Leidos, Inc., San Diego, CA, USA.
Health and Behavioral Sciences Department, Naval Health Research Center, San Diego, CA, USA.
Eur J Psychotraumatol. 2023;14(2):2282020. doi: 10.1080/20008066.2023.2282020. Epub 2023 Nov 27.
Sexual assault and alcohol use are significant public health concerns, including for the United States (US) military. Although alcohol is a risk factor for military sexual assault (MSA), research on the extent of alcohol-involvement in MSAs has not been synthesised. Accordingly, this scoping review is a preliminary step in evaluating the existing literature on alcohol-involved MSAs among US service members and veterans, with the goals of quantifying the prevalence of alcohol-involved MSA, examining differences in victim versus perpetrator alcohol consumption, and identifying additional knowledge gaps. In accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines for Scoping Reviews, articles in this review were written in English, published in 1996 or later, reported statistics regarding alcohol-involved MSA, and included samples of US service members or veterans who experienced MSA during military service. A total of 34 of 2436 articles identified met inclusion criteria. Studies often measured alcohol and drug use together. Rates of reported MSAs that involved the use of alcohol or alcohol/drugs ranged from 14% to 66.1% (= 36.94%; = 37%) among servicemen and from 0% to 83% (= 40.27%; = 41%) among servicewomen. Alcohol use was frequently reported in MSAs, and there is a dearth of information on critical event-level characteristics of alcohol-involved MSA. Additionally, studies used different definitions and measures of MSA and alcohol use, complicating comparisons across studies. The lack of event-level data, and inconsistencies in definitions, measures, and sexual assault timeframes across articles demonstrates that future research and data collection efforts require more event-level detail and consistent methodology to better understand the intersection of alcohol and MSA, which will ultimately inform MSA prevention and intervention efforts.
性侵犯和酒精使用是重大的公共卫生问题，包括美国（US）军队。尽管酒精是军事性侵犯（MSA）的一个风险因素，但关于 MSA 中酒精参与程度的研究尚未综合。因此，这项范围综述是评估美国现役军人和退伍军人中涉及酒精的 MSA 现有文献的初步步骤，目的是量化涉及酒精的 MSA 的流行程度，检查受害者与犯罪者酒精消费的差异，并确定其他知识空白。根据系统评价和荟萃分析范围综述的首选报告项目指南，本综述中的文章均为英文撰写，发表于 1996 年或之后，报告了涉及酒精的 MSA 的统计数据，并包括在军事服务期间经历 MSA 的美国现役军人或退伍军人的样本。在确定的 2436 篇文章中，共有 34 篇符合纳入标准。研究经常将酒精和药物使用一起测量。报告的涉及酒精或酒精/药物的 MSA 发生率在男性军人中从 14%到 66.1%（=36.94%；=37%）不等，在女性军人中从 0%到 83%（=40.27%；=41%）不等。MSA 中经常报告酒精使用，并且缺乏关于涉及酒精的 MSA 的关键事件特征的信息。此外，研究使用了不同的 MSA 和酒精使用的定义和测量方法，这使得在研究之间进行比较变得复杂。缺乏事件级别的数据，以及文章中 MSA 和酒精使用的定义、测量和时间框架的不一致性，表明未来的研究和数据收集工作需要更详细的事件级别的细节和一致的方法，以更好地理解酒精和 MSA 的交叉点，这最终将为 MSA 的预防和干预工作提供信息。
