title: Alcohol and sexuality research in the AIDS era: trends in publication activity, target populations and research design.
abstract: Research addressing relationships between alcohol and human sexuality has proliferated, due in part to efforts to characterize alcohol's role in HIV risk behavior. This study provides a descriptive review of the alcohol-sexuality literature, using abstracts from 264 identified studies to estimate changes in publication activity, target populations, and the prevalence of HIV-related studies over time. We also examine methodological trends by estimating the prevalence of experimental vs. non-experimental studies. Findings show considerable increases in research activity and diversity of populations studied since the mid-1980's and highlight the emergence of HIV-related studies as a focal point of alcohol-sexuality research efforts. Results also demonstrate a substantial decline in the proportion of studies utilizing experimental methods, in part because of frequent use of non-experimental approaches in studies of alcohol and HIV risk behavior. We discuss implications and review the role of experiments in evaluating causal relationships between alcohol and sexual risk behavior.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Washington, 351525, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. chender@u.washington.edu
authors.forename: Christian S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Hendershot
authors.forename: William H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: George
mesh_terms: D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D019380:Anti-HIV Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012106:Research; D012107:Research Design; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012725:Sexual Behavior
chemical_list: D019380:Anti-HIV Agents