Binge drinking leads to risky sex – perhaps

Does binge drinking lead to risky sex among college students? The answer seems to be, yes, perhaps. The American Association of Wine Economists usually publishes papers on less sexy subjects (as e.g. Measuring the Economic Effect of Global Warming on Viticulture Using Auction, Retail and Wholesale Prices), but Jeff DeSimone has just published a paper called Binge Drinking and Risky Sex Among College Students.The paper concludes that binge drinking is above all linked to having sex with multiple partners (no, not at the same time), and perhaps also to having unprotected sex. DeSimone adds that it is not easy to control for other factors (or to have a good control group) and thus the conclusions are not very certain. We may add that understanding what the author wants to say is not easy either (try for example this: “Promiscuity is unrelated with non-binge drinking but even more strongly related with binge drinking on multiple occasions. Results from a rudimentary instrumental variables strategy and accounting for whether sex is immediately preceded by alcohol use suggest that binge drinking directly leads to risky sex.”).

Are you surprised?