Study indicates college women may overestimate “need” to consume alcohol.

HealthDay (3/27, McKeever) reported that, according to a study published in the March issue of Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, college women may not “need to drink to excess to impress college men.” For the study, researchers from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles “surveyed 3,616 college students about women’s drinking habits and men’s views of drinking by women.” The team found that the majority “of the women overestimated, by an average of a drink-and-a-half, how much men would like them to drink at any given event.” Specifically, nearly “26 percent said they thought men would most likely want to be friends with a woman who drinks five or more drinks, and 16 percent said women who drank the most attracted men sexually.” In reality, “both estimates were twice what the men said they actually preferred.” The authors are now undertaking a follow-up study “to determine how men think women view male drinking habits.”

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