Prologue to the special issue on predrinking and drinking game behaviors among adolescents and young adults in the United States and across the globe: Definitions and overview of prevalence rates

A latent profile analysis of social anxiety, depression, and pregaming motives among heavy‐drinking college students

“…Though we draw inferences that social motives are adjacent to coping for individuals with social anxiety in our sample, future work may expand upon these findings to elucidate specific mechanisms behind pregaming‐related coping related to negative affect and depression symptoms. We also do not report other high‐risk drinking behaviors that commonly occur in the context of pregaming, such as drinking games or solitary drinking (Keough et al., 2016; Walukevich‐Dienst et al., 2022; Zamboanga et al., 2023). Though also not explicitly assessed, socially motivated individuals with social anxiety may be more likely to engage in solitary pregaming and drinking (Keough et al., 2016).…”

“…We drew from a heavy‐drinking college student sample at high risk for alcohol‐related consequences; results are thus especially relevant to high‐risk drinking groups, representing an important target group for future intervention work in this area. We also used an advanced latent variable modeling approach to establish heterogeneous profiles that may otherwise not have been captured by simple path analysis or regression‐based models, which few pregaming‐related studies have used to date (Zamboanga et al., 2023). We expand upon these studies by combining a focus on mental health symptomology and pregaming motives in associating with alcohol‐related consequences, and namely with blackout frequency, which is one of the most severe consequences related to heavy‐drinking behaviors (Hingson et al., 2016; Merrill et al., 2019) relevant to pregaming (LaBrie et al., 2011).…”

“…Pregaming (i.e., prepartying, frontloading, and preloading) is a high‐risk drinking behavior that involves alcohol consumption before another event or gathering where further drinking often occurs (Zamboanga et al., 2023). Pregaming is highly prevalent among college students, with a recent review estimating that over 50% of college students engage in past 30‐day pregaming (Zamboanga et al., 2023).…”

“…Pregaming (i.e., prepartying, frontloading, and preloading) is a high‐risk drinking behavior that involves alcohol consumption before another event or gathering where further drinking often occurs (Zamboanga et al., 2023). Pregaming is highly prevalent among college students, with a recent review estimating that over 50% of college students engage in past 30‐day pregaming (Zamboanga et al., 2023). Heavier drinking tends to occur on pregaming days compared to nonpregaming days (LaBrie et al., 2016), with heavy episodic drinking (i.e., 4 or 5+ drinks on one occasion) often occurring both during and after pregaming (Calhoun & Maggs, 2022).…”

Why Do University Students From Australia, New Zealand, and Argentina Play Drinking Games? A Mixed-Method Cross-Country Study

“…As such, it is not surprising that young drinkers from different countries report having played a DG (e.g., Australian university students: 69% played at least once within 6 months, ; New Zealand adolescents/ emerging adults: ∼59% played at least occasionally, Bavin & Owens, 2016; Argentinian university students: 27% played at least once within 30 days, Zamboanga, George, et al 2021 1 ; see also Zamboanga et al, 2023).…”