The Temporal Relationship between College Women's Alcohol Consumption and Victimization Experiences

Background: The primary objective of the study was to assess changes in the conditional probability of sexual and nonsexual victimization on days of any alcohol consumption compared with days of heavy and no alcohol consumption in a sample of college women. Methods: We used the Timeline Followback calendar method to assess daily alcohol consumption and concurrent daily incidents of sexual and nonsexual aggression over a 6-week period. Results: The odds of experiencing sexual aggression were 9 times higher on heavy days and 3 times higher on nonheavy days of alcohol consumption compared with days of no alcohol consumption. The odds of experiencing nonsexual aggression were more than 7 times higher on heavy days and nearly 3 times higher on nonheavy days of alcohol consumption compared with days of no alcohol consumption. Conclusions: These findings provide evidence of a temporal association between college women's alcohol consumption and increased risk for victimization. In addition, use of the TLFB appears to be a reasonable and cost effective means for collecting daily data on alcohol consumption and victimization experiences among college women.