Researchers used survey data to identify three trajectory classes of HED – high-risk, monthly, and abstaining – during one year of alcohol consumption by 700 underage women attending a mid-Atlantic university in the United States. Additional analyses evaluated feminine-norm endorsement, sorority status, perceived peer norms, expectancies, alcohol-related consequences, and marijuana use as predictors of the trajectory classes.
Overall, 451 (64.4%) of the underage women were classified into one of two groups: high-risk (31%), reporting weekly HED over the course of the year, or monthly (33.4), reporting HED roughly once a month. Abstainers (35.6%) reported no HED over the course of the year. The high-risk group reported significantly more alcohol-related problems and marijuana use than the other two groups. Being invested in looking physically attractive in public was positively associated with membership in the higher-risk HED groups. Conversely, endorsing sexual fidelity was negatively related to membership in the higher-risk HED groups. The study’s authors recommended that prevention and intervention programs should target gender-relevant factors among underage women engaging in problematic patterns of drinking and marijuana use.
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