Women's ways of drinking: College women, high -risk alcohol use, and related consequences

The purpose of this study is to explore college women's high-risk alcohol use and related consequences to form a gender-related perspective of their drinking and related consequences. Because previous studies are based on male norms and constructs, this study employs a qualitative approach to understand, and provide visibility for, college women's alcohol experiences and related outcomes. Ten undergraduate females from a co-educational university participated in interviews during the spring semester of 2006. The data was analyzed using methods associated with the Grounded Theory approach. The results of the data analysis offer four major themes, which include a conceptual model, the Relational Ritual Reinforcement (R3), for understanding the recurring high-risk alcohol use and related negative consequences among some university women. Implications for research, practice, and policy are discussed.