Social and Individual-Level Identities and College Male Alcohol Use Behaviors: Examining the Utility of Protective Behavioral Strategies

Recent literature has consistently identified conformity to traditional masculine norms as motivating hazardous drinking behaviors of college men. Given the high prevalence of hazardous drinking among college men and the particular negative consequences that emerge secondary to it, additional research is needed in this area to better identify possible intervention targets. The present study sought to better elucidate the proximity of male norm conformity to drinking behaviors through including a specific identity factor related to alcohol use: drinking identity. Secondary to this goal, this study also sought to examine how these factors of identity predicted the safe drinking behaviors of college men or lack thereof to possibly identify behavioral intervention targets in the association between norm conformity and hazardous drinking. The study found that conformity to the norms of playboy, power over women, self-reliance, and risk-taking predicted male students more strongly identifying as drinkers which, in turn, predicted a lack of protective behavior and negative alcohol outcomes (i.e., hazardous drinking and negative consequences). The study also found that conformity to the emotional-control norm might also play a protective role through limiting identification as a drinker and promoting protective drinking behaviors. Clinical and research implications are discussed