The Relationship Between Men’s Sociosexuality, Drinking Intake, and Blackouts

Background: Sociosexuality—attitudes, behaviors, and desires related to casual sex—partly predicts drinking behavior in both men and women because drinking is thought to facilitate interactions that lead to casual sex. It follows that sociosexuality would predict drinking intake (e.g., quantity consumed)—but perhaps not drinking consequences (e.g., blacking out)—on the premise that drinking large quantities with high frequency (but not to such high degrees/levels of intoxication that negative consequences occur) would facilitate casual sex. Objectives: This set of studies evaluated whether baseline measures of sociosexuality predict drinking intake (i.e., frequency, quantity, and binge drinking) but not experiencing blacking out at follow-up in two samples (Study 1, N = 172; Study 2, N = 1,038) of college-aged men. Results: As predicted, men’s sociosexuality prospectively predicted drinking frequency, quantity, and binge drinking. Contrary to our predictions, men’s sociosexuality also predicted blacking out. Conclusions: College men’s drinking interventions should be tailored to high-risk groups and consider individual differences like sociosexuality.