Do drinking consequences predict sexual revictimization in a college sample of binge-drinking women?

Abstract

Sexual victimization is prevalent on college campuses in the US. A proportion of women experience multiple sexual assaults, and sexual assault risk in college is heightened among those with prior victimization histories. One risk factor for sexual revictimization is victims' alcohol use. Most research has focused on associations between alcohol consumption per se and revictimization. The current study's objective was to understand some potential mechanisms by which drinking confers risk for revictimization. We hypothesized specific drinking consequences would predict risk for revictimization above and beyond the quantity of alcohol consumed. A randomly selected sample of binge drinking female college students was assessed for baseline victimization (categorized as childhood versus adolescent victimization), quantity of alcohol consumed, and drinking consequences experienced. A subset of 162 women was assessed 30 days later for revictimization. Of the subset, 40 (24.6%) women were revictimized in the following 30 days. Blackout drinking at baseline predicted incapacitated sexual revictimization among women previously victimized as adolescents, after accounting for quantity of alcohol consumed. Other drinking consequences examined were not predictive of revictimization. Results support previous findings that adolescent sexual assault is an important predictor of sexual revictimization in college and blackout drinking may confer unique risk for revictimization.