Frequency of drinking games participation and alcohol-related problems in a multiethnic sample of college students: do gender and ethnicity matter? Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • INTRODUCTION: A drinking game (DG) is a high-risk, social drinking activity that consists of certain rules (i.e., when to drink and how much to consume) designed to promote inebriation and that requires each player to perform a cognitive and/or motor task (Zamboanga et al., 2013). Research suggests that non-White or female students who play DGs are at an increased risk of experiencing alcohol-related problems. Thus, this study examined whether the associations between DG participation and alcohol-related problems were similar for men and women and across ethnic groups. METHOD: College students (N=7409; 73% women; 64% White, 8% Black, 14% Hispanic, 14% Asian) from 30 U.S. colleges/universities completed self-report questionnaires. RESULTS: Controlling for age, site, Greek membership (i.e., membership in a fraternity or sorority), and typical alcohol consumption, results indicated that the association between DG participation and alcohol-related problems was stronger for men compared to women. With respect to ethnicity, the association between these variables was stronger among Black women than Black men. CONCLUSIONS: Findings from this large-scale study highlight the need to closely investigate how gender and ethnicity moderate the associations between DG participation and alcohol-related problems. College intervention efforts designed to address high-risk drinking behaviors such as DG participation might consider paying close attention to ethnic minority populations, perhaps particularly Black women.

published proceedings

  • Addict Behav

author list (cited authors)

  • Zamboanga, B. L., Pesigan, I., Tomaso, C. C., Schwartz, S. J., Ham, L. S., Bersamin, M., ... Hurley, E. A.

citation count

  • 30

complete list of authors

  • Zamboanga, Byron L||Pesigan, Ivan Jacob Agaloos||Tomaso, Cara C||Schwartz, Seth J||Ham, Lindsay S||Bersamin, Melina||Kim, Su Yeong||Cano, Miguel A||Castillo, Linda G||Forthun, Larry F||Whitbourne, Susan Krauss||Hurley, Eric A

publication date

  • February 2015