New York, March 1 (IANS): College athletes are almost three times more likely to be involved in gang rapes, a disturbing US-based study has found.

They made up 40 percent of multiple-perpetrator attacks reported to schools, according to an analysis of data by US-based United Educators, an insurance company which offers liability insurance to schools.

For the company, student-on-student sexual assault represents the third-costliest category of claims, behind employment practices and slips, trips and falls.

The company recently released an analysis of all the sexual assault reports at its client colleges from 2011 to 2013, excluding ones that involved faculty, Al-Jazeera America reported.

The final data set was 305 cases from 104 colleges and universities.

The report points to a "culture that promotes hyper-masculinity, sexual aggression and excessive alcohol consumption" among the athletes.

It also found that drinking increases a man's likelihood of raping.

Alleged perpetrators, like alleged victims, were drinking in the majority of incidents analysed. In 11 percent of the "physical force" assaults, the perpetrator was drinking and the victim was not.

The above condition was also true for seven percent of "failed consent" cases, where the man is accused of inferring consent from silence or lack of resistance.

According to United Educators, this suggests that drinking enables some students "to more easily use force to obtain sex when their partner refuses" and "contributes to misinterpreting sexual interest or ignoring their partner's hesitation".