Why Me? An Exploratory Qualitative Study of Drinking Gamers’ Reasons for Selecting Other Players to Drink

Abstract

A drinking game (DG) is a high-risk drinking activity because it consists of rules that facilitate heavy drinking. The opportunity to select another player to drink is a feature of certain games, which makes DGs unique among other high-risk drinking activities. Thus, the present study's aims were to examine the primary reasons why DG participants select another player to drink and why someone believes she or he was selected. We collected qualitative, online responses to open-ended questions about the personal qualities that increase players' chances of being selected to drink while playing a DG (N ¼ 409; emerging adults ages 18-25 years; 54.3% women; 41.6% noncurrent college students). Overall, most participants reported perceived personality qualities, followed by a desire for interaction or alcohol consumption, as the primary reason that players are selected, why they are selected, and why they select other players to drink. Implications for practice and future research directions are briefly discussed.

Leveraging crowdsourcing methods to collect qualitative data in addiction science: Narratives of non-medical prescription opioid, heroin, and fentanyl use

“…This work expands upon previous studies on mTurk that collected qualitative data (Audley, Grenier, Martin, & Ramos, 2018;McConnachie et al, 2019;Rothman, Paruk, Espensen, Temple, & Adams, 2017;Schnur et al, 2017) as well as initial efforts at formally establishing the utility of these data collection approaches (Grysman, 2015). The current study advances this work by establishing not only the feasibility, but also providing preliminary support for the validity of qualitative data collected using crowdsourcing sources when working with people who use drugs.…”

BYSTANDER INTERVENTION AMONG DRINKING GAMERS Bystander Intervention Among College Student Drinking Gamers: Sexual Assault Attitudes, Self-Efficacy, and Intent to Intervene

“…Researchers have found positive relations between the amount of alcohol consumed while playing drinking games and (a) reported frequency of engaging in sexual behavior that one would not have participated in otherwise; and (b) having had sex when too intoxicated to consent (Johnson & Stahl, 2004; Zamboanga et al, 2014). Recent research finds some who play drinking games select particular players to drink with the explicit goal of engaging in sexual behavior (i.e., attraction-based motives; Audley et al, 2018). While additional research is needed to better understand the link between drinking games and sexual assault, emerging evidence suggests that those engaging in drinking games are likely at increased risk for perpetration and victimization (Fairlie et al, 2016; Johnson & Stahl, 2004).…”