Does Change in Binge Drinking Reduce Risk of Repeat Sexual Assault Victimization? Evidence From Three Cohorts of Freshman Undergraduate Women

Authors

Leah C. Butler, University of Nebraska at OmahaFollow
Bonnie S. Fisher, University of Cincinnati
Bradford W. Reyns, Weber State University

Author ORCID Identifier

Butler - https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0773-2074

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-11-2020

Publication Title

Crime & Delinquency

Volume

68

Issue

3

First Page

357

Last Page

380

Abstract

Many college students who experience sexual assault experience subsequent (i.e., repeat) sexual assault incidents. There is also an established relationship between sexual assault and binge drinking. The “once bitten, twice shy” (OBTS) hypothesis suggests that those who experience alcohol- or drugrelated (AOD) sexual assault would reduce how frequently they binge drink in an effort to avoid repeat victimization. We test this hypothesis by analyzing two years of survey data collected from a panel of three cohorts of freshmen women. Supportive of OBTS, our analyses reveal that students who experienced an AOD-related sexual assault at time 1 only reduced the number of days they binge drank from time 1 to time 2 and that this change significantly differed from repeat victims. Implications for efforts to reduce sexual victimization against college women are discussed.

Comments

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Sage in Crime & Delinquency, 68(3) on December 11, 2020, available online: https://doi.org/10.1177/0011128720978734

Reuse restricted to noncommercial and no derivative uses.

Recommended Citation

Butler, L. C., Fisher, B.S., & Reyns, B. W. (2020, December 11). Does change in binge drinking reduced risk of repeat sexual assault victimization? Evidence from three cohorts of freshman undergraduate women. Crime & Delinquency, 68(3), 357-380. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011128720978734