Gender Role Attitudes

Gender identity and gender role attitudes can have important influences on health behavior (Visser & Mcdonnell, 2012). The application of gender double-standards present a different set of principles and expectations to men and women which in return, will have effects on men’s and women’s engagement in health-related behaviors such as alcohol use. The purpose of this study is to apply a mixed-methods approach to explore how gender double-standards for alcohol use affect young people’s alcohol use. Previous research has often put a particular focus on young people and heavy episodes of drinking and its association with alcohol poisoning (Nicholas, 2010). Visser & Mcdonallel, 2012, felt there is a need for better understanding of the gendered
Next, qualitative interviews were conducted with a sample of interviewees selected on the basis of having traditional or equalitarian gender role beliefs. The goal was to answer questions which included how gender double- standards for alcohol use were common among university students, if gender double-standards reflect greater gender role attitudes, and how young people explain and experience gender double-standards for alcohol use. Interviews were conducted in a private room on campus and participants were offered the choice of male or female interviewers. The interviewer was not informed whether the interviewee had a more equalitarian or traditional view on gender roles (Visser & Mcdonnell,
Generally, drinking tends to be viewed as a masculine behavior. Specifically, particular patterns of drinking including the choice of alcohol, binge drinking, and public drunkenness are considered especially masculine. The qualitative data directly addressed the issue of double-standards for alcohol use, and revealed that most of the men and women who were interviewed felt that binge drinking was less acceptable among women than men, and that similar levels of intoxication were considered more acceptable for men than