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Article Excerpt
NATIONAL STUDIES OF COLLEGE SAMPLES indicate greater heavy episodic drinking in athletes than nonathletes (Leichliter et al., 1998; Nelson and Wechsler, 2001; Wechsler et al., 1997; Wilson et al., 2004). Excessive alcohol consumption and higher blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) in college students are associated with physical, psychological, interpersonal, and academic problems (e.g., Borsari et al., 2003; Hingson et al., 2002; Latimer et al., 2004; Wechsler et al., 1994), and research demonstrates greater alcohol-related negative consequences in athletes than nonathletes (Leichliter et al., 1998; Nelson and Wechsler, 2001; Wechsler et al., 1997; Wilson et al., 2004). A factor that has received little research attention is college athletes' participation in drinking games.
Drinking games promote social drinking environments, and excessive alcohol consumption is encouraged by players (e.g., Borsari, 2004). There are hundreds of different drinking games involving competitions and games requiring the demonstration of both cognitive and physical skills, and estimates of college student drinking game participation in the past month range from 47% to 62% (Borsari, 2004; Borsari et al., 2003). College students are drawn to drinking games because the games promote social interaction and group cohesion, and students' motives for drinking games include playing to get drunk, get others drunk, meet new people, and compete against others. However, given that drinking games promote heavy drinking during short periods, players are at risk for experiencing interpersonal consequences, including arguments, fights, and physical consequences (e.g., vomiting, hangovers).
Several factors suggest college athletes are likely to play drinking games, making them susceptible to heavy drinking and negative consequences. Many drinking games require participants to perform motor tasks (e.g., "Quarters"), and performance is enhanced with good hand-eye coordination. Many games are "team oriented" (e.g., "Beer Pong") and typically include winners, losers, and spectators (Borsari, 2004). Athletes may be drawn to drinking games to engage in "sport or game-oriented" competitions and demonstrate their skills in a social context. Additionally, research on personality factors and motives for playing drinking games provides evidence for athletes' involvement. Johnson and Sheets (2004) found that motives for drinking game participation associated with "competition and thrills" were also associated with greater alcohol consumption and negative consequences for college students than other motives.
They suggested that playing drinking games for competition and thrills may be related to sensation seeking, a personality trait shown to be positively associated with greater frequency of drinking game participation (Johnson and Cropsey, 2000) as well as athletes' tendency to engage in risky behaviors, including physical fights and having more sexual partners (Nattiv and Puffer, 1991).
Surprisingly, little research has investigated college athletes' participation in drinking games; however, one study has examined female intercollegiate athletes' participation in drinking games (Zamboanga et al., 2005). The authors found a positive relationship between drinking game participation and alcohol-related problems, but given that there was not a nonathlete group in the study, no comparisons between athletes and nonathletes were possible. In addition, participants were exclusively women; therefore, results may not generalize to male athletes. Research on gender differences in drinking game participation indicates men report greater frequency of drinking game involvement than women. However, women drink more during drinking games than in other contexts, a finding not evident in men (Johnson and Sheets, 2004; Nagoshi et al., 1994). Thus, athletic participation and gender are important to consider when investigating alcohol use and consequences in the context of drinking games.
The major objective of the current investigation was to examine drinking game participation as a mediator between athlete status and alcohol consumption and consequences. In light of research indicating greater consumption and consequences associated with drinking games, and our hypothesis that athletes participate in drinking games more frequently than nonathletes, an examination of drinking game involvement as a mediator seemed plausible. To examine potential differences between levels of athletic participation and drinking game participation, alcohol consumption, and consequences, we examined two separate samples of athletes, including intramural and intercollegiate athletes. Previous research suggests that the level of collegiate athletic involvement is positively associated with alcohol consumption. Hildebrand and colleagues (2001) found that a greater proportion of students classified as "heavy drinkers" were collegiate athletes, and the lowest percentage of those classified as "heavy drinkers" were students not involved in athletics in high school or college. We predicted intercollegiate athletes would report the highest alcohol use and consequences, and nonathletes would report less use and consequences than both intercollegiate and intramural athletes.
Study 1 Method
Participants and procedures
Participants included 1,395 first-year college students at a large West Coast campus. Participants responded to letters sent to a random sample of 3,000 students (50% women) identified by the registrar, inviting them to complete a screening assessment for an intervention study. A higher percentage of women responded and completed the assessment. The sample consisted of 837 women (60%) and 558 men. Participants had a mean (SD) age of 18.4 (0.55) years. The majority of the sample was white (61%), with Asian (24%), Hispanic/Latino (4%), black (1%), American Indian/ Alaskan Native (1%), and others/multiracial (9%) composing the rest of the sample. Participants completed informed consent and assessments online via a secure Web server and were paid $10 for completing the assessments.
Measures
The assessment battery included a number of measures related to college student drinking and took 30-60 minutes to complete. Measures relevant to the current study are described here.
Alcohol consumption. Alcohol consumption was measured by items from the Quantity-Frequency and Peak Alcohol Use Index (QF; Marlatt et al., 1995) and the Daily Drinking Questionnaire (DDQ; Collins et al., 1985). The QF is a self-report scale assessing typical weekend drinking quantity and hours spent...
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