Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 7, 2026
07:31
Murine Drinking Models in the Development of Pharmacotherapies for Alcoholism: Drinking in the Dark and Two-bottle Choice
Published on: January 7, 2019
Drinking games as a venue for sexual competition
Liana S E Hone1, Evan C Carter, Michael E McCullough
1Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA.
Summary
Men
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary psychology
- Behavioral science
- Public health
Background:
- College students' drinking game behaviors show significant sex differences.
- Drinking games are a common setting for heavy episodic drinking among college students.
- Heavy episodic drinking poses risks to students' health and behavior.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of sexual selection theory in explaining sex differences in college students' drinking game behaviors.
- To examine the mediating effects of mating effort, social competitiveness, and related motivations on these behaviors.
- To inform public health and university interventions targeting at-risk students.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional study design.
- Survey data collected from 351 women and 336 men (aged 17-26).
- Mediation model analysis to test hypothesized relationships.
Main Results:
- Men engaged in drinking games more frequently and consumed more alcohol.
- Men reported higher levels of alcohol-related problems associated with drinking games.
- Sex differences in drinking game behavior were partially mediated by mating effort, social competitiveness, and motivations.
Conclusions:
- Sexual selection and related motivations partially explain sex differences in college students' drinking game participation and outcomes.
- Understanding these underlying mechanisms can aid in developing targeted public health and university interventions.
- Identifying students at risk for problematic drinking behaviors associated with games is crucial.
Related Concept Videos
02:34Competition
When organisms require the same limited resources within an environment, they may have to compete for them. Competition is a net-negative interaction. Even if two competing individuals or populations do not interact directly, the overall fitness of both competitors is lowered as a result of not having full access to the limited resource.
01:06Natural Selection and Mating Preferences
The principle of natural selection posits that organisms better adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce. This principle is closely intertwined with mating preferences, a key aspect of sexual selection, which evolutionary psychologists believe is driven by instincts to propagate one's genes. Such instincts significantly influence mating behaviors and preferences between genders.
Females, due to their biological roles in conception, pregnancy, and nursing, inherently...
Females, due to their biological roles in conception, pregnancy, and nursing, inherently...
01:20Mate Choice
Mate choice—the decision about whom to mate with—is a type of natural selection, since animals must reproduce to pass down their genes. Mate choice is also called intersexual selection because the behavior occurs between the sexes.
01:04Social Facilitation
Not all intergroup interactions lead to negative outcomes. Sometimes, being in a group situation can improve performance. Social facilitation occurs when an individual performs better when an audience is watching than when the individual performs the behavior alone. This typically occurs when people are performing a task for which they are skilled.
01:24Social Foundations of Self I: Play and Game
The development of self in children is deeply rooted in social interactions, mainly through stages of play and structured games. These stages, outlined by sociologist George Herbert Mead, illustrate how children progressively learn to understand and adopt social roles, forming a cohesive sense of self.The Play Stage: Imitation and Simple Role-TakingIn the early years of childhood, the play stage is characterized by imitative behavior, where children engage in role-playing based on familiar...
04:49Robbers Cave
During the 1950s, the landmark Robbers Cave experiment demonstrated that when groups must compete with one another, intergroup conflict, hostility, and even violence may result. At the Oklahoman summer camp, two troops of boys—termed the Rattlers and the Eagles—took part in a week-long tournament. During this time, their negativity culminated in derogatory name-calling, fistfights, and even vandalism and destruction of property. However, this work also revealed that such tension could be...