Assessing State Emotions and Acute Alcohol Intoxication on Sexual Assault Risk Perception - Project Summary One in five undergraduate women experience sexual assault (SA) during their college career, most commonly under the influence of acute alcohol intoxication. One critical mechanism through which intoxication increases risk for SA is a reduced ability to perceive SA risk cues due, in part, to the diminished attentional capacity that occurs during intoxication. While laboratory studies have consistently observed greater reductions in SA risk perception among intoxicated versus non-intoxicated women, the potential influence of state emotion on SA risk perception during acute alcohol intoxication remains unexplored. This is a critical gap given theoretical evidence to suggest that SA risk perception may be influenced by both negative and positive state emotions. Accordingly, the proposed study will assess the roles of negative and positive emotion states and acute alcohol intoxication on SA risk perception (Aim 1) as well as identify subjective (e.g., self-report) and objective (e.g., electrodermal response [EDA], heart rate variability [HRV]) indices of emotion states that underlie changes in SA risk perception during acute alcohol intoxication (Aim 2). In a single experimental session, participants (i.e., undergraduate women aged 21 and older who use alcohol) will be randomly assigned to one of two alcohol conditions (i.e., alcohol or no-alcohol) and one of three idiographic emotion induction conditions (i.e., positive, negative, or neutral) prior to completing a SA risk perception task. Participants assigned to the acute alcohol intoxication condition will be administered alcohol to achieve a target BAC of .08 (i.e., a dose of alcohol equivalent to approximately four standard alcohol drinks). Positive, negative, or neutral emotion state will be achieved using a validated idiographic emotion induction task. SA risk perception will be measured using a hypothetical SA vignette designed to assess instances of discomfort and decision of when to leave the hypothetical scenario. Subjective intensity and regulation of state emotion will be assessed via self-report measures administered pre- and post- emotion induction as well as post-SA risk perception task. EDA and HRV will capture objective arousal and regulation of state emotion, respectively, and will be measured continuously during the experimental session with the BIOPAC MP36. This study is the first to utilize a laboratory-based, multi-method approach to explicate the roles of state emotion and acute alcohol intoxication on SA risk perception. In alignment with the NIAAA strategic plan, findings will help develop and improve strategies to reduce and prevent alcohol-related harm, such as SA among undergraduate women. Additionally, the proposed project would provide the Applicant with training that will inform her future research on the intersection of SA and alcohol, including via the development of skills necessary for conducting sophisticated experimental paradigms relevant to the study of state emotions (e.g., use of biomarkers), acute effects of alcohol (e.g., alcohol administration), and SA risk perception (e.g., vignette methodology). 2
