The alcoholic “”rite of passage”” that many students regard as a fundamental part of their collegiate lives is one that has traditionally been considered a male-dominated activity. However, recent studies conducted by researchers at Loyola Marymount University suggest that female students are engaging in drinking games as frequently as male students.
Revelle College junior Angela Wells plays beer pong. A recent Loyola Marymount University study found that women are increasingly participating in drinking games.
The study, published in the November 2006 issue of the journal Addictive Behaviors, indicated that women’s participation in drinking games like beer pong leads to binge drinking. Furthermore, women, not men, suffered more negative alcohol-related consequences from playing drinking games, such as missing class, having unprotected sex or experiencing a change in personality.
The study analyzed the drinking habits of 105 college students — 35 males and 70 females, averaging 18.84 years in age — over a three-month period of time, monitoring every drinking event attended and quantity of alcohol consumed.
Contrary to what previous studies have claimed, the results revealed a higher drinking rate in women than in men. Sixty-four percent of the study’s female students and 57 percent of the male students participated in at least one drinking game over the course of the three months. Female students participated in a total of 915 drinking events, 187 of which involved drinking games, and male students participated in a total of 469 drinking events, 84 of which involved drinking games.
Researchers speculate that men and women have different motivations for engaging in drinking games.
“”Men do it out of competitiveness, to get the other person drunk,”” said study co-author, Loyola Marymount University psychology professor and Heads Up! Program Director Joseph LaBrie. “”Women drink for social reasons because they want to enhance, find or build relationships.””
Others feel that female involvement in drinking games reflects their need for acceptance and respect from male peers.
“”Men provide women who can hold their liquor with positive regard and encouragement,”” Loyola Marymount University psychology professor and study co-author Eric R. Pedersen stated in an e-mail. “”A woman who plays drinking games and puts down many drinks is held in high esteem by males.””
Thurgood Marshall College freshman Kay Rodriguez echoed the study’s assertion about female students’ desires to compete with male abilities and standards in a social setting.
“”Girls play drinking games to be at the level of men, to be one of the boys,”” Rodriguez said.
Others argue that female motivation for drinking does not originate in being like their male peers, but rather being liked by them.
“”Girls don’t want to play for competition, they want to play for attention,”” Marshall freshman Shida Haghighat said.
The study’s authors propose that women’s drinking behaviors are influenced by social pressure — specifically, pressure from men.
“”Men even think that women who can drink like them are more attractive than those who cannot,”” Pedersen stated. “”This may be because men think an intoxicated woman is more likely to have sex with them.””
Researchers believe that because heavy alcohol consumption affords female students positive attention from their peers, these females are more vulnerable to sexual assault and negative consequences.
“”Guys want girls to play beer pong to get them drunk,”” Revelle College junior Aaron Cantu said.
However, researchers dispute the effectiveness of women playing drinking games as a means of winning respect or positive attention from men.
“”Women, in general, are not getting their needs met by doing what they’re doing,”” LaBrie said.
The study found that women participate in drinking games regardless of the health risks associated with alcohol consumption. Sociology graduate student and teaching assistant Lisa Nunn questioned whether the social benefits of excessive drinking for women are real or perceived.
“”I’m interested in whether the consequences of the reward is something healthy, such as a feeling of empowerment in gender equality, or whether it is something destructive,”” Nunn stated in an e-mail. “”We shouldn’t feel that we need to be intoxicated to be socially viable.””
The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism funded the study, which is one of many conducted by researchers of the Heads Up! program at Loyola Marymount University.
