Drinking frequently could improve your social standing, researchers have claimed.
Daily Mail reports that researchers studied the drinking habits of people in Toronto, and said that in men in particular, heavy drinking appeared to earn them more respect.
For women, any drinking seemed to result in a higher social status.
Dr. Tara Dumas, a postdoctoral fellow at Canada’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, studied 357 young adults in Ontario between May and July 2012.
They asked participants how much binge episodes – which included the number of drinks consumed, and how often these episodes happened – influenced their opinions of friends.
‘We used field methodology to recruit young adults’ natural drinking groups,’ the team wrote in a paper that will be published in the October issue of Addictive Behaviors.
‘For men, more frequent heavy drinking was related to higher peer-nominated status.
‘For women, more drinking in general was related to higher peer-nominated status.’
The team so found that during binge drinking episodes, those who could drink the most emerged with the highest social status.
‘More consumption during heaviest drinking occasion also predicted higher status.
‘Further, for both men and women, drinking more than one’s peers during one’s heaviest drinking occasion in the past year was also associated with higher status.’
The team say the researcher could influence alcohol awareness programmes.
‘These findings suggest that higher social status is associated with riskier drinking patterns and have important implications for prevention programming.
