An Investigation and Application of Alcohol and Cannabis Co-Use Protective Behavioral Strategies in the Context of Sexual Assault Prevention among College Women

Any instances of “women” have been changed to “females”. Information regarding gender discrepancies has been removed. Research has consistently demonstrated that alcohol use is a particularly salient risk factor for sexual assault among college females. Additionally, recent work on alcohol and cannabis co-use, particularly simultaneous co-use (i.e., use on the same occasion so effects are likely to overlap), has indicated that alcohol and cannabis co-use is associated with increased substance use-related negative consequences, including sexual assault victimization and revictimization among college females. However, limited empirical attention has been directed toward integrated alcohol and cannabis co-use and sexual assault protective behavioral strategies (PBS). This F31 application addresses an important gap in the literature in investigating PBS for substance use (alcohol and cannabis co-use) and sexual assault in a deliberately integrated fashion, in that it focuses explicitly on substance use-specific behavior attenuation that may be most useful for college females in mitigating risk for sexual assault. The long-term goal of the proposed research is to inform clinical assessment and intervention research focused on substance-use facilitated sexual assault prevention among young females. This three-phase study will provide the data necessary to develop and refine a novel alcohol and cannabis co-use PBS measure that is specific to the prevention of sexual assault among college females. Specific Aim 1 involves community-based participatory research (CBPR) to gather in-depth qualitative data on how college females use alcohol and cannabis PBS in the context of sexual assault prevention. Specific Aim 2 comprises the pilot testing of initially developed scale items elucidated from Aim 1 to finalize a new measure of co-use-related sexual assault PBS. Lastly, Specific Aim 3 will assess scale performance (i.e., reliability, validity) through investigating the scale’s associations with substance use and sexual assault victimization. This proposed study directly corresponds with NIAAA’s most recent strategic plan for fiscal years 2024-2028 in that its overarching aim is to better understand the effects of alcohol use and misuse among females (i.e., within the context of sexual assault) while informing the development of a tailored PBS measure to address their needs in research and clinical contexts. The proposed award is also consistent with NIAAA’s NOSI (NOT-OD-24-079) on health issues that affect young females, including the etiology, prevention, and treatment of alcohol misuse.