Citation

McCreary D. Int. J. Mens Health 2002; 1(3): 233-245.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, Men's Studies Press)

DOI

10.3149/jmh.0103.233

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Past research has shown that men, young adults, and beer drinkers engage in the highest rates of binge drinking behavior. However, studies of binge drinking have tended to focus on main effects over interactions, especially in samples of college students and other young adults. The present study used the 1994 Canada's Alcohol and Other Drugs Survey to explore the interactions among gender, age, and beverage exclusivity when studying heavy drinking behavior. The findings replicated prior main effects research and extended the age findings to later adulthood. The interactions, however, revealed that gender differences were smaller in older adults and were entirely absent in wine drinkers; age differences also were found across beverage exclusivity categories. However, the amount of variability explained by the model suggests that other factors have more power in explaining binge drinking behavior. The need to study binge drinking in more heterogenous samples, with other variables, is discussed.