Drinking Like a Guy: Frequent Binge Drinking Among Undergraduate Women

Abstract

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine why there has been an increase in frequent binge drinking among the most recent generation of female undergraduate students. Specifically, we examined whether female undergraduate women associated being able to "drink like a guy" (e.g., drink large amounts of alcohol, drinking competitively) with gender equality. Focus groups were conducted in March of 2003 with 42 female undergraduate women who consumed alcohol. Participants were recruited from respondents of a random sample survey of undergraduate students attending a large, public university and reflected the demographic characteristics of this population: traditional-age college students (i.e., attending college between 18 and 22 years of age), who were primarily white from middle or upper middle class families and living on or near the college campus. Focus groups were based on drinking trajectories during college (Stable High, Stable Low, Decreasers, Increasers) and sorority status. While women of all drinking levels reported feeling pressure to drink "heavily" because of the favorable impression they could make on their male peers, primarily women who were frequent binge drinkers throughout college felt that "drinking like a guy" described their own drinking behaviors. While women reported that being able to "drink like a guy" provided them with a sense of equality with their male peers, analysis of the transcripts suggests that "drinking like a guy" had less to do with gender equality and more to do with emphasizing women's (hetero)sexuality. Findings are discussed in terms of how "heavy alcohol consumption" affords college women positive attention from their male peers, but likely increases their vulnerability to sexual assault and alcohol use related health problems.

Alcohol in emerging adulthood: 7-year study of problem and dependent drinkers

“…This suggests that if one were to find two heavy drinking samples of young adults who were identical on everything except their sex, the women would tend to binge more over time than men. More recent studies from college studies have documented increased binge drinking among young women -as a badge of honor to be able to drink "like a guy" as well as to receive positive attention from male peers (Young et al, 2005). In our case, this finding may also be a function of this particular sample-women in the stage of emerging adulthood who already are problem drinkers.…”

Adolescent Susceptibility to Deviant Peer Pressure: Does Gender Matter?

“…Prior research has shown that adolescents who are more susceptible to peer pressure have more difficulty establishing social competence and have a harder time making their own judgments about risk-taking behaviors (Allen et al 2006). Similarly, Young et al (2009) qualitative study found that college females described their drinking patterns as motivated by pressure to make favorable impressions on their male peers. As such, it is important to identify factors that contribute to certain youth's heightened vulnerability to peer pressure.…”

“…A growing body of work has begun to establish the predictive power of susceptibility to deviant peer influence on adolescents' risk-taking behaviors, a determinant of behavior that appears to be a general risk factor across genders. Building on the burgeoning research showing adolescents are highly attuned to picking up on and responding to social cues from their environments (Blakemore and Mills 2014), we examine whether and how deviant peer influence affects adolescent males and females differently during a period of development in which gender stereotypes may be especially influential in shaping perceived social norms (de Visser and McDonnell 2011;Young et al 2009). …”

A randomized motivational enhancement prevention group reduces drinking and alcohol consequences in first-year college women.

“…Women may view alcohol as a means of facilitating communication and sexual expression, including initiating a relationship, finding intimacy, or coping with the loss or failure of an existing relationship (Gleason, 1994a(Gleason, , 1994b. In turn, women may be placing themselves at higher risk for sexual assault (Young et al, 2005); in fact, over 50% of all sexual assaults on college campuses involve alcohol (Abbey, 2002). Thus, physiological differences, increases in drinking among women, and the increased risk attached to the first year of college underscore the need for interventions targeted to 1st-year women.…”