Alcohol and drug use in stressful times: The influence of the masculine role and sex-related personality attributes

Predicting safe sex practices from gender-related interpersonal variables

“…In addition, UA was associated with less frequent condom use and with poorer partner communication about safe sex practices. These findings are consistent with past research showing that UA is associated with unhealthy lifestyle choices and greater risk taking (Danoff-Burg et al, 2006;Mosher & Danoff-Burg, 2005;Nagurney & Bagwell, 2009;Snell et al, 1987). The only unexpected finding here was that UC was not related to safe sex practices.…”

“…Regarding the overarching goal of predicting safe sex practices from personality, after controlling for gender and relationship status, we hypothesize that UA will be associated with lower safe sex practices including less frequent condom use and poorer partner communication, consistent with past research assessing personality differences in safe sexual behaviors (Mosher & Danoff-Burg, 2005;Nagurney & Bagwell, 2009), as well as other research revealing that UA is associated with greater risk taking and such unhealthy behaviors as drug use (Danoff-Burg et al, 2006;Snell et al, 1987). Furthermore, we hypothesize that UC, because of its focus on more one-sided relationships, should be associated with poorer communication such as simply going along with whatever one's partner prefers in a sexual encounter.…”

“…For example, in a study investigating drug and alcohol usage, UA was correlated positively with use of alcohol, mind-altering drugs, and tranquilizers (Snell, Belk, & Hawkins, 1987). For men using tranquilizers, this last finding was especially true when the participants were under stress.…”

Gender-Related Traits as Predictors of Alcohol Use in Male German and Spanish University Students

“…Nevertheless, the gender-alcohol link may be relevant for many countries since substantial gender differences in alcohol use have been observed worldwide (Wilsnack et al 2009). Research has been conducted on masculinity (but rarely on femininity) and alcohol use in some countries (e.g., Mahalik et al 2006;Van Gundy et al 2005), but mostly in the US (e.g., Huselid and Cooper 1992;Landrine et al 1988;Snell et al 1987). This study, for the first time, addresses gender and alcohol use in German and Spanish men; thereby, the gender-related trait measures were assessed with questionnaires in a crosssectional field study and were ensured to be comparable across the two countries by measurement invariance testing.…”

“…Other gender-role measures that were used included, for example, self-descriptions with instrumental/agentic (traditionally masculine) and expressive/communal (traditionally feminine) personality traits (as assessed by the Bem Sex Role Inventory [BSRI], Bem 1974Bem , 1981 or by the personal attributes questionnaire [PAQ], Spence and Helmreich 1978). For example, the endorsement of extreme or socially undesirable personal attributes-such as in unmitigated agency assessed with the extended PAQ-was positively associated with alcohol use and other forms of substance use among undergraduates from the US (Danoff-Burg et al 2006;Snell et al 1987). McCreary et al (1999) found that, among the three male role variables used, traditional attitudes predicted alcohol consumption among Canadian men; however, neither masculine gender-role stress nor agentic traits (assessed with the PAQ) were predictive of alcohol use.…”