Alcohol use by Athletes: Hierarchy, status, and Reciprocity

Sport is considered a positive, health enhancing lifestyle choice. However, there is considerable evidence that many athletes, particularly those at university, engage in harmful levels of alcohol use. Despite decades of research showing student athletes consume alcohol at high levels, there have been no substantial in-roads into reducing consumption. At present, there is a need to better understand the social, cultural, and personal factors that drive athletes to consume harmful levels of alcohol. This study aimed to address this gap in literature by investigating the group level dynamics which may be driving heavy alcohol use and jeopardising attempts to reduce drinking. Over the course of one academic year, male (n = 9) and female (n = 6) rugby union athletes were recruited to take part in semi-structured interviews. Three overarching themes were identified that best represented the research findings, these were 1) social hierarchy, where alcohol use was used to create and sustain a social hierarchy, 2) status, where alcohol use was used to gain a reputation, and 3) reciprocity, where experienced athletes felt novices needed to go through the same (often painful and degrading) experiences they had. This study suggests that past approaches to reduce alcohol use among student athletes have substantially over-simplified the relationship and have over-focussed on the psychological contributors to this complex phenomena.