via alcohol’s adverse effects on decision making, awareness of social norms or perceptions of acceptable behavior (Parsons et al. 2004). Alternatively, the link between more rapid increases in alcohol use and later sexual risk-taking may result from the subjective experience of alcohol’s effect on serotonin and gamma-aminobutyric acid brain receptors (Graham et al. 2000) with the effect of reducing anxiety about the consequences of one’s actions, resulting in deceased cognitive restraint and increased risk-taking.
