The third $100,000 grant to psychology students this semester will fund Reina Kiefer’s study on effects of alcohol and emotions on sexual assault risk

A University of Rhode Island psychology student will further her research studies after being awarded a prestigious Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (F31) Fellowship from the National Institutes of Health.

Doctoral candidate Reina Kiefer will benefit from a $100,000, two-year fellowship award intended to “enable promising predoctoral students with potential to develop into productive, independent research scientists.” Kiefer’s study is funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and will use laboratory-based alcohol administration and emotion induction methods to study the effects of alcohol intoxication and emotions on sexual assault risk perception. She is the third psychology student to receive the award in the last two months.

“Sexual violence is pervasive on college campuses around the country. The findings of Reina’s work have critical implications for preventing college campus sexual assault,” said Nicole Weiss, associate professor of psychology and primary sponsor of the award. “It is a huge accomplishment to receive one of these highly competitive awards, and is among the strongest indications of potential for a productive career as an independent scientist.”

Kiefer aims to shed light on the complex relationship between alcohol and sexual assault. Studies show one in five undergraduate women experience sexual assault during college, with alcohol playing a prominent role in about half of these occurrences. Undergraduate women who consume alcohol face triple the risk of experiencing sexual assault compared to those who don’t drink, highlighting the critical role that alcohol plays in increasing risk for college campus sexual assault. The impairing effects of alcohol, such as hindering judgment and risk recognition, help to explain this alarming trend.

Kiefer will draw upon alcohol myopia theory, which suggests that intoxicated individuals overlook important environmental information that consequently hinders their ability to perceive and respond effectively to risk; as well as stress response dampening theory, which proposes that alcohol temporarily suppresses the body’s stress response (e.g., the release of cortisol) and elicits subjective feelings of relaxation, making it harder to identify dangerous situations.

“While previous laboratory studies have shown that intoxicated women demonstrate reduced awareness of sexual assault risk cues, there is a need to further explore factors that may exacerbate the effects of alcohol intoxication on sexual assault risk perception,” Kiefer wrote in a summary of the study. “One such factor is the influence of different emotional states, which no research to date has examined.”

To address this gap, Kiefer will investigate how both negative and positive emotions, along with acute alcohol intoxication, impact undergraduate women’s abilities to identify sexual assault risk cues and respond effectively. Participants will be randomly assigned to receive beverages either with alcohol or no alcohol, undergo a procedure designed to evoke either negative or positive emotion, and then respond to questions about a hypothetical sexual assault scenario involving a college-aged male acquaintance. The study will also collect physiological data to better understand the body’s responses to emotions while under the influence of alcohol.

The urgency of addressing college campus sexual assault is reflected by the fact that prevalence rates have remained high and stable since the 1980s when Dr. Mary Koss first identified that one in four undergraduate women had experienced a sexual assault that met the legal definition of rape or attempted rape. Thus, there is continued need for research that identifies patterns of increased risk and develops prevention strategies. Findings from this study will inform the development and refinement of measures to prevent alcohol-involved sexual assault among undergraduate women.

“By understanding how different emotional states and alcohol interact to influence risk perception, we can contribute to the creation of effective prevention strategies that will make college campuses safer for all students,” Kiefer said.