More Restrictive State Alcohol Policies Are Associated With Lower Risk of Sexual Assault Victimization Among College Students

OBJECTIVE: Alcohol use plays a role in college sexual assaults. Given that more restrictive state alcohol policy environments have been associated with less binge drinking we tested whether these environments were associated with reduced risk of sexual assault victimization in college students. METHOD: Repeated cross-sectional National College Health Assessment surveys of 876,326 students (ages 18-24) from 2008-2019 were linked to time-varying, state-level Alcohol Policy Scale (APS) scores indexing the efficacy and implementation of 29 policies. Students reported five past-year sexual victimization experiences, formed into a binary composite, as well as 2-week binge drinking. RESULTS: <0.0001 for the composite measure). In states with higher APS scores (more restrictive) students had lower odds of experiencing unwanted sexual touching [OR = .93 for women; OR = .81 (stronger) for men, p<.0001] and men had lower odds of experiencing attempted non-consensual penetration (OR = .81, p<.0001). CONCLUSIONS: State alcohol policies that reduce the prevalence of binge drinking may play a role in preventing some forms of sexual assault. Findings are consistent with the importance of multi-level (state-, community-, campus-level) and multi-target (e.g., alcohol misuse, bystander training) prevention approaches.