Participation in Drinking Games and Predrinking Among University Students in Argentina, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand

Abstract

Aims The limited existing research on drinking games and predrinking among university students in Argentina, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand suggests that participation in these risky drinking practices is relatively widespread among this population. Drinking norms and alcohol use can vary across countries and in different regions of the globe. The measurement of drinking games and predrinking participation between studies also differs, making cross-country comparisons difficult. The present study explored differences in past month participation in drinking games and predrinking among university students from a large public university in Argentina, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. Methods The data analytic sample consisted of 1134 university students (ages 18–25, Mage = 20.2 years; 72.6% women) from Argentina (n = 349), Australia (n = 280), Canada (n = 262), and New Zealand (n = 243) who reported weekly alcohol consumption. Students completed a confidential survey on drinking attitudes and behaviors. Results Controlling for age, gender, and weekly drink consumption, there were no cross-country differences in past month participation in predrinking. In contrast, university students from Canada and New Zealand were more likely to have played a drinking game in the past month than students from Australia and Argentina. Conclusions The present finding suggest that university students from Argentina, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand are equally likely to participate in predrinking regardless of country; however, the likelihood of playing drinking games differs as a function of country site.

Relación de la impulsividad y las normas sociales descriptivas con la práctica de tomar alcohol antes de salir

“…La previa, a su vez, incrementa la probabilidad de realizar prácticas extremas de consumo de alcohol (e.g., fondo blanco, que consiste en consumir en pocos tragos todo el contenido de un vaso con bebida alcohólica) o juegos de tomar alcohol. Estas prácticas pueden implicar la ingesta de una cantidad muy elevada de alcohol en un periodo muy corto de tiempo (Tomaso et al, 2016;Zamboanga et al, 2021). Estos, y otros resultados (Barnett et al, 2013;Merrill et al, 2013;Miller et al, 2016;Moser et al, 2014), destacan el riesgo que presentan los adolescentes a experimentar consecuencias negativas a corto (e.g., relaciones sexuales no planificadas o sin protección y peleas físicas; Keough et al, 2016;Pilatti et al, 2016) y largo plazo (Harding et al, 2016) cuando se involucran en estas prácticas de consumo excesivo de alcohol.…”

“…El consumo de alcohol antes de salir o asistir a eventos sociales, musicales o deportivos es una práctica de ingesta de alcohol (denominada prepartying, pregaming o pre-drinking en inglés; Pedersen y Labrie, 2007;Zamboanga et al, 2011;Zamboanga et al, 2021) muy prevalente entre los adolescentes y los jóvenes (Paves et al, 2012;Zamboanga et al, 2011). En Argentina, país donde se realizó este trabajo, esta práctica se denomina previa (i.e., tomar alcohol antes de un evento donde podrá, o no, haber más alcohol disponible).…”

Why Do University Students From Australia, New Zealand, and Argentina Play Drinking Games? A Mixed-Method Cross-Country Study

“…The total number of reasons provided by participants that were coded across the 3 sites was 2387 ( n NZ = 740, n ARG = 811, n AUS = 836). Ethics review boards at each institution approved study protocols for this investigation (see Zamboanga, George, et al, 2021, for further details on sampling methodologies).…”

“…DGs can also serve as an icebreaker activity during social events with casual acquaintances (George et al, 2023). As such, it is not surprising that young drinkers from different countries report having played a DG (e.g., Australian university students: 69% played at least once within 6 months, George & Zamboanga, 2018; New Zealand adolescents/emerging adults: ∼59% played at least occasionally, Bavin & Owens, 2016; Argentinian university students: 27% played at least once within 30 days, Zamboanga, George, et al 2021 1 ; see also Zamboanga et al, 2023).…”

A mobile-based pregaming drinking prevention intervention for college students: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

“…It is highly prevalent among students, with over 40% of all college students reporting past month pregaming and past month prevalence rates among student drinkers ranging from 50 to 85% across studies [ 39 , 44 ]. Pregaming is not specific to U.S. college students, as the behavior has been studied among young people in several other countries, such as Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and Australia, with similar findings related to its prevalence and risks [ 38 , 45 , 46 ].…”