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    Being cool is risky business: Young men’s within-peer-group status, heavy alcohol consumption and aggression in bars

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    Fulltext not available
    Authors
    Dumas, T.
    Graham, Kathryn
    Maxwell-Smith, M.
    Wells, S.
    Date
    2015
    Type
    Journal Article
    
    Metadata
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    Abstract

    Although research suggests that male peers play an important role in young men’s bar aggression, little is known about specific peer-related predictors of this behaviour. Both bar aggression and heavy alcohol consumption are associated with traditional masculinity and peer-acceptance among young men; thus, engagement in these behaviours may help young men maintain positive social standings within their male peer groups. Further, increased heavy alcohol consumption may, in turn, facilitate bar aggression. We conducted the first empirical analysis of the association between young men’s within-peer-group status and propensity to respond aggressively to provocation in bars. We also examined the mediating role of heavy episodic drinking in this relationship. In this study, male bar-going university students (N = 116; Mage = 19 years) completed self-reported measures of their within-peer-group status, frequency of heavy episodic drinking in the past month, and their likelihood to physically aggress in response to hypothetical provocation at a bar. As hypothesised, the higher participants’ within-peer-group status, the more likely they were to report that they would respond to provocation at a bar with physical aggression. Moreover, the positive association between status and bar aggression was explained by increased engagement in heavy alcohol consumption. Results suggest that future intervention efforts to prevent bar aggression and harmful drinking practices may benefit from addressing issues of status among young men.

    Citation
    Dumas, T. and Graham, K. and Maxwell-Smith, M. and Wells, S. 2015. Being cool is risky business: Young men’s within-peer-group status, heavy alcohol consumption and aggression in bars. Addiction Research & Theory. 23 (3): pp. 213-222.
    Source Title
    Addiction Research & Theory
    DOI
    10.3109/16066359.2014.972385
    ISSN
    1606-6359
    School
    National Drug Research Institute (NDRI)
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/40040
    Collection
    • Curtin Research Publications

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    • Being cool is risky business: Young men's within-peer-group status, heavy alcohol consumption and aggression in bars
      Dumas, T.; Graham, Kathryn; Maxwell-Smith, M.; Wells, S. (2015)
      Although research suggests that male peers play an important role in young men’s bar aggression, little is known about specific peer-related predictors of this behaviour. Both bar aggression and heavy alcohol consumption ...
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      Dumas, T.; Wells, S.; Flynn, A.; Lange, J.; Graham, Kathryn (2014)
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      © 2015, Alcohol Research Documentation Inc. All rights reserved. Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess (a) similarities in self-reported bar-aggression–related attitudes and behaviors among members of young ...
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