How Students View Drinkers: Prototypes and Alcohol Use
Students in a college setting find many motivating reasons to drink. Reduced inhibitions, stress relief and peer pressure are among the most common, but general perceptions about the people who tend to drink is also influential among college students.
A recent study has explored the drinker prototypes’ power over the choices of college students to drink. Previous studies have gathered information in a classroom setting, giving rise to concerns that self-report bias due to memory problems and self-presentation may be affecting the results.
Spijkerman, Larsen, Gibbons and Engels have published a study that examines the effects of prototypes in a more natural setting for assessing drinking behaviors: the bar lab. The researchers wanted to see whether students’ motivation to drink was influenced by perceptions about the type of people who drink.
The study used 200 college student participants and observed drinking patterns among friend groups in a bar lab setting. Researchers examined their drinker prototypes and how they influenced the participants’ drinking.
The association between drinker prototypes and their self-reported and actual observed drinking behavior was examined using computing correlations and conducting multilevel analyses.
The results of the study confirm that drinker prototypes were associated with self-reported and the observed alcohol use in the bar lab. Another factor also largely predicted the drinking behavior of the participants. The drinking behavior of the friend group members had a strong impact on the participants’ drinking behaviors.
After controlling for the social drinking impact on alcohol choices, only heavy drinker prototypes showed an association with observed alcohol consumption in the bar lab.
The findings of this study suggest that earlier research showing the impact of prototypes on college students’ drinking decisions can be supported with naturalistic bar settings. The findings further establish the influence of drinker prototypes in predicting the drinking choices of college students.
Further research may be necessary to see whether these results translate to the larger population, or if the impact of prototypes in a naturalistic setting may be limited to college students. It may also be beneficial to examine the same factors across a larger number of participants.
The study’s findings are important for understanding the influence perceptions of drinkers have on the decisions made by college students. Prevention efforts on college campuses may be able to use the information to help target college students who need assistance with education about alcohol.
