Resistance, Persistence, and Drinking: Examining Goals of Women's Refusals of Unwanted Sexual...

PREVIOUS RESEARCH finds that alcohol consumption is a positive predictor of sexual assault (Koss & Dinero, 1989; Ullman, Karabatosos, & Koss, 1999). Muehlenhard and Linton (1987) report that 55 percent of men who committed sexual assault and 53 of the women victimized were consuming alcohol at the time of the assault. Abbey, Ross, McDuffie, and McAuslan (1996) found that 46 percent of acquaintance rapes occurred when either the man, the woman, or both had been consuming alcohol. Even in cases that are not as extreme as rape, alcohol consumption has been identified as a risk factor in situations in which sexual intimacy advances beyond a woman's previously planned level (Muehlenhard & Linton, 1987; Norris, Nurius, & Dimeff, 1996). Thus, it is clear that alcohol consumption is linked to misunderstandings and mistakes in sexual situations. Less clear is how alcohol does this.