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BACKGROUND: Approximately 25% of American women have experienced sexual assault, and half of these situations involved alcohol use by the attacker, victim, or both. Research has also shown that excessive alcohol use is a leading risk factor for intimate partner violence. The purpose of this analysis is to demonstrate the association of excessive alcohol use with sexual violence and intimate partner violence among Michigan women.
METHODS: Data were obtained from the 2005 and 2008 Michigan Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (MiBRFSS) surveys. The outcomes of interest were sexual violence and intimate partner violence. Sexual violence was defined as ever experiencing unwanted sex, and intimate partner violence was defined as ever experiencing physical violence or unwanted sex by a current or former intimate partner. Logistic regression models were created for each outcome, and the main predictor in each was excessive drinking, with four categories: no heavy or binge drinking, binge but no heavy drinking, heavy but no binge drinking, and both heavy and binge drinking. Relationships were significant at the α=0.05 level.
RESULTS: In the unadjusted models, excessive drinking was significant for both sexual violence (χ2=18.77, p=0.0003) and intimate partner violence (χ2=12.36, p=0.0063). After adjusting for all covariates, the effect of excessive drinking on sexual violence remained significant (χ2=16.43, p=0.0009). The odds of sexual violence for those who drank heavily (no binge) were 3.86 times higher than for those who didn’t drink excessively (95% CI: 1.72, 8.69). The odds of sexual violence among those who binged and drank heavily were 2.27 times the odds for those who do not drink excessively (95% CI: 1.24, 4.13). Significant covariates included age, marital status, life satisfaction, smoking, veteran status, and disability. After full adjustment in the intimate partner violence model, the overall effect of excessive drinking was no longer significant (χ2=5.42, p=0.1433). However, the most excessive drinkers (binge and heavy) had 1.75 times higher odds of intimate partner violence than non-excessive drinkers (95% CI: 1.06, 2.86). Significant covariates included marital, employment, mental health, smoking, and disability statuses.
CONCLUSIONS: These data show that the relationship of excessive drinking is stronger with sexual violence than it is with intimate partner violence, both before and after adjustment for other factors. These results provide evidence for further need of excessive alcohol consumption prevention among Michigan women. Future directions for this research may involve inclusion of youth health surveys to obtain information on girls younger than 18, and replicating these analyses for males.