“Are they into each other?” What drinking alcohol and leaving a party together signal to college students about sexual intent

Abstract

Objective: Misperception of sexual intent is linked to incidence of sexual assault. The present study tested the effects of gender, alcohol consumption, and leaving a party together, in isolation and in interaction, on perceptions of sexual intent. Participants: Undergraduates (N = 438) completed an online survey between Winter 2017 and Winter 2018. Methods: Participants read one of eight versions of a vignette about a social interaction between male and female college-aged acquaintances and rated the targets’ sexual interest in each other. Who was consuming alcohol (both targets, female only, male only, or neither) and whether the targets left together were manipulated. Results: Alcohol consumption and leaving together interacted. Leaving together signified to participants that both targets had greater sexual intent. When targets left separately, participants viewed both targets as less sexually interested in each other when only the female was drinking. Conclusions: Implications for sexual assault on college campuses are discussed.