Elsevier

Addictive Behaviors

Volume 33, Issue 2, February 2008, Pages 359-365
Addictive Behaviors

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Is gender relevant only for problem alcohol behaviors? An examination of correlates of alcohol use among college students

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2007.09.014Get rights and content

Abstract

This study examined correlates of alcohol use: substance-use coping, drinking to “feel high,” and depressive symptoms as related to drinking behaviors in males and females. A sample of 266 female and 140 male college students from a private and public college were surveyed. Males reported more frequent alcohol use, alcohol-related problems, binge drinking, substance-use coping, and drinking to “feel high.” There were no gender differences in self-reported depressive symptoms. Alcohol-use frequency and binge drinking were both accounted for by substance-use coping and drinking to “feel high” among males and females. However, alcohol-related problems were accounted for by males' frequency of alcohol use and drinking to “feel high,” whereas females' problems were accounted for by frequency of alcohol use and depressive symptoms. Findings indicate that motivation for drinking is a more robust correlate of alcohol-related problems among males, while depressive symptomatology is a more relevant correlate of alcohol-related problems among females.

Introduction

Although males consistently report more alcohol use among young adults, and college students in particular (Capraro, 2000, Wechsler et al., 1995), there is some evidence of gender convergence in drinking behaviors. For example, among younger college students, there is evidence of similarities in coping as a motivation for drinking among men and women (Kuntsche et al., 2006, Stewart et al., 2001). However, college males have also been found to report a significantly greater motivation to drink for social reasons and are more likely to drink to “get high” compared to college females (Wilson, Pritchard, & Schaffer, 2004). Problem alcohol-use has been consistently related to coping and negative emotion regulation in both general and college populations (Kassel et al., 2000, Peele and Brodsky, 2000); thus, it is important to understand the relevance of gender with respect to these dimensions.

The purpose of the current study is to examine the role of substance-use coping, “feeling high,” and depressive symptoms as correlates of alcohol use among college males and females. Based upon the gathering evidence of gender convergence, however, we did not expect to find gender differences in substance-use coping. Further, based upon our reading of the literature, we expected that depressive symptoms would be a significant correlate of alcohol-use behaviors among females, and drinking to “feel high” would be a significant correlate of alcohol use among males.

Section snippets

Participants

The participants were 266 females and 140 males combined from two college samples that included a small Midwestern liberal arts college and a large Midwestern research university. Amongst the participants, 87.9% (n = 357) reported alcohol use. The mean age for the full sample was 19.2 years, with a range of 17 to 26 years. The racial/ethnic breakdown of the full sample was White/Caucasian, 62.8% (n = 255); Black/African American, 12.1% (n = 49); Asian/Pacific Islander, 10.8% (n = 44); Hispanic/Latino/a

Preliminary analysis

The results of tests of mean differences are presented in Table 1. The males reported significantly more frequent drinking, binge drinking, alcohol-related problems, drinking to “feel high,” and substance-use coping. There were no gender differences in depressive symptoms.

The partial correlations, controlling for school, among the major study variables for both males and females are presented in Table 2. As hypothesized, for males, drinking to “feel high” was significantly correlated to

Discussion

Our findings on self-reported alcohol use were consistent with overall trends, whereby males report significantly more alcohol use (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2004). In this sample, although males also reported more substance-use coping and drinking to “feel high” than did females, there were no gender differences in depressive symptoms. The overall mean for depressive symptoms was high among the entire sample; additionally, the male participants had a mean level of depressive symptoms approaching

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank Nathaniel Brewer, Erica Burk, Lindsay Cramer, Zeeba Daruwalla, Hope Fisher, Meghan Fraley, Oona Hanawalt, Igor Holas, Alexis Hunter, Gena Jorgensen, Dawn Kepler, Betsy Kerrison, Anna Levin, Natalia Mercado, Jenna Schmeichel, Andrea Stokes and Rachel White for their work on data management at various phases of the project. We also would like to thank Benita Jackson for her feedback on earlier drafts of this manuscript.

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