Teen booze and sex findings to be revealed

Research conducted over four years which examines how young adults negotiate sexual activity while drinking will be presented at a conference aimed at understanding young people, alcohol and sexual behaviour.

The results which were collated in focus groups where participants were asked to discuss hypothetical cases focusing on the issue of consent were “quite shocking” admits Dr Cliona Saidlear, policy and communications director with the Rape Crisis Network of Ireland.

“Qualitative research is about teasing out nuances and trying to get at people’s nuanced thinking. In some ways we vaguely knew this was happening but to see it written down in a scientific paper was quite shocking,” she explained.

“All the implicit stereotypes came out in the findings and there was a very clear distinction between the attitudes of males and females.”

The findings will be presented by the lead researcher, Dr Padraig MacNeela, a lecturer in the School of Psychology at NUIG, which is hosting the conference next Thursday.

It was commissioned by the Rape Crisis Network following a 2009 study of sexual assault which found that 80% of victims and perpetrators were drinking at the time of the rape.

“We decided we really needed to look at the attitudes to consent in a drinking environment,” explained Dr Saidlear.

“The whole area of sexual assault and alcohol is something new to be examined because it was seen as difficult to talk about without blaming the victim. We had to find a new language. We still encounter services from abroad who say a feminist organisation can’t talk about it, but we have to.”

 Dr Saidlear will focus on the statutory response to young people involved with sexual assault.

“At the end of the day, the more we know the more we can really target protective measures. Sexual violence is preventable. We need to put in measures to help prevent it.”

They keynote speaker will be Professor Antonia Abbey from Wayne State University in Michigan, who  is the foremost academic expert on alcohol and sexual violence. 

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.