# Alcohol-Involved Sexual Assault among Bisexual Women: Disentangling Mechanisms of Risk at Individual, Interpersonal, and Structural Levels Across the Lifespan

> **NIH NIH K01** · COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · 2022 · $173,747

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
The purpose of this Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01) is to help the candidate, Dr.
Jessie Ford, become an independent researcher focused on identifying modifiable multi-level factors that can
explain and address the high rates of alcohol-involved sexual assault within bisexual women (BW) across the
lifespan in the US. Today, as many as 8-14% of women identify as bisexual. Research shows that BW are over
three times more likely to have experienced alcohol-facilitated sexual assault than heterosexual women (24.4%
vs. 7.6%), and that rates of hazardous drinking are higher for BW than for heterosexual women. Thus, it is
imperative to study how alcohol interacts with other social forces to create risk in order to prevent the high
rates of sexual assault among this growing demographic group. In order to examine this topic, the candidate
requires training in each of the following areas: 1) risk and protective factors for hazardous drinking; (2)
lifespan research methods for alcohol use and sexual assault; (3) conceptualizing and measuring multi-level
determinants of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) alcohol use; and (4) mixed methods. Training will occur
alongside a career development plan that includes specific seminars, workshops, coursework, conferences,
hands-on practica, and tailored mentoring with a mentorship team comprised of experts in alcohol use, lifespan
and longitudinal research methods, determinants of LGB health, minority stress, risk taking, sexual assault,
mixed methods, bisexual health, and advanced statistical methods. The candidate will use this new training
data to build a novel conceptual model describing BW's disproportionate risk for alcohol-involved sexual
assault, with attention to the multi-level effects of individual, interpersonal, and structural factors across the
lifespan. To test this model, I will utilize a multi-method design across 3 studies that draw on the
methodological strengths of longitudinal cohort, multi-site cross-sectional, and mixed-methods data. These
datasets include: 1) the Chicago Health and Life Experiences of Women Study (CHLEW), 21-year study of 181
BW (ages 18-84); 2) the Online College Social Life Survey (OCSLS), a multi-site study of 638 BW (ages 18-25)
at 22 universities; and 3) my own primary data: The Bisexual Women, Alcohol and Sexual Health (BWASH) 2-
wave survey of 800 BW in a US general population sample. Further, the candidate will conduct 30 in-depth
interviews with BW recruited from the BWASH sample, integrating survey data with qualitative data to further
elucidate mechanisms. This research will provide critical formative data that will be used to develop a NIAAA
R01 proposal that will allow Dr. Ford to create a prospective dataset to identify multi-level etiologic pathways
(all in 1 dataset) that affect alcohol use and sexual health for BW. The new skills acquired through this K01 will
help the candidate achieve her career goal of becoming an in...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10478209
- **Project number:** 5K01AA028532-02
- **Recipient organization:** COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** Jessie V Ford
- **Activity code:** K01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $173,747
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-09-01 → 2026-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10478209

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10478209, Alcohol-Involved Sexual Assault among Bisexual Women: Disentangling Mechanisms of Risk at Individual, Interpersonal, and Structural Levels Across the Lifespan (5K01AA028532-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10478209. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*