September 2016
It's that time of year again, when students old and new are heading to university. Certain behaviors might be expected in the coming months, drinking in particular. Drinking is widespread among student populations, whether for social enrichment or the need to conform. However, many college students experience the darker side of binge drinking; violence, unsafe sex or poor academic performance. Hamilton & DeHart's new research in Self and Identity examines motivations for drinking in students with low self-esteem, finding that these individuals indulge far more than their more confident peers.
 
Hamilton & DeHart carried out a friendship threat manipulation on 195 students, all of whom had their levels of self-esteem, explicit and implicit, evaluated. They were asked to think about their best friend and what aspects of themselves they kept secret from said friend. Both groups were then shown bogus articles, the first on how secrets between friends cause conflict and a second control group on the secret aspects of selves which bear no relationship to friendships. All participants were questioned the following night on how many drinks they had consumed with other friends - not their best friend - after the test.
Read More http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/312770.php