Alcohol Use and Risky Sex
A last and important factor to college students is alcohol use. Although, no studies have been able to substantiate that, in a single episode, being drunk makes students any less likely to use a condom, studies have shown that attitudes about condom use change (students are more likely not to feel the need to use a condom) when the student is drunk (Fong, Mac Donald, MacDonald, and Zanna, 2000) and studies have also shown that students who drink more are less likely to use a condom (Crawford and Desiderato, 1995).
It has been shown that students' intention to use a condom decreases when drunk because of "alcohol myopia". Alcohol myopia theory states that, when intoxicated, the person focuses on the more immediate concerns in their environment. In this case, the more immediate concern is the pleasure of sex and the threat or thought of the risk involved is not as immediate. Thus, the student is less likely to wear a condom (Fong, et al, 2000) (the study was done only on men). In other words, the thought of having sex, even if there is no condom available, is much more immediate than the thought of contracting an STD months or years later. See our page on Alcohol for more information on alcohol and its effects effects.