@article{ref1,
title="Drinking in social groups. Does 'groupdrink' provide safety in numbers when deciding about risk?",
journal="Addiction",
year="2014",
author="Hopthrow, Tim and Randsley de Moura, Georgina and Meleady, Rose and Abrams, Dominic and Swift, Hannah J.",
volume="109",
number="6",
pages="913-921",
abstract="AIMS: To investigate the impact of alcohol consumption on risk decisions taken both individually and while part of a 4-6 person ad-hoc group.   DESIGN: 2 (Alcohol: consuming vs. not consuming alcohol) x 2 (Decision: individual, group) mixed model design, Decision was a repeated measure. The dependent variable was risk preference, measured using choice dilemmas.   SETTING: Opportunity sampling in campus bars and a music event at a campus-based university in the United Kingdom.   PARTICIPANTS: (N = 101) were recruited from groups of 4 to 6 people who either were or were not consuming alcohol.   MEASUREMENTS: Participants privately opted for a level of risk in response to a choice dilemma and then, as a group, responded to a second choice dilemma. The choice dilemmas asked participants the level of accident risk at which they would recommend someone could drive while intoxicated.   FINDINGS: Five 3-level multilevel models were specified in the software program HLM 7. Decisions made in groups were less risky than those made individually (B = -0.73, p < .001). Individual alcohol consumers opted for higher risk than non-consumers (B = 1.27, p = .025). A significant alcohol by decision interaction (B = -2.79, p = .001), showed that individual consumers privately opted for higher risk than non-consumers whereas risk judgments made in groups of either consumers or non-consumers were lower. Decisions made by groups of consumers were less risky than those made by groups of non-consumers (B = 1.23, p < .001).   CONCLUSIONS: Moderate alcohol consumption appears to produce a propensity among individuals towards increased risk taking in deciding to drive while intoxicated, which can be mitigated by group monitoring processes within small (4-6 person) groups.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0965-2140",
doi="10.1111/add.12496",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/add.12496"
}