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Previous research indicates that drinking large quantities of alcohol could function as a short-term mating strategy for young adults in mating situations. However, no study investigated whether this is actually the case. Therefore, in this article, the link between short-term mating motivations and drinking high amounts of alcohol is tested. First...
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Objectives
The aim of this study was to investigate a possible association between the risk for acute myocardial infarction occurrence and alcohol consumption.
M...
It is well recognized that both college and noncollege students are at-risk age groups for alcohol consumption. We investigated the alcohol consumption habits of undergraduate students with an emphasis on binge drinking. Participants ( N = 809, 61.2% female) were freshmen attending courses at one of the main universities of southern Italy. They wer...
Background:
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Methods:
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Citations
... Whether MSM and/or gay men consume more alcohol overall is a research question that requires further empirical validation, but our data suggest that such assumptions of heavy alcohol consumption are untrue, at least among our sample of cisgender male couples. It is possible that alcohol consumption might vary depending on one's relationship status, and being in a relationship could reduce alcohol consumption as drinking a high amount of alcohol is regularly used as a short-term mating strategy (Vincke, 2017). Previous research (e.g., Fish et al., 2018) often used age as a moderating factor of alcohol consumption among sexual minority individuals, but future research might need to consider the relational context when it comes to alcohol consumption. ...
Previous studies on minority stress suggest that internalized anti-gay prejudice and masculinity are positively related to high-risk behaviors, including heavy alcohol consumption, drug use/abuse, and high-risk sex, among sexual minority men. However, less is known about the dyadic influences of these relations among cisgender male couples. The current study aims to address this gap and explore the effects of marginalized racial status and being in an interracial relationship on these associations. We recruited 296 cisgender men from the United States who were in a relationship with another man. Of those 296 individuals, 103 couples (n = 206) completed a dyadic survey. Using both individual and dyadic datasets, we tested the associations between internalized anti-gay prejudice and masculinity and high-risk behaviors at both individual- and couple-levels, along with the racial moderators. We used path modeling and actor-partner interdependence modeling to analyze the results. The results demonstrated that internalized anti-gay prejudice was positively associated with drug use and high-risk sexual behaviors at the individual level, as well as at the dyadic level (i.e., partner effects). Moreover, participants who identified as a racially marginalized person and scored higher on internalized anti-gay prejudice were more likely to use drugs and to positively influence their partner’s high-risk sexual behaviors. Theoretical contributions to the minority stress models (both individual and dyadic versions) and practical implications for risk mitigation interventions were discussed.
... 21,22 In particular, people might engage in hazardous drinking to appear attractive to prospective sexual partners, and research has found a moderate correlation between binge drinking and STMO. 23 A meta-analytic review additionally found significant positive associations between heavier alcohol use and engagement in casual sexual experiences. 24 Studies have documented positive associations between problematic drinking and intrasexual competitiveness for contact with the opposite sex, a phenomenon commonly found within the college student population. ...
... 39 Results indicated, after taking into account sexual orientation and relationship status, STMO was significantly associated with more frequent RSB, and this relationship was explained through higher DPW, regardless of gender. This finding is in line with current research linking STMO with alcohol use, 23 and it extends current literature by applying it to sex without protection against pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections. The current study further strengthens clinical findings regarding the positive association between alcohol use and RSB among college students. ...
... Researchers have speculated interventions to prevent risky behaviors and negative consequences. For example, Vincke (2017) 23 suggested reframing binge drinking as a less attractive signal for short-term mating, and this may be extended to RSB specifically. Another intervention well-validated in the college student substance use literature is the personalized feedback intervention, which works by correcting misperceptions of the frequency and quantity at which students drink. ...
Objectives:
Sexual Strategies Theory suggests people fall on a continuum between having short-term mating orientation (STMO) and long-term mating orientation. One way STMO individuals signal mating goals is via risky drinking. The current study therefore aims to investigate drinks per week (DPW) as a mediator between STMO and risky sexual behavior (RSB), with gender as a moderator between STMO and DPW.
Participants:
Undergraduate students (N = 300) from a Midwestern university during Fall 2019.
Method:
Participants completed questionnaires assessing STMO, DPW, and RSB frequency.
Results:
A moderated-mediation model indicated DPW significantly mediated the relationship between STMO and RSB. Positive associations were found among all three variables. Gender was not a moderator between STMO and DPW.
Conclusions:
Mating orientation was a correlate of alcohol use and RSB for women and men, contributing to the literature identifying STMO as an indicator of those in need of substance use and RSB intervention.
... For instance, Vincke [18] found that Flemish women evaluated both occasional and frequent drinkers as more attractive than non-drinkers. In another sample, Vincke [19] found that participants exposed to primes related to short-term motives (i.e., a casual relationship story) showed an increase in mating motivations, leading to the desire for higher alcohol amounts (without moderated effects). Highlighting the risk of sexual impotence should lead to a decrease in positive attitude when evaluating a binge drinker. ...
Background. Evolutionary theory-driven alcohol prevention programs for adolescents are lacking. This study introduced a binge drinking impression formation paradigm to test whether emphasizing sexual dysfunction induced by alcohol abuse lowers positive attitudes and expectancies related to binge drinking when compared with cognitive or long-term health consequences. Method. In a between-subjects experiment, 269 French high school students (age, M = 15.94, SD = 0.93, 63.20% women) watched professional-quality videos emphasizing sexual impotence (n = 60), cognitive impairment (n = 72), or long-term effects (cancer, cardiovascular disease, n = 68) induced by alcohol and then had to evaluate a drinking scene. We predicted that the video on impotence would be the most impactful when compared with the other videos. Results. Results showed that women evaluated the target as less attractive after viewing the cognitive video compared with the video on impotence. Men were more willing to play sports against the target after viewing the cognitive video, compared with the video on impotence. Conclusions. These results showed that evolutionary meaning might shape impressions formed by participants depending on the context. This study calls for further replications using the same design and materials.
... For instance, Vincke [15] found that Flemish women evaluated both occasional and frequent drinkers as more attractive than non-drinkers. In another sample, Vincke [16] found that participants exposed to primes related to short-term motives (i.e., a casual relationship story) showed an increase in mating motivations, leading to the desire for higher alcohol amounts (without moderated effects). Highlighting the risk of sexual impotence should lead to a decrease in positive attitude when evaluating a binge drinker. ...
Background. Evolutionary theory-driven alcohol prevention programs for adolescents are lacking. This study introduced a binge drinking impression formation paradigm to test whether emphasizing sexual dysfunction induced by alcohol abuse lowers positive attitudes and expectan-cies related to binge drinking when compared with cognitive or long-term health consequences. Method. In a between-subjects experiment, 269 French high school students (age, M = 15.94, SD = 0.93, 63.20% women) watched professional-quality videos emphasizing sexual impotence (n = 60), cognitive impairment (n = 72), or long-term effects (cancer, cardiovascular disease, n = 68) induced by alcohol and then had to evaluate a drinking scene. We predicted that the video on impotence would be the most impactful when compared with the other videos. Results. Results showed that women evaluated the target as less attractive after viewing the cognitive video compared with the video on impotence. Men were more willing to play sports against the target after viewing the cog-nitive video, compared with the video on impotence. Conclusions. These results showed that evolutionary meaning might shape impressions formed by participants depending on the context. This study calls for further replications using the same design and materials.
... For short-term mating, both occasional and frequent drinking were evaluated as more attractive than nondrinking. In another study, Vincke (2017) revealed the existence of a moderate correlation between binge drinking and the level of sexual unrestrictedness (i.e., higher sociosexual orientation score and short-term mating orientation) confirming that the signaler is sexually shortterm oriented. These studies confirm the general differences in risk-taking perception between risk avoiders (attractive for long-term mating) and risk takers (attractive only for shortterm mating, see Sylwester & Pawłowski, 2011). ...
Evolutionary medicine proposes studying alcohol use and abuse through the lens of modern evolutionary theory. This study ( https://osf.io/p48 uw/) follows this approach and uses an evolutionary framework to predict how young adults (18–35 years old) form impression of a binge drinker. We predicted that displaying sexual dysfunctions (short-term risk) in a binge drinking video would negatively influence attitudes and expectations of a target when compared to cognitive (short-term risk) or long-term deficits. In the following studies, we use a Zahavian framework to understand and influence impression formation of a male binge drinker among women (intersexual selection) and men (intrasexual competition) participants in a subsequent task. Via a randomized experimental online study in France ( N = 177, M = 23.39 [4.91], 43.50% men) and a preregistered conceptual replication study in Peru ( N = 176, M = 25.61 [4.76], 53.41% men), women exposed to a binge drinking video—describing sexual impotence after a binge drinking episode—tended to downgrade attractiveness evaluation of the binge drinker. However, male participants were not impacted by the different types of signals displayed in the videos. These results show that evolutionary theory could help us understand impression formation in binge drinking context and call for gender-specific health messages.
... Alternatively, consuming a large amount of alcohol may be associated with mate value for women because it can facilitate mating. Prior research indicates that consuming large amounts of alcohol can be a mating strategy for young adults (Vincke, 2017). This may also be due to the additive effects of alcohol on perceived attractiveness. ...
Prior research demonstrates the negative relationship between self esteem and alcohol use, and prior research demonstrates how self perceptions of attractiveness are fundamentally important. However, there is a paucity of research regarding exactly how self-perceptions of attractiveness, and mate value, which are related to self-esteem, influence alcohol consumption habits in college men and women. Using undergraduates, (66.4% female, 83.4% Caucasian), the present study examined how self-perceived attractiveness, self-esteem, mate value, sociosexuality, and sex of participant affect alcohol consumption. Lower self-perceptions of attractiveness, and mate value were hypothesized to be associated with increased alcohol use, particularly among women. The results were partially consistent with the hypothesis. A sex difference occurred such that self-perceived mate value was a significant positive predictor of alcohol consumption for women only. Additionally, self-perceived physical attractiveness was a significant negative predictor of alcohol consumption for men, while self-perceived sexual attractiveness was a significant positive predictor for men. Sociosexuality was a significant positive predictor for both sexes. These findings are discussed in terms of prior research.
... These meaningful functional composites represent coadapted reproductive strategies (Figueredo et al., 2005;Hämäläinen et al., 2018), which lead to risky sexual behavior (Fethers et al., 2000;Zietsch et al., 2010), increased impulsivity, and present-orientedness (Frankenhuis et al., 2016;Minkov & Bond, 2015;Mishra et al., 2017). Nonheterosexual women have higher sociosexuality than heterosexual women (Table 1, Finding 2), a trait that notably correlates with alcohol use (Clark, 2004;Vincke, 2017). Energetic investment in mating rather than growth, maintenance, or parenting is a core feature of fast LH strategies, while alcohol use is a typical corollary of fast LH strategies in humans (Hill & Chow, 2002;Richardson et al., 2016;Vincke, 2017). ...
... Nonheterosexual women have higher sociosexuality than heterosexual women (Table 1, Finding 2), a trait that notably correlates with alcohol use (Clark, 2004;Vincke, 2017). Energetic investment in mating rather than growth, maintenance, or parenting is a core feature of fast LH strategies, while alcohol use is a typical corollary of fast LH strategies in humans (Hill & Chow, 2002;Richardson et al., 2016;Vincke, 2017). High alcohol use and alcohol-related problems are also more common in men than in women (Erol & Karpyak, 2015;Nolen-Hoeksema, 2004). ...
[Target Article.] Women’s capacity for sexual fluidity is at least as interesting a phenomenon from the point of view of evolutionary biology and behavioral endocrinology as exclusively homosexual orientation. Evolutionary hypotheses for female nonheterosexuality
have failed to fully account for the existence of these different categories of nonheterosexual women, while also overlooking broader data on the causal mechanisms, physiology, ontogeny, and phylogeny of female nonheterosexuality. We review the
evolutionary-developmental origins of various phenotypes in the female sexual orientation spectrum using the synergistic approach of Tinbergen’s four questions. We also present femme-specific and butch-specific hypotheses at proximate and ultimate levels of analysis. This review article indicates that various nonheterosexual female phenotypes emerge from and contribute to hormonally mediated fast life history strategies. Life history theory provides a biobehavioral explanatory framework for nonheterosexual women’s masculinized body morphology, psychological dispositions, and their elevated likelihood of experiencing violence, substance use, obesity, teenage pregnancy, and lower general health. This pattern of life outcomes can create a feedback loop of environmental unpredictability and harshness which destabilizes intrauterine hormonal conditions
in mothers, leading to a greater likelihood of fast life history strategies, global health problems, and nonheterosexual preferences in female offspring. We further explore the potential of female nonheterosexuality to function as an alloparental buffer that enables masculinizing alleles to execute their characteristic fast life history strategies as they appear in the female and the male phenotype. Synthesizing life history theory with the female sexual orientation spectrum enriches existing scientific knowledge on the evolutionary-developmental mechanisms of human sex differences.
... Mating competition also tends to be stronger at these younger ages (Kruger & Schlemmer, 2009). One reason why excessive drinking is particularly prevalent among young adults may be that binge drinking is motivated by a suite of evolved human mating strategies that include the proclivity to compete (Hone & McCullough, 2015), and binge drinking may represent a costly signal that communicates one's underlying qualities (Vincke, 2017). Displaying conspicuous traits or behaviors that are costly in terms of time, energy, and resources can relay underlying qualities of the signaler to the perceiver (Bliege Bird & Smith, 2005). ...
... Additionally, drinking alcohol influences one's decision to have sex and to engage in unprotected (Rehm, Shield, Joharchi, & Shuper, 2012) or risky sex (e.g., having multiple or causal sex partners; Cooper, 2002) and those under the influence are less likely to be assertive when requesting the use of a condom (Maisto et al., 2004). Young adults who engage in binge drinking are more likely to report a higher level of unrestricted sexual behaviors (Vincke, 2017), and teenagers who drink heavily were 63% more likely to become teenage mothers (Dee, 2001). Vincke (2017) also reported that both young men and women who were primed with a short-term mating scenario reported that they would drink a higher maximum number of alcoholic beverages than those who were primed with a long-term mating scenario. ...
... Young adults who engage in binge drinking are more likely to report a higher level of unrestricted sexual behaviors (Vincke, 2017), and teenagers who drink heavily were 63% more likely to become teenage mothers (Dee, 2001). Vincke (2017) also reported that both young men and women who were primed with a short-term mating scenario reported that they would drink a higher maximum number of alcoholic beverages than those who were primed with a long-term mating scenario. ...
Previous research suggests that binge drinking among young men serves as a “costly signal” to potential mates, such that the binge drinker is capable of bearing the harmful consequences of alcohol consumption. Here, we propose that binge drinking among young adults is conditionally dependent upon the signaler’s willingness to take risks, which is influenced by the local operational sex ratio (OSR). Using archived binge drinking estimates from 2009 to 2012 and Census Bureau records of OSRs, we tested the relationship between OSR and binge drinking rates at the county level across 3,143 U.S. counties against hypotheses drawn from evolutionary theory. Results from our mixed-effects models revealed that a higher overall OSR (i.e., more eligible men compared to women) was associated with higher male binge drinking rates but lower female binge drinking rates. A higher OSR particularly in the 20–29 and 50+ age groups predicted higher male binge drinking rates but lower female binge drinking rates. Our findings generally support predictions derived from evolutionary theory and suggest that binge drinking may function as a costly sexual signal, conditionally regulated by age and the local sex ratio.
... That is, substance use can be expected to reflect agedependent change in reproductive strategy over the life span. Although recent experimental (Vincke, 2016(Vincke, , 2017 and longitudinal (Richardson, Chen, Dai, Swoboda, et al., 2017) research has explored the possibility that substance use reflects or facilitates short-term mating, for instance, little attention has been devoted to the possibility that change in mating effort explains intraindividual variance in substance use. ...
Recovery has emerged as an important paradigm in addictions treatment but the field has yet to achieve consensus on how it should be defined and measured. The recovery construct has been extended beyond sustained reductions in use or abstinence to enhancements in global health/well-being and also prosocial community reintegration. However, few studies have included these broader domains in their measurement of recovery and few scientific theories have been advanced to explain why reductions in substance use occasion these broader life changes. This article applies life history theory to recovery for the first time to help define recovery, advance recovery measurement, and explain why broad change across multiple life domains should facilitate sustained recovery progress. We conclude with a discussion of future directions and challenges for future research informed by our life history framework for recovery.
... Further, self-reported alcohol intoxication symptomatology (e.g., loss of inhibition) but not frequency of alcohol consumption generally is shown to be a strong predictor of hookups involving intercourse in both male and female undergraduate students (Paul et al. 2000). Interestingly, findings from a study involving survey responses as well as experimental outcomes of mating context manipulations and binge drinking among young adults suggest that heavy drinking may function as a short-term mating strategy (Vincke 2017) and that men and women intended to drink more heavily when experimentally primed for short-term relative to long-term mating situations. ...
Casual sex and hookups are largely synonymous and involve sexual behaviors that occur outside ongoing committed relationships. These brief uncommitted sexual encounters occur among individuals that are not dating or romantic partners, and they are performed without any expectations of future romantic relationships. The encounter typically occurs only once but may cover a variety of sexual or physical intimate behaviors such as kissing and petting, intimate touching, oral sex, and intercourse.
In this chapter, we do not consider sexual infidelity as a special case of casual sex. Neither do we consider sexual subcultures, open relationships, or same-sex encounters. We define
short-term sexual encounters involving intercourse, and thus the likelihood of becoming pregnant. We advise alternative and specific approaches to the understanding of brief, uncommitted, nonreproductive sexual behaviors.
