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Biomedical subjects

B C Leigh

Publications and source records attributed to B C Leigh.

27 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1990

"Venus gets in my thinking": drinking and female sexuality in the age of AIDS.

Despite the strength of the cultural belief in the power of alcohol to disinhibit sexual impulses, the relationship of drinking and sex has only recently become the subject of empirical research. In light of the AIDS epidemic, any such relationship takes on increased importance. This paper reviews the literature on the effects of alcohol on sexual behavior in women, including discussion of both sexual activity per se and unsafe sexual behavior in particular. Although little is known about the relationship of drinking to sexual risk-taking in women, data from these lines of research provide a starting point for investigations on the ways in which drinking and sex may be associated.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1990

The relationship of sex-related alcohol expectancies to alcohol consumption and sexual behavior.

Recent psychosocial research on alcohol expectancies--beliefs about the effects of alcohol on behavior, moods and emotions--has suggested that these expectancies mediate not only decisions about drinking but the alcohol effects displayed by those who have been drinking. Results of a study of drinking and sexual behavior showed that individuals of different gender and sexual orientation differed in their beliefs about the effects of alcohol on sexual responding. In addition, expectations of sexual enhancement and disinhibition were related to the initiation of sexual activity and to the proportion of sexual encounters that took place while drinking, and interacted with sex guilt to predict the amount drunk in the most recent sexual encounter. These results suggest that beliefs about the effects of alcohol on sex may affect the characteristics of sexual encounters that involve drinking.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1989

In search of the Seven Dwarves: issues of measurement and meaning in alcohol expectancy research.

Discusses substantive issues in predicting drinking patterns from expectancies, as well as issues of content and measurement of the scales developed to measure these expectancies. In recent years, much research has suggested that alcohol expectancies--or the beliefs that individuals hold about the effects of alcohol on their behavior, moods, and emotions--are an important factor in motivating drinking behavior. Although measures of these expectancies have consistently been shown to be correlated with measures of alcohol use, conceptual and methodological problems remain to be addressed. In order to progress in understanding this potentially important psychosocial factor in abusive and nonabusive drinking, alcohol expectancy research, which has been atheoretical in nature, should attend to potential contributions from other areas of research in psychology.

Alcohol Drinking↗
PubMed1989

Confirmatory factor analysis of alcohol expectancy scales.

Expectations about the effects of alcohol are assumed to be an important psychosocial factor in both abusive and nonabusive drinking. Despite a body of research showing that people do hold some common expectations about alcohol effects, the nature of these expectancies is not well understood. Questionnaires developed to measure alcohol expectancies carry the assumption that expectancies are composed of several specific and independent factors. Confirmatory factor analyses of these scales indicate that the scales do not clearly reflect these distinct underlying dimensions. A scale for measuring expectancies that better explicates the nature and organization of alcohol expectancies will provide a much firmer footing for future studies on the contribution of expectancies to problem drinking.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Attitudes and expectancies as predictors of drinking habits: a comparison of three scales.

Research on expectations about the effects of alcohol has shown these expectancies to be related to drinking habits. Expectancies can be seen as components of attitudes toward alcohol, which are also related to drinking behavior. The relationships between attitudes, expectancies, and self-reported drinking behavior were examined. Three different measures of expectancies were included in order to compare their relative utility in predicting drinking variables. Two of the three measures performed equally in prediction. Although expectancies added significantly to explained variance in drinking when attitudes were controlled for, the increment was quite small. The improvement in prediction was larger when the measures of attitudes and behavior lacked correspondence. The results suggest that attention to the relationships between attitudes and expectancies can inform further research in this area.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Beliefs about the effects of alcohol on self and others.

A questionnaire on beliefs about the effects of alcohol on the behavior of self and others was administered to a sample of college students and a sample from the general population. Respondents reported that alcohol effects are more likely to happen to others than to themselves, particularly for socially undesirable behaviors. Women reported a greater likelihood of behavioral impairment; men reported more aggressive behavior. Nondrinkers reported a greater likelihood of both positive and negative effects; heavier drinkers reported more pleasurable effects.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A comparison of factor structures of adolescent and adult alcohol effect expectancies.

A comparison of the factor structures of alcohol effect expectancies of adults (aged 18 and older) and adolescents (aged 12-17) was conducted. Data were from a nationally representative sample of United States residents. Two factors were extracted for the adults, and three for the adolescents. General positive and negative factors were common to each solution. In addition, the adolescent solution contained a factor related to alcohol-induced sexual enhancement. The pattern and magnitude of the loadings for the adult and adolescent negative factor were nearly identical, and the positive factors were very similar. Results are consistent with a two-factor model of alcohol expectancies among adults, with slightly more differentiated expectancies among adolescents.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The relationship of substance use to sexual activity among young adults in the United States.

Data on substance use and sexual activity from a nationally representative, probability-based sample of young adults aged 18-30 in 1990 indicate that 86% of respondents had had sex in the previous 12 months, with three-fourths reporting no more than one sexual partner. Seventy-five percent of respondents had consumed alcohol in the past 12 months, 40% had smoked cigarettes and 20% had used marijuana. After adjustment for demographic factors, both sexual activity and a history of multiple partners were positively associated with some measures of substance use. Respondents who drank more frequently, those who were heavy drinkers, those who smoked cigarettes and those who used marijuana in the past year were more likely than others to be sexually active. Those who consumed five or more drinks at a sitting and those who used marijuana were more likely than others to have had more than one sexual partner. Heavy drinkers were also less likely to use condoms; however, the results showed no association between having sex under the influence of alcohol and engaging in unsafe sexual practices.

Adolescent↗