Similarities and differences in general drinking game behavior, game-specific behavior, and peer influence factors across race/ethnicity.

Abstract

Research on college student drinking game (DG) behavior indicates that White students play DGs more often than students from other races/ethnicities. Among DG players, the risk for negative outcomes is the same. We examined DG-specific (e.g., motor skills, gambling games) behaviors and peer influence factors across race/ethnicity in order to elucidate commonalities among risk factors. Men (N = 248; 18–30 years; 77% college students) who played DGs and lived in the Boston metro area completed our online survey. White men (WM; n = 167) were more likely to play motor skills (e.g., Beer Pong) and media games, and to consume beer during DGs, compared with Men of Color (MOC; n = 81). MOC reported consuming shots more often during DG play. Compared with Asian/Pacific Islander (14.9%, n = 37) and Black/African American (6.0%, n = 15) men, Hispanic/Latino (8.5%, n = 21) played DGs more frequently and reported a higher maximum numbers of drinks consumed during DGs. There were, however, far more similarities than differences across groups, including location of play, frequency of play, and quantity consumed for the 4 other DG types. WM reported more positive peer norms for drinking; however, there were no differences in levels of perceived peer pressure. MOC reported that DGs were played only on weekends where they live, whereas WM reported that DGs were played on weekdays and weekends. Additional research is needed with larger sample sizes to further our understanding of the unique contextual and peer risk factors for MOC.

Epilogue for the special issue on sociocultural factors and mechanisms in alcohol use: Epidemiology, prevention, and intervention among ethnic minority groups: Lessons learned.

“…By studying different ethnic groups, we are in a better position to determine what processes or principles are universally applicable and that are culture specific. For instance, Wegner and his colleagues (Wegner, Roy, DaCova, & Gorman, 2019) did not find many ethnic differences in their study of drinking games among college students. Perhaps cultural variables are unimportant or are secondary to situational factors.…”

The Role of Religiosity, Ethnicity and Gender Identification in Individual’s Moral Judgments; The Mediation Effect of Self-transcendence

“…From the broader viewpoint, moral judgement is accompanied by moral obligation and moral sentiment. It is, therefore, safe to consider that an individual perceives a particular behaviour as right when he/she feels that there is a moral obligation (moral norms) beneath (Henrich et al, 2017;Maffini & Kim-Ju, 2018;Ward & King, 2018;Wegner et al, 2019). Thus, along with the feeling of approval (moral judgement), eventually, the individual tends to exhibit morally salient behaviour.…”

Ethnocultural diversity in alcohol use and misuse.

“…As demonstrated in this special issue, considering risks (e.g., co-occurring substance use and type of alcoholic beverage when playing drinking games; Montgomery et al, 2019; Wegner et al, 2019) and protective factors (e.g., ethnic identity; Banks et al, 2019; Meca et al, 2019) informs more nuanced understanding of alcohol use in underrepresented ethnic minority groups and provides a more complete picture about drinking behaviors and related outcomes across segments of the U.S. population. Concerning ethnic disparities in negative drinking problems, we recommend more investigations that systematically examine resilience and buffer factors that can mitigate the negative effects of alcohol use and conditions that reduce risk for heavy and/or hazardous drinking.…”

“…Beyond generalizability, group differences research is designed to uncover limits of common factors/processes, and to identify and characterize ethnocultural variations. One study by Wegner, Roy, DaCova, and Gorman (2019) compared ethnic groups and examined undergraduate men’s experiences with playing drinking games, a risky drinking practice (see Zamboanga et al, 2014). This is one of few studies that considers ethnocultural variations in high-risk drinking practices (Paves, Pedersen, Hummer, & LaBrie, 2012; Perrotte, Zamboanga, Lui, & Piña-Watson, 2018; Zamboanga et al, 2016; Zamboanga et al, 2015).…”