Alcohol-Involved Sexual Assault among Women: Disentangling Mechanisms of Risk Across the Lifespan

Columbia University Health Sciences, New York NY

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Abstract

The purpose of this Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01) is to help the candidate, Dr. Jessie Ford, become an independent researcher focused on identifying modifiable multi-level factors that can explain and address the high rates of alcohol-involved sexual assault among women across the lifespan in the US. Research shows large differences in both alcohol-facilitated sexual assault and hazardous drinking across groups of women with different patterns of attraction and relationship histories. Thus, it is imperative to study how alcohol interacts with other social forces to create risk in order to prevent harm. To examine this topic, the candidate requires training in each of the following areas: 1) risk and protective factors for hazardous drinking; (2) lifespan research methods for alcohol use and sexual assault; (3) conceptualizing and measuring multi-level determinants; and (4) mixed methods. Training will occur alongside a career development plan that includes specific seminars, workshops, coursework, conferences, hands-on practica, and tailored mentoring with a mentorship team comprised of experts in alcohol use, lifespan and longitudinal research methods, social factors, risk taking, sexual assault, mixed methods, and advanced statistical methods. The candidate will use this new training data to build a novel conceptual model describing disproportionate risk for alcohol-involved sexual assault, with attention to the multi-level effects of individual, interpersonal, and structural factors across the lifespan. To test this model, I will utilize a multi-method design across 3 studies that draw on the methodological strengths of longitudinal cohort, multi-site cross-sectional, and mixed-methods data. These datasets include: 1) the Chicago Health and Life Experiences of Women Study (CHLEW), 21-year study of 181 women across time (ages 18-84); 2) the Online College Social Life Survey (OCSLS), a multi-site study of 638 women (ages 18-25) at 22 universities; and 3) my own primary data: The Women, Alcohol and Sexual Health (WASH) 2-wave survey of 800 women in a US general population sample. Further, the candidate will conduct 30 in-depth interviews with women who have experienced alcohol-involved sexual assault recruited from the WASH sample, integrating survey data with qualitative data to further elucidate mechanisms. This research will provide critical formative data that will be used to develop a NIAAA R01 proposal that will allow Dr. Ford to create a prospective dataset to identify multi-level etiologic pathways (all in 1 dataset) that affect alcohol use and sexual health. The new skills acquired through this K01 will help the candidate achieve her career goal of becoming an independent investigator who conducts transformative, cross-disciplinary work that advances research on determinants of alcohol use and adverse sexual health outcomes.