A new study confirms what all of us have wished to be true. The coolest among us drink the most. From The Daily Beast:
Titled Drinking to Reach the Top, the analysis shows that men and women who engage in more frequent heavy drinking occupy higher statuses within their friend groups.
How’d they prove it? Well, your answer is below.
Dr. Tara Dumas, the lead author behind the study, recruited 357 young adults between May and July 2012, en route to bars in downtown Ontario with their friends. Using three different surveys, she and her three colleagues analyzed how much heavy-drinking episodes—both the number of drinks consumed and frequency of them—played into status. Their answer backed up Dumas’ hypothesis: that more frequent drinking—consuming a larger number of drinks during one’s episode—and engaging in more heavy drinking occasions in the past year, would be associated with higher peer group status.
The coolest people are the party animals. DUH. Basically, we’ve never left high school. BUT, just like the girl who wouldn’t sleep with you because you puked on her dress, there is a limit.
The results are an important indicator of how heavier drinkers are viewed in society. “Our measure of social status in this study is somewhat akin to social power within the friend group, with higher status group members being more popular and having more control over valuable group resources, such as group decisions,” she says.
But the phenomenon did have a threshold. Participants who said they’d consumed more than 12 drinks in one sitting generally showed no more social clout—and, in some cases, less—than those who drank less.
So 11 is cool? I can keep it to 11. Easily.
[Rocks Whiskey via Shutterstock]