The role of friendship reciprocity in university freshmen’s alcohol consumption
Journal Article
Abstract
Background
The similarity of friends in the frequency and quantity of alcohol consumption is explored.
Method
During their first semester, 57 psychology freshmen indicated weekly alcohol use frequency and quantity and nominated the three peers of this group they liked most. These nominations were then used to derive the weekly alcohol consumption of friends that either did or did not reciprocate a nomination.
Results
Multilevel modeling of weekly variations showed that individuals’ alcohol use frequency was similar to peers who reciprocated a friendship (b = 0.15, p =.001), but not to non-reciprocating peers (b = -0.01, p =.720).
In contrast, weekly variation in quantity of individual students’ alcohol use was similar to both reciprocating (b = 0.11, p =.018) and non-reciprocating peers’ alcohol consumption (b = 0.10, p =.014).
Yet across all weeks, quantity tended only to be similar to non-reciprocating peers (b = 0.49, p =.020).
Conclusions
Freshmen might spend alcohol consumption time with peers who reciprocate a friendship, but are similar regarding the quantity of alcohol consumed to all people they find interesting. Thus, alcohol consumption is used strategically for social purposes.
This social purpose should also be acknowledged in alcohol-reduction interventions.