The proximal effects of acute alcohol use on female aggression: A meta-analytic review of the experimental literature.

Experimental research on alcohol-related aggression has focused largely upon male participants, providing only a limited understanding of the proximal effects of acute alcohol use on aggression among females extrapolated from the male literature. The current meta-analysis was undertaken to summarize the effects of alcohol, compared to placebo or no alcohol, on female aggression as observed across experimental investigations. A review of the literature yielded 11 articles and 12 effect sizes for further analysis. The overall effect size of alcohol on female aggression was small and reached statistical significance (d = .17, p = .02, 95% confidence interval [.03, .30]). Meta-analytic examination of the experimental literature indicated that alcohol is a significant factor in female aggression. The overall alcohol-aggression effect was smaller than has been observed among male samples. Additional research is required to evaluate the influence of other factors on alcohol-related aggressive responding among female participants. (PsycINFO Database Record