Extreme Consumption Drinking Gaming and Prepartying Among High School Students

ABSTRACT

Drinking games and prepartying (i.e., drinking before going to a social gathering/event) have emerged as high-risk drinking behaviors in high school students. The present study examines the current prepartying behaviors of high school students who report current participation in extreme-consumption games (e.g., chugging) with those who do not. High school students (N = 182) reporting current drinking-games participation completed anonymous surveys. Gamers who prepartied frequently (versus those who did not) were approximately 1.5 times more likely to play extreme-consumption games, even after controlling for demographics, typical consumption, and participation in other types of drinking games. Practitioners should target adolescents who participate in extreme consumption games, particularly those who participate in this high-risk activity as a form of prepartying.

KEYWORDS:

• adolescents
• drinking games
• hazardous alcohol use
• prepartying
• problem behaviors

Funding

This investigation was supported by a grant to Byron L. Zamboanga from the Committee on Faculty Compensation and Development, Smith College. Special thanks to Kathryne Van Tyne for her editorial comments on this article, and Byron L. Zamboanga's research staff for their assistance with this project. Brian Borsari's contribution to this manuscript was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (R01 AA017427) and a VISN 1 Career Development Award-Independent (V1CDA2012-18). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism or the National Institutes of Health, or the Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States Government.