A survey published in the March issue of Psychology of Addictive Behaviors shows 71 percent of young women overestimate the amount of alcohol intake guys prefer in female friends, sexual partners and girlfriends, according to the American Psychological Association.
For the study, researchers surveyed 3,616 male and female college students. The women were asked questions about the typical amount of drinks they believed a college man would like women in different interpersonal relationships — friends, dating partners and sexual partners — to drink per occasion. They were also asked what they thought the maximum amount of drinks each “category” of woman consumes should be, while the men gave their actual preferences.
When asked what they thought the average number of drinks per occasion for women should be, the women’s answer – 4.75 drinks – was not only significantly higher than the men’s actual preference of 3.18 drinks, but higher than the 4.69 drink maximum men prefer women to have.
Men in the study preferred sexual partners to drink less than female friends, and girlfriends to drink the least. While the women’s list fell into the same order, they still overestimated the amount of drinks per women.
Overall, the study shows the female means exceeds the male means by an average of one-and-a-half drinks, according to the American Psychological Association.
This overestimation and misperception can prove problematic for women socially because, contrary from popular belief, they are not as attractive as they think they are when drinking excessively. More importantly, the misperception can also cause problems with young women’s health.
Binge drinking among women with low body mass indexes is a growing issue among universities because women are more likely to develop an alcohol use disorder during this stage of their life. The misperceptions and norms shown in this study will, hopefully, make women aware of the problem and spark a decrease in binge drinking as well as correct the misperception of guys being attracted to heavy drinkers.
——Contact Natalie Roy at [email protected]