Abstract
Alcohol use presents a serious risk to women's health. Of particular interest is the association of harmful alcohol consumption and risky behaviors, such as drinking before sexual intercourse, an understudied phenomenon in the Mexican population.
Aim: The aim of this study was to identify whether the harmful use of alcohol is associated with an increased probability of presex drinking in Mexican young women.
Method: This was a study with a predictive design. Multiple logistic regressions were performed in a random sample of 304 young college women (between the ages of 18 and 24 years) from Guanajuato and Tamaulipas, Mexico. Participants completed a sociodemographic data survey and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test questionnaire.
Results: Women with a pattern of harmful use of alcohol were more likely to report drinking before sex (adjusted odds ratio = 4.679, 95% confidence interval [1.619, 13.520], McFadden's pseudo R2 = 25.5%). Further analyses revealed that presex drinking by partners was an even stronger predictor of alcohol use before sexual intercourse in women (adjusted odds ratio = 12.749, 95% confidence interval [4.714, 34.483], McFadden's pseudo R2 = 34.7%).
Conclusions: The findings demand additional nursing studies to corroborate-and to better understand-the relationship between harmful use of alcohol in Mexican women, their partners' drinking behavior, and unhealthy behaviors like drinking before sexual intercourse.