Alcohol is the most widely used drug among athletes and its misuse with this population is well documented (O’Brien & Lyons, 2000). However, underlying emotional causes for its misuse have not been identified, nor has the interaction of gender and athletic status been examined. We hypothesized that coping styles used by athletes would relate to their drinking behaviors and this pattern would differ based on gender and athletic status. Female non-athletes consumed the least amount of alcohol and male non-athletes were the least likely to become intoxicated, whereas male athletes drank the greatest amount and were the most likely to become intoxicated. Drinking to cope had the highest correlation to drinking behaviors, but there were differences in the relation between coping tactics and drinking behaviors dependent upon gender and athletic status.

Introduction

       Alcohol is considered the most widely used drug among athletes (O’Brien & Lyons, 2000), and its misuse by athletes is well documented (Hildebrand, Johnson, & Bogle, 2001; Jerry-Szpak & Brown, 1994; O’Brien & Lyons; Watson, 2002). Although the dangers of alcohol abuse are known, reasons for the high level of use by athletes are less understood. Research indicates that athletes begin drinking at an earlier age, and drink in greater amounts than non-athletes. Hildebrand et al. found that college students, who were either current athletes or former high school athletes, began drinking at an earlier age, consumed more alcohol more often, and engaged in binge drinking and other risk taking behaviors more frequently than did college students who had never been athletes. Moreover, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (1998) reported that 91% of college athletes and 90% of high school athletes first began drinking before entering college.

       This problem is compounded by the fact that illicit alcohol use by teenagers is wide spread. This is perhaps not surprising given that The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA, 2007) found over 44% of middle school and 80% of high school students have personally witnessed drug dealing, possession, and use at school. In addition, students are becoming used to seeing their peers high on alcohol, prescription drugs, or illegal drugs. While Johnston, O'Malley, and Bachman (1993) found that 90% of students had tried alcohol by the twelfth grade (see also Johnston, O'Malley, Bachman, & Schulenberg, 2007), the percentage of teens who are drinking to get drunk continues to rise with nearly 20% of 8th-graders and over 40% of 10th-graders drinking enough to be considered drunk at least once (Johnston et al., 2007). In addition, nearly 40% of 9th graders have had alcohol in the past months (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2006) and nearly 20% of 9th-graders report binge drinking in the past month (Wagenaar, Harwood, & Bernat, 2002). Adding to this problem is the fact that the majority of students who have misused alcohol by this time have also engaged in high risk drinking behaviors or use of illegal drugs (CASA, 2007; Ellickson, McGuigan, Adams, Bell, & Hays, 1996). Importantly, a recurrent finding from these studies is that teenage males drink alcohol more frequently and in greater quantities than do teenage females (Barnes, Welte, & Dintcheff, 1993; Chen, Dufour, & Yi, 2004/2005; Huselid & Cooper, 1992; but see Ellickson et al. for conflicting results), and that in particular teenage and collegiate male athletes drink in greater quantities and with greater frequency than do non-athletes (Hildebrand et al., 2001; Jerry-Szpak & Brown, 1994; Turrisi, Mastroleo, Mallett, Larimer, & Kilmer, 2007).

       Unfortunately, reasons for such differences in teenage athletes and non-athletes are not fully understood. However, one study has been suggested (Wilson, Pritchard & Schaffer, 2004) that utilization of poor coping mechanisms may lead some groups of individuals to participate in higher levels of alcohol usage.

       For example, coping is a response to stress by which a person deals with stressors and the negative responses that accompany them (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). Unfortunately, because of increases in teenage substance abuse, it has been suggested that today’s teenager faces increasing levels of stress while manifesting an inability to cope with these demands (Anda & Bradley, 1997). Thus, current research is placing more emphasis on identifying successful coping tactics used by teenagers in stressful situations. Researchers typically discuss three types of coping styles: problem-focused coping (addressing the stressor directly), emotion-focused coping (addressing the affective consequences of the stressor), and avoidant coping (denial of the problem) (Billings & Moos, 1981). Within each of these coping styles, there are a variety of coping tactics. For example, problem-focused coping includes tactics such as coming up with a strategy, concentrating on fixing the problem, and getting advice. Emotion-focused tactics include getting emotional support, venting, and making fun of the situation. Avoidant tactics include using alcohol to feel better, denying the problem, and giving up (Billings & Moos).

       There is substantial agreement that the way in which an individual copes with stress relates to not only mental health, but also physical well-being (Bonica & Daniel, 2003). In general, studies have found that male adolescents and college students use more problem-focused and avoidant coping, whereas females use more emotion-focused (Bird & Harris, 1990; Cauce et al., 2000; Dwyer & Cummings (2001); Piko, 2001; Rao, Moudad, & Subbakrishna, 2000; Schaffer & Pritchard, 2003). Research suggests that the reason for many of these gender differences in stress levels and health may involve differences in coping styles between adolescents and young adults (Dwyer & Cummings, 2001; Sheu & Sedlacek, 2004).

       Less is known about the influence of athletic status on coping strategies. Wilson et al. (2004) found that correlations between alcohol behaviors and coping tactics varied by both gender and athletic status in college students (athlete v. non-athlete). Specifically, the most significant predictor for drinking in collegiate female athletes was the use of alcohol as a coping mechanism, whereas other coping tactics were related to male collegiate athletes’ alcohol consumption (e.g., “getting advice from others,” not “praying or meditating”).

       Although previous studies of teenagers have found that stress and coping play a role in teenage consumption of alcohol (Wills, Sandy, Yaeger, Cleary, & Shinar, 2001; Wills, Vaccaro, & Benson, 1995), previous studies have not examined the impact of coping on alcohol use in male and female teenage athletes. Although a significant proportion of teenagers in the United States misuse alcohol (Ellickson et al., 1996; Johnston et al., 2007), the student-athlete is at a potentially greater risk as a result of the stress and pressure often associated with the dual demands of academics and athletics (Watson, 2002). However, it is currently unknown whether differences in gender and coping tactics do in fact relate to the use of alcohol among high school athletes as compared to their non-athlete counterparts. This issue is of importance because if coping tactics relate to the use of alcohol among high school athletes (particularly male athletes), then alcohol prevention programs employed with high school athletes need to take into account the unique pressures faced by athletes and how they cope with these stressors (Wilson et al., 2004).

       The purpose of this study was to determine whether differences in coping tactics used by male and female athletes and non-athletes relate to rates and frequency of alcohol consumption in teenagers. It was hypothesized that both coping tactics and athletic status (athlete v. non-athlete) would relate to the use and frequency of alcohol consumption by male and female teenagers. Similar to previous research (Barnes et al., 1993; Chen et al., 2004/2005; Huselid & Cooper, 1992), we predicted that males drink more than females and athletes drink more than non-athletes (Hildebrand et al., 2001; Jerry-Szpak & Brown, 1994; Turrisi et al. 2007), especially male athletes. In addition, similar to Wilson et al. (2004), we predicted that drinking to cope would relate to alcohol use for all groups, but that the relation between other types of coping and alcohol use would vary by gender and athletic status (athlete v. non-athlete). However, because research investigating this topic is scant (especially in teenagers), no specific predictions were made for this hypothesis.

Method

Participants

       The participants (n=453) were female and male middle school and high school students recruited from a variety of summer youth sports camps (e.g., cheerleading, band, track, baseball), local schools, and churches. Specifically, three hundred fifty six of the participants were recruited from the local summer sports camps sponsored by a Midwestern university; eighty came from local churches, and seventeen came from a local school. If students indicated on their survey that they participated in a sport (e.g., on a school team, part of a non-school league, etc.), they were considered an athlete. Based on this, participants were grouped as female athletes (n=146) and non-athletes (n=112) or male athletes (n =109) and non-athletes (n=86). All participants involved in the summer sports camps, school class, and church activities were invited to participate. The survey was administered in a closed classroom, with distractions minimized, and participants were given as much time as needed to complete the survey. As surveys were administered to these groups as an activity, a high percentage of those participants who were approached completed the survey (approximately 90%).

       The participants ranged in age from 14 to 19, with a mean age of 15.35 (SD = 1.17). Approximately 90 percent of participants were Caucasian, with Latino, African-American, Asian-American, and ‘other’ representing very small percentages of the overall sample. Informed consent was given by each participant and her/his parent/guardian prior to survey administration. All participants were assured that their responses would be confidential. The Subcommittee for the Protection of Research Subjects approved procedures for this investigation.

Measures

       Coping tactics. Coping tactics were measured with a modified version of the Brief COPE (Carver, 1997). The Brief COPE is a Likert-type questionnaire that contains 14 tactics (e.g., ”I would use alcohol or other drugs to make myself feel better,” ”I would get emotional support (comfort & understanding) from others,” ”I would give up trying to deal with it,” etc.). Students responded to how they would deal with a stressful event on a four-point scale ranging from one (I wouldn’t do this at all) to four (I would do this a lot). This measure has been tested on a variety of populations (Pritchard & McIntosh, 2003), and the measure has been validated and shown to be reliable (Carver 1997; Perczek, Carver, Price, & Pozo-Kaderman, 2000). In addition, the longer version has been tested and found to be reliable and valid in adolescent populations (Phelps & Jarvis, 1994), and, it has been used successfully with athletes (Baltzell, 1999; Wilson et al., 2004).

       Alcohol behaviors. Alcohol use was assessed with three items from Cooper et al. (1992). In response to each question, participants were asked to indicate the frequency of drinking (“How often do you drink?” 0=never/rarely, 1=once a month, 2=once a week, 3 = 2-3 times a week, 4=daily or almost daily), the frequency of drinking until intoxication (“How often do you drink until intoxication?” 0=never/rarely, 1=once a month, 2=once a week, 3 = 2-3 times a week, 4=daily or almost daily), and how much they drink per drinking occasion (”What is your usual quantity of alcohol consumed per drinking occasion (i.e. number of drinks)? One drink = 12 ounces of beer, 4 ounces wine, 1 ounce spirits”).

Results

Drinking Behaviors

       The purpose of this study was to determine whether differences in coping tactics used by male and female athletes and non-athletes relate to rates and frequency of alcohol consumption in teenagers. The drinking behaviors of teenage male and female athletes and non-athletes were first compared. A two by two Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was run comparing gender to athletes versus non-athletes, with students initially asked to report how often they drank alcohol. These results revealed that there were no gender differences how often teens drank alcohol, F (1, 416) = 3.43. However, athletes (M = .39, SD = .78) drank significantly more often than did non-athletes (M = .22, SD = .69), F (1, 416) = 5.67, p < .05. Finally, there was no interaction between gender and athletic status, F (1, 416) < 1. In comparisons of the amount of alcohol consumed, a 2 (gender) x 2 (athlete v. non-athlete) ANOVA was performed. Results indicated that males reported that they drank higher quantities of alcohol per drinking occasion (M = 1.59 drinks, SD = 3.97) than did females (M = .52 drinks, SD = 1.55), F (1, 416) = 12.07, p < .001. Athletes also reported drinking more alcohol per drinking occasion (M = 1.34 drinks, SD = 3.52) than did non-athletes (M = .46 drinks, SD = 1.48), F (1, 416) = 12.91, p < .001. There was an interaction between gender and athletic status, F (1, 416) = 5.68, p < .05, with female non-athletes drinking the least alcohol per drinking occasion (M = .33 drinks, SD = 1.40) and male athletes drinking the most alcohol (M = 2.30 drinks, SD = 4.95).

       Finally, a two x two ANOVA comparing gender to athletes versus non-athletes showed that teenagers reported rarely drinking until intoxicated, and there were no gender differences in frequency of intoxication, F (1, 417) = 3.38. However, athletes reported that they drank until intoxication more frequently (M = .25, SD = .72) than did non-athletes (M = .08 SD = .41), F (1, 417) = 11.59, p < .001. Finally, there was an interaction between gender and athletic status, F (1, 417) = 4.73, p < .05, with male non-athletes being the least likely to drink until intoxicated (M = .08, SD = .46) and male athletes being the most likely to drink until intoxicated (M = .40, SD = .93).

Drinking Behaviors in Relation to Coping

       Although teenagers were not drinking excessively, there were significant differences between males and females and between athletes and non-athletes. One possible reason for differences in alcohol behavior might be the students’ use of coping tactics. Because some students drink to cope and others cope in different ways, we thought it important to examine the relationship between coping tactics and drinking behaviors. Because we found several interactions between gender and athletic status on drinking behaviors for some of the variables, it was important to examine the coping tactics based on gender and athletic status.

       The relationship between quantity of alcohol consumed and coping tactics is displayed in Table 1. Using alcohol as “a way to feel better” was significantly related to quantity of alcohol consumption for all students. Other than this finding, the relationship between coping and quantity of alcohol consumed varied based on both gender and athletic status. For example, “turning to work or other activities” related positively to alcohol quantity only in female athletes, but “giving up” related to quantity only in male athletes.

       Table 2 displays the correlations between the frequency of alcohol consumption and coping tactics. Once again, using alcohol as a way to “feel better” was the only coping tactic significantly related to frequency of alcohol consumption for all students. Other strategies seemed to vary by gender and athletic status. For example, “concentrating on fixing the problem” was negatively related to frequency of consumption only in female non-athletes, whereas “venting” and “self-criticism” were only related to frequency of consumption in male non-athletes.

       The relationship between frequency of alcohol intoxication and coping tactics is displayed in Table 3. All groups again showed strong relationships between frequency of intoxication and using alcohol “to feel better.” However, other patterns differed. For example, for female non-athletes, intoxication related to “venting,” not “seeing things more positively,” and failing to “come up with a strategy about what to do,” whereas for male non-athletes, intoxication related to not “getting support from others” and “self-criticism.”

       For the instances where the pattern of correlations differed for the four groups, we thought it was important to determine whether these were significant differences. A Fisher’s RHO was run to determine the correlation. In Table 1, the correlation between quantity of alcohol consumed and coping by “turning to work or activities” differed significantly for female athletes and female non-athletes (Fisher’s r to z = 2.48), female athletes and male athletes (Fisher’s r to z = 2.17) and female athletes and male non-athletes (Fisher’s r to z = 1.98). The correlation between quantity of alcohol consumed and coping by “concentrating on fixing the problem” differed significantly for female athletes and female non-athletes (Fisher’s r to z = 2.42) and female non-athletes and male non-athletes (Fisher’s r to z = 1.89). The correlation between quantity of alcohol consumed and coping by “getting emotional support” differed significantly for female athletes and male non-athletes (Fisher’s r to z = -2.50), and female non-athletes and male non-athletes (Fisher’s r to z = -3.32). The correlation between quantity of alcohol consumed and coping by “giving up” differed significantly for female non-athletes and male athletes (Fisher’s r to z = -2.44) and male athletes and male non-athletes (Fisher’s r to z = 1.79). The correlation between quantity of alcohol consumed and coping by “criticizing oneself” differed significantly for female athletes and male non-athletes (Fisher’s r to z = -2.38) and for male athletes and male non-athletes (Fisher’s r to z = -1.71). Finally, the correlation between quantity of alcohol consumed and coping by “making fun of the situation” differed significantly for female athletes and female non-athletes (Fisher’s r to z = 2.00).

       For Table 2, the correlation between frequency of alcohol consumed and coping by concentrating on fixing the problem differed significantly for female athletes and female non-athletes (Fisher’s r to z = 2.03). The correlation between frequency of alcohol consumed and coping by “using alcohol to feel better” differed significantly for female athletes and male non-athletes (Fisher’s r to z = 2.72) and for male athletes and male non-athletes (Fisher’s r to z = -2.09). The correlation between frequency of alcohol consumed and coping by “getting emotional support” differed significantly for female non-athletes and male non-athletes (Fisher’s r to z = -3.47) and for male athletes and male non-athletes (Fisher’s r to z = -2.14). The correlation between frequency of alcohol consumed and coping by “giving up” differed significantly for female athletes and male athletes (Fisher’s r to z = -2.42) and for female non-athletes and male athletes (Fisher’s r to z = -2.57). The correlation between frequency of alcohol consumed and coping by “venting” differed significantly for female athletes and male non-athletes (Fisher’s r to z = -2.59), and male non-athletes and male athletes (Fisher’s r to z = 2.33). Finally, the correlation between frequency of alcohol consumed and coping by “criticizing oneself” differed significantly for female non-athletes and male non-athletes (Fisher’s r to z = 1.77).

       For Table 3, the correlation between frequency of alcohol intoxication and coping by “using alcohol to feel better” differed significantly for female athletes and female non-athletes (Fisher’s r to z = 2.69). The correlation between frequency of alcohol intoxication and coping by “giving up” differed significantly for female athletes and male athletes (Fisher’s r to z = 2.84), and for female non-athletes and male athletes (Fisher’s r to z = 3.04). The correlation between frequency of alcohol intoxication and coping by “seeing it more positively” differed significantly for female non-athletes and male non-athletes (Fisher’s r to z = -2.41). The correlation between frequency of alcohol intoxication and coping by “getting emotional support” differed significantly for female non-athletes and male non-athletes (Fisher’s r to z = 2.83) and for male athletes and male non-athletes (Fisher’s r to z = -2.21). Finally, the correlation between frequency of alcohol intoxication and coping by “criticizing oneself” differed significantly for female athletes and male non-athletes (Fisher’s r to z = 3.12) and for female non-athletes and male athletes (Fisher’s r to z = 1.86).

Discussion

       The present findings suggest that coping styles and gender influence alcohol use by teenage athletes. Although none of the teenagers drank excessively, similar to previous studies, we found that adolescent males consumed more alcohol than did adolescent females (Barnes et al., 1993; Huselid & Cooper, 1992; Jerry-Szpak & Brown, 1994) and that teenage athletes drank more than did their non-athletic counterparts (Hildebrand et al., 2001; Jerry-Szpak & Brown, 1994; Turrisi et al., 2007).

       Similar to Wilson et al. (2004) findings in college students, this study found that the interaction between gender and athletic status influenced teenage alcohol behaviors. Specifically, the female non-athletes in this study consumed the least amount of alcohol, whereas male athletes drank the greatest amount, which replicates findings from college age populations (Wilson et al.). In addition, male non-athletes were the least likely to become intoxicated, whereas male athletes were the most likely to become intoxicated. This last finding is especially surprising given that males typically are found to drink to intoxication more often than females (Barnes et al., 1993; Huselid & Cooper, 1992). This may partly be due to the demographics of the present study. Nearly half of the male non-athletes (n=37) were recruited from church-affiliated youth groups, and it could be hypothesized that drinking behavior would be somewhat modified by this association.

       A major challenge in alcohol programs and research is why such differences in alcohol consumption exist between athletes and non-athletes and between males and females. For example, college athletes (especially male athletes) are more likely to report that their peers frequently get drunk and approve of binge drinking (Martens, Dams-O'Connor, & Duffy-Paiement, 2006; Turrisi et al., 2007). Athletes may also have more exposure to environmental and cultural factors conducive to drinking (e.g. , having more drinking going on, having more alcohol available, and having more drinks given to them without asking hazing, etc; Martens, Dams-O'Connor, & Beck, 2006; Turrisi et al.). In addition, college athletes tend to place more emphasis on drinking to cope (especially with sport-related stresses) than do non-athletes (O'Brien, Ali, Cotter, O'Shea, & Stannard, 2007). Although a myriad of mechanisms have been offered to explain this occurrence, results from this study suggest that coping tactics correlated with drinking behaviors, and that these tactics varied by both gender and athletic status. Unlike previous studies that had reported gender differences in coping (e.g., Piko, 2001, Schaeffer & Pritchard, 2003), for the participants in this study, the most significant predictor for drinking behaviors in all teenage subgroups was drinking to cope. For all sub-groups, the use of alcohol as “a way to feel better” was significantly related to the quantity of alcohol consumed, the frequency of alcohol consumption, and the frequency of intoxication.

       However, there were also some noticeable differences in how coping tactics related to alcohol use among the groups (although none specifically seemed to relate to either gender or athletic status). For example, “concentrating on fixing the problem” was significantly inversely related to alcohol behaviors only for female non-athletes, whereas “venting” was significantly positively related to alcohol behaviors in that subgroup. “Getting emotional support” and “criticizing oneself” were significantly positively related to alcohol behaviors only for male non-athletes, whereas “giving up” was significantly positively related to alcohol behaviors only for male athletes. Future studies should examine why these coping patterns differ in their predictive values for male and female athletes and non-athletes.

       Regardless, a major question concerning the use of alcohol by athletes is the etiology of this behavior. For instance, does participation in sport promote the use of alcohol, or are specific personality characteristics associated with athletes similar to those traits found in individuals likely to engage high-risk behaviors (Hildebrand et al., 2001)? Although several correlational studies have examined factors mitigating athlete alcohol consumption as suggested above (e.g., Martens, Dams-O'Connor, & Beck, 2006; Martens, Dams-O'Connor, & Duffy-Paiement, 2006; O'Brien et al., 2007; Turrisi et al., 2007), no longitudinal studies have examined this topic. Although further research needs to examine these questions, results from this study provide partial answers in that differences exist in coping styles employed by male and female athletes and non-athletes, and that these styles are related to alcohol use.

Limitations

       One limitation of this study was that it was conducted over a portion of the summer when none of the athletes were currently in their competitive seasons. However, some evidence suggests that being “out of season” may influence alcohol behavior. As a result, it is not known whether coping and drinking behaviors are influenced by the athlete’s competitive sport season. Future investigations should examine the effect the competitive sport season may have on these variables. In addition, many of the non-athletes (especially male non-athletes) were recruited from churches. Non-athletic participants recruited from non-religious organizations might exhibit different patterns of alcohol usage.

Conclusion and Suggestions for Practice

       In conclusion, although none of the teenagers drank excessively (e.g, binge drinking – drinking 5 or more drinks in one sitting), results from this study found significant differences in alcohol consumption related to coping styles in male and female athletes and non-athletes. With increasing attention being given to the specific needs of athletes in terms of substance abuse prevention programs, these findings suggest that gender and coping-related differences are of the utmost importance in the planning and implementation of intervention programs.

       Many current prevention programs are designed as a “one size fits all” approach, often addressing only socially oriented variables, such as peer pressure to drink. However, individual coping tactics employed by male and female athletes need to be considered when designing future prevention or intervention programs by practitioners in sport psychology. Thus, middle school and high school coaches or sport psychology practitioners may wish to investigate how environmental, peer, or parental factors may influence drinking behaviors in their athletes. Schools could then design intervention programs accordingly. In addition, Turrisi et al. (2007) found that parental communication is a key factor mediating athlete drinking behaviors. Thus, sport psychology practitioners and coaches should involve parents in their efforts to reduce or prevent teenage athlete drinking.

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All correspondence regatrding this article should be sent to: Gregory S. Wilson, P.E.D., FACSM, Associate Professor & Chair, Department of Exercise and Sport Science, Graves Hall, University of Evansville, Evansville, IN 47722, Tel: (812) 488-2847, Fax: (812) 488-2087, Email: gw3@evansvill.edu, Boise State University