Hong V. Nguyen

Risky Sex: Interactions among Ethnicity, Sexual Sensation Seeking, Sexual Inhibition, and Sexual Excitation

Rates of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, vary across ethnic minority groups, yet few studies have evaluated sexual risk behaviors and their psychological correlates to determine if risk and protective factors vary by ethnicity. The purpose of the current study was to assess sexual sensation seeking (SSS), sexual inhibition (SIS1 and SIS2), and sexual excitation (SES) as correlates of risky sexual behaviors in 106 (55 male and 51 female) Asian Americans, African Americans, and Caucasian Americans. Results revealed that higher SSS was associated with more vaginal and anal sex partners. Further, the association between SSS and the number of anal sex partners was positive among Asian Americans and Caucasians, but non-significant among African Americans. SIS1 was positively associated with unprotected sex on the first date among Asian Americans and African Americans. However, the association was not significant for Caucasians. SIS2 was negatively associated with general unprotected sex, and SES was positively associated with the number of vaginal sex partners. Findings suggest that ethnicity plays an important moderating role in the relationship between sexual traits and risky sexual behaviors.

Influences of Situational Factors and Alcohol Expectancies on Sexual Desire and Arousal Among Heavy-Episodic Drinking Women: Acute Alcohol Intoxication and Condom Availability

Although studies suggest that alcohol increases women’s sexual desire, no studies to our knowledge have examined the effects of acute alcohol intoxication on women’s sexual desire. The majority of research examining alcohol’s effects on sexual arousal in women suggests that alcohol increases self-reported arousal. In an alcohol administration study in which women projected themselves into an eroticized scenario depicting a consensual sexual encounter with a new male partner, we examined the effects of alcohol and condom condition on women’s sexual desire and arousal. The moderating effects of sex-related alcohol expectancies were also examined. Results revealed that alcohol intoxication was related to less desire to engage in sex with a new partner and condom presence was related to more desire. Alcohol interacted with sexual disinhibition alcohol expectancies, indicating that more expectancy endorsement was associated with greater sexual desire and self-reported arousal in the alcohol condition, but not the control condition. Condom condition had no effect on self-reported sexual arousal. The present research suggests that sexual desire merits research attention in non-clinical samples, and experimental methodology can provide valuable information about alcohol’s influence on women’s sexual desire, thus advancing our understanding of this relationship beyond cross-sectional correlations. The current findings also provide evidence that sex-related alcohol expectancies may play an important role in alcohol-involved sexual experiences including desire and arousal.

Sexual assault, drinking norms, and drinking behavior among a national sample of lesbian and bisexual women

Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and adolescent/adult sexual assault (ASA) are strongly associated with womens alcohol use and the rates of both alcohol use and sexual assault history are higher among lesbian and bisexual women than heterosexual women. Although descriptive drinking norms are one of the highest predictors of alcohol use in emerging adults, this is the first study to examine the relationship between sexual assault history, drinking norms, and alcohol use in lesbian and bisexual women. We found that CSA severity was associated with a higher likelihood of experiencing more severe alcohol-involved ASA, more severe physically forced ASA, and was indirectly associated with more drinking behavior and higher drinking norms. Additionally, more severe alcohol-involved ASA was associated with higher drinking norms and more drinking behavior, but physically forced ASA was not. These findings help explain previous contradictory findings and provide information for interventions.

The Cultural Context of Nondisclosure of Alcohol-Involved Acquaintance Rape Among Asian American College Women: A Qualitative Study

With high college enrollment and increasing alcohol use, Asian American (AA) college women may be at particular risk for experiencing alcohol-involved acquaintance rape. Although AA women have expressed the weakest intentions to report rape when compared to other ethnic groups, cultural factors influencing these intentions remain unexamined. Guided by grounded theory, 17 self-identified AA college women were interviewed about how the average AA college woman would respond to an alcohol-involved acquaintance rape. Despite awareness of benefits of disclosing rape, participants emphasized that nondisclosure would be the normative response. Three themes emerged from participants: institutional, sociocultural, and psychological contexts of nondisclosure. At an institutional level, nondisclosure referenced mental health and police services, which included Asian stereotypes and mistrust of police. Within a sociocultural context, rape nondisclosure focused on negative consequences on relationships with parents and, to a lesser extent, on friendships. Emotional avoidance and not labeling an acquaintance rape as rape were psychological strategies for rape nondisclosure. Participants conceptualizations of mental and physical health concerns, specifically post-rape concerns, were framed within sociocultural/macrostructural contexts and may not match that of the more individualistic U.S. mainstream conceptualizations of health. Culturally sensitive rape education may be more effective in increasing rape prevention and support.