ALCOHOL AND ACQUAINTANCE ASSAULT RISK PERCEPTION

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(Revised) Assault by acquaintances is a serious problem for young women. Approximately 1 in 4 experience either assault or attempted assault, the overwhelming majority of which are committed by acquaintances. Alcohol consumption by the victim, assailant or both is involved in more than half. One key element of assault prevention is early perception of risk, which enables women to respond effectively and extricate herself from the situation before it escalates. In assessing risk and responding to it, women make a series of primary and secondary cognitive appraisals. Primary appraisals are those directed specifically to acknowledging and assessing the level of risk in a particular situation. Secondary appraisals involve weighing one's potential to respond effectively against psychological barriers. We propose that both women's own alcohol consumption and their perception of the assailant's consumption can affect this cognitive appraisal process. Theoretical models of cognitive appraisal and coping and response conflict related to alcohol consumption provide the foundation for the proposed studies. Six experiments are proposed to investigate alcohol's physiological and expectancy set effects on women's primary and secondary cognitive appraisals and responses to assault. In addition to alcohol and expectancy set, manipulated variables include situational variables that generate response conflict and the situational cue value of assailant's alcohol consumption. Background factors, including alcohol outcome expectancies, prior victimization, and attitudes will also be examined. This work will provide important information about how women's alcohol consumption and their expectancies related to alcohol's role in aggression affect perception of risk and subsequent responding to it. Findings have implications for designing prevention interventions, especially related to alcohol's role as a risk factor for assault.