Buffering masculinity’s impact on binge drinking: the femininity effect

Citation

Soloski, Kristy L.; Jones, Ethan; Gossner, Jacob; Speer, Jordon; Stephenson, Tori; & Luschin, Elisa (2023). Buffering masculinity’s impact on binge drinking: the femininity effect. Addiction Research & Theory. pp. 1-9

Abstract

Background Across most developmental periods, males tend to drink at a higher frequency and at a higher intensity than females. In identifying the mechanism responsible for these differences, biological factors have been a prevalent focus; however, gender expression is also highlighted. The purpose of this paper is to decipher how differences in binge drinking are attributed to sex differences and gendered traits.Method Using data from Wave III of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (ADD Health) (n?=?8,882), we conducted a multiple group moderation analysis to examine how differences in biological sex and gender roles in emerging adulthood predicted binge drinking.Results We found that binge drinking in emerging adulthood was most strongly predicted by high levels of masculinity and low levels of femininity in emerging adulthood. As masculinity decreased, alcohol use decreased. Femininity significantly moderated masculinity?s association with binge drinking, primarily when masculinity was high, and this did not vary across sex after controlling for gender roles.Conclusions Our findings expand sex and gender research surrounding alcohol use. For both males and females, the higher the masculinity the more frequent alcohol use, an effect of which was buffered by higher levels of femininity. Clinicians should take into consideration gender role ascription of their clients when determining the risk profile during assessment.

URL

https://doi.org/10.1080/16066359.2023.2225853

Keyword(s)

Alcohol use

Reference Type

Journal Article

Journal Title

Addiction Research & Theory

Author(s)

Soloski, Kristy L.
Jones, Ethan
Gossner, Jacob
Speer, Jordon
Stephenson, Tori
Luschin, Elisa

Year Published

2023

Pages

1-9

ISSN/ISBN

1606-6359

DOI

10.1080/16066359.2023.2225853

Reference ID

10073