University students' alcohol expectancies and self-esteem: An investigation of difference by students' gender

Purpose: The negative effects of heavy drinking among university students has been extensively discussed in the alcohol related research and heavy drinking has been regarded as a matter of serious health/social concern. Prior research pointed to an association between alcohol drinking and self-esteem, and alcohol expectancies as predictors of the drinking behaviour of individuals'. However, the gender effect on various dimensions of alcohol expectancies and self-esteem is still unclear. Therefore, this study examines whether there is a difference in university students' alcohol expectancies and their self-esteem by students' gender. Design/methodology/approach: A survey of undergraduate university students was carried out for data collection from a regional university in Germany. Statistical techniques were used to analyse the data. Results: The study found that female students have significantly lower expectancy in social and physical pleasure, sexual enhancement, power and aggression, and careless unconcern by drinking alcohol than those of their male counterparts. Female students were also found to be significantly lower in some aspects of self-esteem than male students.