THE EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION IN TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS A CASE STUDY OF COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, EKIADOLOR-BENIN

ABSTRACT

In this study, attempts have been made to investigate the effects of alcohol consumption and acquaintance rape in College of Education Ekiadolor. The statement of the problem is on the effects of acquaintance rape and its effects on students, in particular and the public general. The purpose of the research is to find out the extent to which alcohol consumption is a function of acquaintance rape and its eects on tertiary institution students. For this purpose five hypotheses were formulated and data collected through the use of questionnaire, oral interview, particular conversation and written records (published and unpublished research work on alcohol and rape). Percentages and frequencies were used to analyse the data collected. Consequently the study recommends that the target audience particularly youth should be well sensitized about the dangers inherent as identified in the study.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Animals, no less than man, inherit powerful instinctive drives to preserve their life and liberty, but the pursuit human characteristics. Therefore, man has been in search for drugs to facilitate this pursuit (Britainnical, Vol. 13 1998). People do not usually drink pure alcohol but a beverage containing alcohol, specifically ethyl alcohol. Alcohol beverages include wines, beers and spirits. Alcohol is a depressant, dulling the cortical functions of memory, learning, judgment, reasoning, comparison and classification (encyclopedia of Psychology, Vol. 1 pp 14). Alcohol has an anesthetic or depressant eect on the central nervous system. It is a class of drug that act upon the nervous system by depressing or dulling human functions of learning. Ordinarily, the respondents ascertain that small quantity of alcohol in esopectation of reducing feelings of tension, relieving feelings of anxiety and conversely obtaining feelings of gaity and exhilaration. The increasing rate at which alcohol is consumed is poses tragic consequences such as cultism, thuggery, accidents and rape just to mention some.

Rape described the act of forcefully having sex with a woman who is or may not be your wife against her will by threatening her or using violence. The legal definition of rape as stated in Britannica Vol. 16 is “the performance of sexual intercourse by a man other than her husband with a woman against her will by force or fraud”. Acquaintance rape has become more prevalent than ever before, very few woman and girls report these incidences of acquaintance rape, thus a high proportion of rapist escape conviction for a variety of reasons (Abbey 1991). In acquaintance rape or any other type of rape the victim may experience feelings including; shock, disbelief, denial, guilt shame, fear, anger, rage. She could also experience, headaches, fatigues; severe injuries could be sustained and could result in sexually transmitted diseases like HIV/AIDS. All of the above effect together with effects of alcohol consumption conspire to make alcohol consumption and acquaintance rape social problems that demands immediate attention. Already government has spent millions of naira in checking its effects on the society. This study will provide for deeper insight into the prevailing contributing factors, experiences and effects of rape.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

In favourable circumstances, alcohol will not merely reduce tension and anxiety but suppresses them entirely. The anxiety suppressing action of alcohol is commonly seen in the gradual removal of social inhibitions. Shy people become outgoing or bold; well-behaved people become disorderly, the sexually repressed become amorous, the fearful become brave the quiescent or peaceful become verbally or physically aggressive (Kesel and Walton, 1982). Other physical behavioural manifestation of mild intoxication are slurred speech, unsteady gait, disturbed sensory perceptions and inability to make fine discriminations. When these occur in a social getting in which allows for sexual activity or is atleast on eventuality rape may probably occur. While this state can incite rape in males, the females in this condition might not be able to discern an impending rape attempts. Koss and Wisniewski (1987) reported that 80% of the rapes that occurs on campuses are committed by someone whom the victim is acquitted, hence the name acquaintance rape. Although acquaintance rape has been linked to alcohol consumption on campuses. This relationship has received little attention.

Muehlenhand and Linton (1988) for example found t5hat 15% of the college women they surveyed had experienced unwanted sexual intercourse on a date. Most worrisome is the existence of rape myths which makes people who believe in them insensitive to sexual victimization experienced by others, or even themselves, and the less likely they are to take effective steps to prevent rape. The magnitude and importance of the problems of alcohol consumption and acquaintance rape are insufficiently appreciated. Its impact facts not only on the victims of alcohol or rape but on a wide circle of family and friends. Its social reverberation affect accidents, sexual assaults and crime rates, school drop out, unemployment etc. it is the serious havoc which acquaintance rape can wreak on the society that quicken ones interest in researching on this issue. This research therefore, intends to investigate the interrelationship between alcohol consumption and acquaintance rape plus its eects in tertiary institutions and the society at large.