The goal of the proposed research is to reduce the incidence of sexual assault by explicating the relationship between alcohol consumption and sexual assault perpetration in a two wave community survey of 500 young adult men using audio computer-assisted self-interviews (ACASI). Approximately half of all sexual assaults involve alcohol consumption by the perpetrator, victim, or both. Most research with perpetrators of sexual assault has focused on either incarcerated offenders or male college students who acknowledge in confidential surveys that they have used some type of verbal or physical force or the woman's intoxication to obtain sex from a woman against her will. This study will address an important gap in our understanding by examining the prevelance and etiology of sexual assault in a representative comunity sample of young, single men. Elements of several promising theoretical models have been combined in order to maximize prediction of sexual assault perpetration cross-sectionally and prospectively. Based on past theoretical and empirical research, the role of alcohol will be examined at three levels: 1) as a predictor of past sexual assault perpetration within a model that includes a number of personality, attitudinal, and experience variables that have previously been linked to sexual assault perpetration, 2) as a predictor of future sexual assault perpetration within a model in which responses at the initial interview are used to predict sexual assault perpetration during the one year follow-up interval, and 3) at the situation-specific level, the characteristics of alcohol-involved sexual assaults will be compared to sexual assaults that do not involve alcohol. A random digit dialing sample of Metropolitan Detroit households will be obtained by the Survey Research Center of the University of Michigan. Eligible individuals will be asked to participate in an in- person interview on dating experiences. Based on past research by the principal investigator and other researchers, sexual assault perpetration since the age of 14 will be assessed through behaviorally-specific questions that describe types of forced sex (e.g., use of verbal threats, held her down) without labeling the acts as criminal behavior. A follow up interview will be conducted one year later. . Violence against women is an important public health problem. This study will provide information about young men's personality characteristics, attitudes, alcohol use, and past experiences that are linked to their willingness to use some type of force to obtain sex from women. This knowledge can be used to develop prevention and treatment programs, thereby reducing the future occurrence of sexual assault.
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