Alcohol consumption and sexual activity as reported with a diary technique.

Although alcohol is commonly viewed as a sexual disinhibitor, recent research has suggested that alcohol consumption does not consistently lead to increased sexual activity. Nonexperimental work in this area has commonly used correlational procedures that do not control for individual difference variables that may contribute to a drinking-sex relationship. This study examined the relationship of alcohol consumption to sexual behavior by way of within-subjects analyses of data from 99 men and women who kept daily diaries of drinking and sexual events over a 10-week period. Alcohol consumption was associated with a general attenuation of sexual activity, with no effects on the occurrence of sexual behaviors that are risky in terms of AIDS transmission. These data suggest that sexual distribution and lapses in sexual judgment are not necessarily common consequences of alcohol consumption.