More Alcohol, Fewer Condoms

Most people would be lying if they said that when they drink alcohol, they are in total control of their inhibitions. Unfortunately for me and the tens of thousands of other college students who had the occasional or not-so-occasional drinking binge, many times inhibitions went careening out the window. Now, I did not go rob an alcohol store or anything like that, but I am sure I did some dance moves at parties and clubs that would have become instant cult classics on YouTube if that had been around at the time. So, it was with a “Duh” expression on my face that I read the recent report on the study that stated women who abused liquor were more likely to not use condoms during sex. 

Findings from this new study done by public health researchers at Emory University in Atlanta discovered that these girls that abused alcohol were more likely to have sexual encounters without the use of contraceptives like condoms even though they might have taken part in educational forums that focused on the value of using condoms correctly and consistently. Results from this study were recently presented at the 2008 International AIDS Conference that took place in Mexico City in early August. The 439 participants in this study consisted of sexually active African-American young adult females with ages ranging from 15 to 21. These young women reported both their alcohol usage and their sexual activity. What was very interesting to researchers was the fact that some of these participants had actually previously attended an HIV intervention that focused on consistent and correct condom usage in order to prevent pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and, especially, HIV.

Results demonstrated that attendance at this HIV intervention did not correlate with condom usage; the young women who admitted to drinking high amounts of alcohol tended to use condoms sporadically (or not at all) whether or not they attended the intervention or had any education in the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. Ralph DiClemente, one of the study’s co-authors and a professor of public health at Emory University stated, “Our findings suggest that the effectiveness of HIV interventions was adversely affected by alcohol use. To develop more effective HIV interventions for alcohol-using adolescent females requires also directly addressing the important role of alcohol use.” In other words, instead of focusing merely on ways to prevent pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, the root problem of overdrinking must first be addressed.