As the spring break countdown dwindles down, many young women will launch their search for a spring fling in all the wrong ways. The spring break tradition of drinking in a bikini may have seemed like a sure-fire way to get a guy’s attention in the past, but a new study shows girls who drink to be “attractive” may be taking one shot too many.According to a survey published in the March issue of Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 71 percent of young women overestimate the amount of alcohol intake guys prefer in female friends, sexual partners and girlfriends, causing a dangerous misperception between men and women.”Perhaps women see men pressuring other men [to drink] and think they’re held to the same standard,” said Meredith Terlecki, instructor of record for the University’s introduction to psychology course.For the study, researchers surveyed 3,616 male and female college students. The women were asked questions about the typical amount of drinks they think a college man would like a woman to drink. They were also asked what they thought should be the maximum number of drinks a woman consumes, while the men were asked about their actual preferences.”The study looked at the discrepancy between the male and female means,” Terlecki said. “It basically shows that females’ perception of what guys think they should be drinking is completely off.”When asked what they thought the average number of drinks per occasion for women should be, the women’s average answer – 4.75 drinks – was significantly higher than the men’s actual preference of 3.18 drinks and even higher than the 4.69 drink maximum men would like women to have.The difference between the two sexes’ estimates about interpersonal relationships was also “highly significant,” according to the study.Overall, the study shows the female means exceed the male means by a significant average of one-and-a-half drinks, according to the American Psychological Association.Male students at the University, when asked the same questions about their preference concerning women and alcohol intake, unknowingly corresponded with the study’s results.”A girl should be drinking about three drinks when they go out,” said Hunter Simpson, biology junior. “I don’t agree with girls trying to match guys drink for drink. I’m not looking for a girl who gets sloppy.”The study shows men prefer sexual partners to drink less than female friends and girlfriends to drink the least. Some University male students’ answers correlated with the study.”From my experience with salacious characters … guys want girls they want to sleep with to drink [more than] girls they want to date,” said Charles Pruitt, landscape architecture freshman. “You don’t want a girl who brags about … her ability to throw back shots when they’re meeting your mom.”While men’s preferences seem clear-cut, some students, like Lauren Tracy, English sophomore, think men are mostly misleading and contribute to women’s misperceptions.”At first, my boyfriend used to think it was so adorable when I got drunk … off two beers,” Tracy said. “But once we started dating, he hated [me getting drunk]. It was kind of confusing.”Brinley Peters, biology sophomore, had opposite views from the study’s participants.”I don’t know why women would think that,” Peters said of the study’s female perception. “Because I don’t find men who drink [excessively] attractive at all.”But the misperception that still plagues a vast majority of women continues to cause problems socially and, more importantly, with women’s health.Binge drinking among women with a low body mass index is a growing issue among universities because women are more likely to develop an alcohol-use disorder during this stage of their lives, Terlecki said.”At LSU, through our studies, we’re coming into contact with … a higher risk group of girls feeling pressure to match guys drink for drink,” Terlecki said. “I think this study is important in making these norms and erroneous perceptions noticeable to students, so we can … help address the problem [of binge drinking].”——Contact Natalie Roy at [email protected]