Monica Ortiz

Literature review
Socl 3030
Dec. 9, 2013
Alcohol Consumption and Sex in College Students
Introduction
For many students, college is a whole new world waiting to be explored. Students will
meet people during class or by joining a club. Some students will socialize by attending parties.
As a part of this new world, alcohol use may play a role in sexual behavior for college students.
This research topic is about the likelihood of college students hooking-up due to alcohol
consumption. This topic is an important topic because many college students do attend social
events that involve alcohol consumption. It is important to know the affects alcohol has on
students and whether or not it really affects their sexual drive or behavior because it can help
some issues that often happen at college campuses. Coming into college, students start to explore
who they are and sexuality is part of who they are as individuals. This type of research is
relevant to college students to be aware of the effects of alcohol and if it does affect their sexual
behavior.
Literature Review
Catherine Grello, (2006) purpose of this study was to identify the association of sexual
encounters and casual sex between depressive symptoms among college students. In this article,
Grello also is investigating the link between sex and alcohol consumption. Grello also noticed
that sex happens more between friends than with strangers. The reason behind this study was to
understand the relationship of sexual behaviors in college students in order to help create
effective programs to stop depressive symptoms (Grello, 2006).
For this study, 404 undergraduate were part of a random sample. This random sample
consisted of a psychology course at the university in the southeastern United States. This data
was collected through two semesters of two different years. The data was collected during fall
2001 and fall 2003. Each participant received credit for participation. Out of the 404 students
only 21 students were excluded from that data due to having nontraditional and same-gendered
sex. The remaining sample was 382 students who comprised of 33.7% males and 67.3%
females. The majority of the sample was freshman (71.2%) or sophomores (18.6%), with fewer
juniors (7.9%) and seniors (2.4%). (Grello, 2006) The students ages ranged from 18-21. In
terms of demographics there were 88.2% White/non-Hispanic. 6.6% African American, 1.1%
Hispanic. 2.4% Asian, and 1.9% other. (Grello, 2006)
This study has shown that there are factors that have to do with alcohol and sexual
interactions. Research shows that more than one third of students reported having a sexual
encounter after attending a party or bar where they consumed alcohol. This studies finding did
support the hypothesis that the researches had in mind. This is relevant to the topic of alcohol
consumption and sexual behavior on college campuses because it shows that alcohol does have
an effect on sexual behavior in college campuses.
This article was similar to the others because it also deals with alcohol being a factor in
sexual behaviors. Joseph LaBrie, wrote an article about how gender, social norms, and alcohol
consumption all have an effect on risky sexual behavior. In the this article, LaBrie investigated
college women, who may drink in pursuit of intimate relationships and positive attention from
male peers. (2009) The purpose of this study was to evaluate both men and women responses to
alcohol and intimate relations. LaBrie purpose for researching intimate relations and alcohol
consumption was to figure out what leads to womens motivational factors of consuming
alcohol. (2006)
The study included 7,000 students formed into groups by class year. The students were
equally taken from two universities; a private university and a public university in the west coast.
The survey was administered through the web in the fall semester of 2007. Out of the 7,000
students only 3,753 students completed the survey. Only heterosexual students were used for this
study. The participants ranged from ages 18-25. The demographics of this study included
55.1% White/Caucasian, 18.4% Asian, 12.7% Hispanic/Latino, 3.0% Black/African American,
1.6% Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, 0.4% American Indian/Alaskan Native, 6.6%
multiracial, and 2.2% other. The sample consisted of 21.0% of participants who belong to a
Greek-affiliated fraternity or sorority. Class standing was 19.0% freshman, 24.8% sophomore,
27.1% junior, and 29.1% senior.( LaBrie, 2006)
This study showed that the researchers found that females perceptions of what men
desire women to drink account for their drinking, while controlling for same-sex norms,
highlights the role of reflective norms in understanding college womens drinking. (LaBrie,
2006) According to their findings women would drink because they taught it would be more
desirable for men. If they were more desirable to men then they would have a higher chance of
intimate relations. In the context of the well established normative influence of same-sex peers,
this finding offers unique insight into college womens motivations for drinking. (LaBrie, 2006)
Due to the men drinking high amounts of alcohol the women also taught it was ok to do so,
therefore, same-sex peers were college women intimate motivations.
This article is relevant to this research project because it also shows how alcohol has an
effect on college students to engage in sexual behavior. Even though this article was based on
women and their desire for intimate relations, it still shows that alcohol consumption is a factor
to college students behavior.
Alcohol consumption has negative effects too college students behaviors, according to
the research study by Stephen Benton.(2006) In this article the researchers examined the negative
effects and consequences due to alcohol consumption. The purpose of this study is to explain
negative drinking consequences by description norm perception, beyond the accounted for by
student gender and self-reported alcohol use (Benton, 2006). The researchers wanted to use
participants description of their self-reported alcohol use to explain negative drinking
consequences. The researchers are interested in examining variables that might help to reduce
student drinking and its related harm (Benton, 2006).
The participants in this study were collected from four different universities that were in
Midwestern states. There isnt a specific number of the sample for this study. The study did not
include age, race, nor did they include gender. In terms of how the students were selected, the
students were selected based on their class schedules. If they went to class on Monday,
Wednesday, and Friday during a certain time of day then they qualified to be part of the study.
The data for this study was collected through surveys that were handed out by the instructors in
their classes.
This study was to see overall how alcohol affected college students in negative ways but
it also had information about sexual behaviors, therefore it was relevant to the topic. The
researchers in this study found that students that partied more had higher consequences than
those who didnt. Consequences included having unprotected sex and getting an STD. They did
find that alcohol showed a positive correlation with unconsciousness, dropping out of class or
failing, trouble with authority figures, and STDs or unplanned pregnancies.
The purpose of this research is to know the association between alcohol consumption
and sexual behavior. Does alcohol play a factor in risky or any type of sexual behavior in young
adults? If so, does it have more affect on a specific gender or a specific ethnic group? These are
important questions to know for this topic, especially for college campus because college
campuses are usually very diverse.
Research on alcohol consumption and sexual behavior is significant to know in many
ways. Information that can be gained is the demographics from this type of research. If there is a
specific group that has more of an affect can be helped by sharing more knowledge with them or
making it more aware of the affects that alcohol can have on people in a certain environment or
situation.
Methodology
The research designed used for this project was a self-administered survey. I choose this
type of survey because it has the highest respond rate and it minimizes bias thinking as a
researcher. The population that I drew my samples from was at CSU Stanislaus. I did not have a
specific target of students. The requirement to take the survey was that they needed to be 18 or
older and attend CSU Stanislaus. For this study I used a non-probability sample. I decided to use
a non-probability sample because I was interested in using a small sample. A probability sample
is possible but it would be difficult to gather information from the different types of students on
campus. It would also be difficult to find a list to draw from that is accessible for a student
researcher to use. I used convenience sampling because it was easier to walk by and ask if they
wanted to participate in a study. I didnt use a quota sampling because we were not researching a
specific group on campus, such as people involved in clubs or Greek organizations. A
convenience sample was more appropriate for this research study because I sampled whoever
was available to take the survey. This is a cross-sectional study. This study was meant to
research characteristic in a group only one time. It is not a longitudinal study because I am not
going to return in a few years to survey the same group of people again. In terms of size, I would
have a smaller sample size. A range of 100 students would be a good amount of students because
I am doing a non-probability sample where a large population wouldnt be necessary. The way I
would administer this survey would be by self-administration. Self-administered surveys are not
expensive and easy to pass out. I could have a group take the survey or send it through email.
Self-administered surveys are a better choice for this study because the topic of alcohol
consumption and sex is sensitive. A participant may feel uncomfortable if the survey was
administered face to face or by telephone. Not having the confidentiality that a self-administered
survey has can affect the participants answers. The participant can feel judged and change their
answer in a face to face or telephone survey.


Bibliography
Benton, S. L., Downey, R. G., & Glider, P. S. (2006). Predicting Negative Drinking
Consequences: Examining Descriptive Norm Perception. Journal Of Studies On Alcohol,
67(3), 399-405.
Grello, C. M., Welsh, D. P., & Harper, M. S. (2006). No Strings Attached: The Nature of Casual
Sex in College Students. Journal Of Sex Research, 43(3), 255-267.
doi:10.1080/00224490609552324
LaBrie, J. W., Cail, J., Hummer, J. F., Lac, A., & Neighbors, C. (2009). What men want: The
role of reflective opposite-sex normative preferences in alcohol use among college
women. Psychology Of Addictive Behaviors,23(1), 157-162. doi:10.1037/a0013993