arousal control; (4) to expand the currently scant fund of experimental data about women and postdrinking sexuality by evaluating for systematic gender differences in these relationships among intoxication, arousal, and risky sex? For these aims six controlled laboratory experiments are planned systematically manipulating alcohol (alcohol, none), BAC limb (ascending, descending), dosage (moderate, high), arousal set (maximize, none, suppress), and conflict (high, low). The sample will be unmarried sexually active men and women attending urban university campuses and/or residing in urban census tracts at elevated risk. The overarching hypothesis is that alcohol impairs the capacity to inhibit sexual arousal and that it directly and indirectly (through its impairment of arousal inhibition) impairs the capacity to inhibit sexual risk-taking. Alcohol should interact with limb such that ascending exceeds descending impact and should interact with arousal set and conflict such that alcohol fosters arousal and fosters riskier outcomes under high conflict. In concert with personality and other factors the data will inform key knowledge gaps, advance theory, and foster refinement of existing prevention approaches and formulation of new ones.

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Publications

Hendershot, C. S, Stoner, S. A., George, W. H., & Norris, J. (in press). Alcohol use, expectancies and personality factors as correlates of HIV risk behavior in heterosexual young adults. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors.Abstract

Schacht, R. L., George, W. H., Heiman, J. R., Davis, K. C., Norris, J., Stoner, S. A., & Kajumulo, K. F. (in press). Women’s sexual arousal in the context of sexual abuse history, alcohol intoxication, and arousal instruction. Archives of Sexual Behavior.Full Text

Hendershot, C. S, &. George, W. H., (2007). Alcohol and sexuality research in the AIDS era: Trends in publication activity, target populations and research design. AIDS and Behavior, 11, 227-237.Full Text

Stoner, S. A., George, W. H., Norris, J., & Peters, L. M. (2007). Liquid courage: Alcohol fosters risky sexual decision-making in individuals with sexual fears. AIDS and Behavior, 11, 217-226.Full Text

George, W. H., Davis, K. C., Norris, J., Heiman, R. J., Schacht, R., Stoner, S. A., & Kajumulo, K. (2006). The effects of alcohol and instructions to maximize sexual arousal on erectile response. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 14, 461-470.Full Text