Perceived Gender Match and Accepting Alcohol Offers From Peers in Emerging Adulthood

Emerging adulthood (ages 18-25) has been associated with elevated alcohol use, yet little is known regarding gender identity and drinking contexts in this population. Our goals were to examine the effects of perceived gender match on alcohol use decision-making in social settings among emerging adults.

Participants (N = 135; 64% white, 11 transgender) completed measures of alcohol consumption, alcohol expectancies and motives, and the Collegiate-Simulated Intoxication Digital Elicitation using an established Internet panel. We conducted a series of univariate analyses to examine the relation between perceived gender match and behavioral willingness (BW) to accept alcohol in a social context.

Participants identifying as men were significantly more likely to accept offers of alcohol when compared with women. While men and women did not differ in terms of BW when participants perceived a gender-matched actor making the offer, when there was a gender mismatch, women had significantly lower BW when compared with men. Though transgender participants were more likely to endorse hazardous drinking behaviors, there were no observable effects of transgender identity on BW.

In this sample, we found that men have a higher BW for alcohol than women and that trans identified persons are at increased risk for alcohol misuse. These findings support the need for more research examining the effect of gender identity on patterns of alcohol use and decision-making in mixed-gender contexts for emerging adults.