Getting High as Part of a “Bad” Reputation: Social Reputation and Binge Drinking

Scholars have paid particular attention to peer influence as supportive of heavy alcohol consumption practices. In this article, attention is paid to studying how social reputation may constitute a relevant concept in understanding peer influence on binge-drinking behavior, functioning as a moderator of the effect of drinking expectancies. A total of 166 Italian adolescents from a secondary school served as participants. As hypothesized, results showed an effect of both drinking expectancies and law-breaking reputation on binge drinking. Moreover, the interaction between these variables was significant. That is, the effect of drinking expectancies on binge drinking was high when the person attached importance to a law-breaking reputation. These results underline the relevance of social reputation for understanding binge-drinking behaviors and suggest that it may be important to discuss with adolescents the effects on “at-risk” behaviors of the image that we want to communicate to others.