Reciprocity of relationships in college freshmen’s alcohol consumption: analysis of an emerging social network

Abstract

Objective: The social network of college students is important for their alcohol consumption, but the role of relationship reciprocity in this process has not yet been clarified. Methods: Every week during the first semester, 57 Psychology freshmen indicated their alcohol drinking days, estimated number of drinks per drinking day, and their three most liked classmates (to assess reciprocated and non-reciprocated relationships). Results: Multilevel modeling of weekly changes yielded that drinking days were adjusted to peers in reciprocated relationships only (reciprocated: b = .15, p = .001 vs. non-reciprocated: b = -.02, p = .680), while reciprocation was not important for number of drinks (reciprocated: b = .11, p = .015 vs. non-reciprocated: b = .10, p = .013). Conclusions: Mutual liking is needed for adjusting to classmates’ drinking days, but not for number of drinks per drinking day. This may be due to strategies for improving one’s social status.