Alcohol and Risky Behaviors

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to review and critique the literature on risky drinking, driving, and sexual behaviors. To complete this review, electronic searches using databases from the disciplines of nursing, medicine, and psychology were used with keywords alcohol and risky behavior, risky drinking, risky driving, risky sex, and sexual aggression, as well as other relevant terms.The basic tenets of contemporary theoretical models of risky behaviors are used as a framework for reviewing the literature. Most relevant to the discussion are the relationships among the behaviors, risk and protective factors, and major unresolved theoretical and methodological issues. In the literature, sensation seeking was differentially associated with risky drinking, driving, and sex, but causal assertions are premature.Important conceptual and physiological issues are clarified. First, unconventionality contributes to risky drinking, risky driving, and, among adolescents, risky sex. Second, the pharmacologic effects of alcohol on cognitive processing contribute to risky sex, but only among persons who feel conflicted about risky sex (e.g., condom use). This perception may be particularly true for men who have a belief that alcohol will enhance sex. Third, sexual aggression appears to stem from a variety of factors, including the pharmacologic effects of alcohol on aggression and stereotypes about drinking women.Exploration of risk and protective factors adds breadth and depth to the discussion of risk taking. Risk factors include (1) high tolerance for deviance, (2) unconventional attitudes and behaviors such as early alcohol use and precocious sex, (3) peer norms for deviance, (4) high sensation seeking, and, to a lesser extent, (5) disturbed risk perception and positive beliefs about alcohol. Protective factors appear to mitigate risk and include (1) conventional attitudes and behaviors and (2) having peers that model conventional attitudes and behaviors. Although empirical evidence suggests that risky behaviors tend to covary, most intervention trials to date have focused on single behaviors, and often are based on clinical information rather than existing theoretical and empirical knowledge.